Rethinking modernity : postcolonialism and the sociological imagination / Gurminder K. Bhambra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bhambra, Gurminder K., 1974-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sociology.

Postcolonialism.

Physical Description:

viii, 200 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave, 2007.

Summary:

Rethinking Modernity presents a fundamental reconstruction of the idea of modernity in contemporary sociology and social theory. It criticizes the abstraction of European modernity from its colonial context as well as the way in which the experiences of non-Western 'others' are regarded as having no contribution to make to such understandings. In challenging the dominant, Eurocentred accounts of the emergence and development of modernity, Gurminder Bhambra presents an argument for the recognition of 'connected histories' in the reconstruction of historical sociology at a global level. She addresses three supposedly 'founding moments' in the narrative of modernity - the Renaissance, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolutions - in order to identity myths of origin which remain embedded in dominant accounts of modernity, whether of modernization theory or multiple modernities.

Contents:

Introduction: Postcolonialism, Sociology, and the Politics of Knowledge Production 1

Part 1 Sociology and Its Historiography

1 Modernity, Colonialism, and the Postcolonial Critique 15

2 European Modernity and the Sociological Imagination 34

3 From Modernization to Multiple Modernities: Eurocentrism Redux 56

Part 2 Deconstructing Eurocentrism: Connected Histories

4 Myths of European Cultural Integrity - The Renaissance 83

5 Myths of the Modern Nation-State - The French Revolution 106

6 Myths of Industrial Capitalism - The Industrial Revolution 124

Conclusion: Sociology and Social Theory After Postcolonialism - Towards a Connected Historiography 145.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 156-189) and index.

ISBN:

9780230500341

023050034X

OCLC:

85812819

Online:

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