Modernity and the Problem of Meaning: The Durkheimian Tradition
The rise of modernity signified not only an unprecedented epoch of material progress but evoked a recurring sense of cultural crisis. With the discreditation of the Christian-Aristotelian cosmos, new meaning constellations were necessary to provide cognitive and moral frameworks of order, identity,...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
1985
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| In: |
Sociological analysis
Year: 1985, Volume: 46, Issue: 2, Pages: 109-130 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The rise of modernity signified not only an unprecedented epoch of material progress but evoked a recurring sense of cultural crisis. With the discreditation of the Christian-Aristotelian cosmos, new meaning constellations were necessary to provide cognitive and moral frameworks of order, identity, and purposeful existence. Modern social theory crystallized as an effort to explain but also justify or shape the emerging cultural complex of modernity. In the nineteenth century the dominant perspective on modernity and meaning was the secularization thesis which found its most sophisticated sociological expression in Max Weber and in the Weberians in the twentieth century. I argue that Durkheim, reacting against nineteenth century representatives of the secularization thesis, articulated a contrasting view of modernity and meaning. Furthermore, that the writings of Bellah and Parsons on modernity and meaning fall squarely within this Durkheimian perspective. |
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| ISSN: | 2325-7873 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociological analysis
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3711055 |