Abstract
This article argues that the current trajectory of neoliberal led global development can be seen to have unleashed a regressive process of ‘demodernization’ within Western ‘developed’ economies and beyond. Informed by a developing ‘neurosociological’ theory, the article sets out to offer an original perspective on some widely debated issues, namely why the current era can be seen to have been marked by a regressive decline in ‘modern’ rational order, progress and faith in the future and a concomitant rise in irrationality, short-termism, mindless bureaucratization, instability, de-structuring and unpredictability. This trend, it is argued, due to its incompatibility with fundamental human ‘needs’, has dismantled the necessary conditions for personal and communal well-being, undermining socio-economic stability and social cohesion within the neoliberal societies that fostered and embraced this doctrine and, to a greater or lesser extent, within all nations connected to the global economy.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 717-740 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Critical Sociology |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 24 Aug 2010 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2010 |
Keywords
- demodernization
- modernity
- neoliberalism
- neurosociology
- rationalization