Modernity

Question 1

what is modernity

Answer 1

a historical period and associated experience connected to the spread of capitalism and characterised by perpetual change and innovation

Question 2

what is capitalism

Answer 2

an economic system in which commodity producers compete for market share in a quest to make profits, which are reinvested to make more profitable commodities

Question 3

what do modernity and capitalism have in common

Answer 3

a strive towards progress

Question 4

what is Marx’s idea of the commodity fetish

Answer 4

putting economic motivations above all else and valuing things that have no real value, separation of buyer from product

Question 5

what is historical materialism

Answer 5

dynamics of economic activity, not ideas, are at the core of progress. this supported all else, or the superstructure.

Question 6

what was modernity’s attitude to the past

Answer 6

often glamorised the past, preserved it but emphasised progress and change

Question 7

how did globalisation incorporate into modernity

Answer 7

the expansion of scale, linking of spaces

Question 8

describe the ideology and effects of the exhibitions and fairs of modernity

Answer 8

linking of capitalism and commodity to leisure and freedom
manufacturing public desire for new and innovative products
commodification of the past and future
normalisation of power dynamics
eg. Stockholm fair in the 1860s
modernity as fantastical and dreamlike, but out of reach for many

Question 9

describe the ideas of Émile Durkheim

Answer 9

society is an organism and needs to function well
social facts are customs that are powerful and coercive
many issues of capitalism that make people unhappy: individualism, excessive hope, too much freedom, atheism, weakening of nation and family ties

Question 10

what are Marx’s ideas of the crises of capitalism

Answer 10

there are crises of overproduction instead of underproduction as in the past. not enough people able to afford the products being made. this represents a contradiction between the forces and relations of production.

Question 11

how do the bourgeoisie stay in power, according to Gramsci

Answer 11

hegemony: when the dominant ideas which are all-pervasive are taken for granted in society

Question 12

what is conflict theory (Marx)

Answer 12

how do struggles for power drive all societal change?

Question 13

what thinker other than Durkheim thought we were becoming too isolated and losing a sense of community due to capitalism

Answer 13

georg simmel