Theories of Modernity

FINAL EXAM: Theories of Modernity

PART 2: Take-home Essay  (50 points)

Directions:

Below you will find two quotes.       

1. Explain each quote including all relevant concepts (2 x 10; 20 pts)
2. Explain the theoretical orientation of each quote (2 x 5; 10 pts)
3. Give an original, concrete example that exemplifies each quote (2 x 5; 10 pts)
4. Compare and contrast the two quotes. What do the two quotes have in common? How are they different?  Overall, do you see the quotes as more similar, or more different? How so?(10 pts)

Recommendations:

1. Find the first quote in your textbook. Reread the introduction to the selection at hand, and then reread the selection, making sure that you understand the context of each quote (what comes before and after it), as well as what the quote means.
2. Think about the specific concepts and ideas that the quote brings to bear. Go back to the text and your notes and reread to make sure you understand these concepts and ideas in full.
3. Think about the theoretical orientation of the quote. Think about how the theoretical orientation coincides with your explanation.  Think about how you would diagram the quote, making sure that you are not just “plugging in” concepts.
4. Think hard about concrete examples of the quote. Choose your best example, making sure that your example is fitting, original and specific/detailed.
5. Write a first draft for concept 1 (1-3 of the test instructions: explanation; theoretical orientation; and example).
6. Go back to the text (step 1). Reread the quote and analyze your explanation to see if it is consistent with the text.
7. Rewrite your answer (explanation; theoretical orientation; and example), making your language accurate and clear.

8. NOW DO STEPS 1-7 AGAIN FOR THE SECOND QUOTE

9. Examine your two answers and assess what your two answers have in common—and how they are different. Go back to the text if you become confused. Decide whether you think the two quotes are more similar or different.
10. Write out your comparison. Make sure you are not just repeating your previous answers and that you are really comparing the two quotes.
11. Proofread your entire essay for grammatical or other mistakes and make revisions. This is your final draft.
12. Proofread your final draft again. Do not submit your exam until you have proofread it twice finding NO errors.

• HABERMAS, “The Tasks of a Critical Theory of Society” (1987)

“The theory of modernity that I have here sketched in broad strokes permits us to recognize the following: In modern societies there is such an expansion of the scope of contingency for interaction loosed from normative contexts that the inner logic of communicative action ‘becomes practically true’ in the deinstitutionalized forms of intercourse of the familial private sphere as well as in a public sphere stamped by the mass media.  At the same time, the systemic imperatives of autonomous subsystems penetrate into the lifeworld, and, through monetarization and bureaucratization, force an assimilation of communicative action to formally organized domains of action—even in areas where the action-coordinating mechanism of reaching understanding is functionally necessary.  It may be that this provocative threat, this challenge that places the symbolic structures of the lifeworld as a whole in question, can account for why they have become accessible to us” (p. 466).

• GIDDENS, “The Consequences of Modernity” (1990)

“Two images of what it feels like to live in the world of modernity have dominated the sociological literature, yet both of them seem less than adequate…

For these images I suggest we should substitute that of the juggernaut– a runaway engine of enormous power which, collectively as human beings, we can drive to some extent but which also threatens to rush out of our control and which could rend itself asunder.  The juggernaut crushes those who resist it, and while it sometimes seems to have a steady path, there are times when it veers away erratically in directions we cannot foresee.  The ride is by no means wholly unpleasant or unrewarding; it can often be exhilarating and charged with hopeful anticipation.  But, so long as the institutions of modernity endure, we shall never be able to control completely either the path or the pace of the journey.  In turn, we shall never be able to feel entirely secure, because the terrain across which it runs is fraught with risks of high consequence.  Feelings of ontological security and existential anxiety will coexist in ambivalence” (p. 808).