Formations of European modernity : a historical and political sociology of Europe

Resource Information

The work Formations of European modernity : a historical and political sociology of Europe represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Liverpool. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Formations of European modernity : a historical and political sociology of Europe

Title remainder

a historical and political sociology of Europe

Statement of responsibility

Gerard Delanty

Creator

• Delanty, Gerard

Subject

• Europe -- Economic policy
• Europe -- History
• History, Modern
• Political sociology

Language

eng

Summary

• This book presents a historical and political sociology of European history and society. It offers a critical interpretation of the course of European history looking at the emergence of the idea of Europe and the emergence of modernity.
• "This sophisticated book places Europe in an inter-civilizational frame that underlines the themes of plurality and pluralism, identifies the processes of Europe's distinctive modernity, and inquires into current European promises and discontents. Avoiding perspectives that are excessively flat or filled only with nooks and crannies Delanty's subtle arguments about Europe highlight the intersections with and differences from a global context of modernity and other cultural and social complexes that are also marked by processes of coevolution." - Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, Cornell University, USA "This book is truly - as Delanty claims - more than a simple updating of his highly influential book Inventing Europe. Europe is now seen in a more fully comparative and theoretical perspective, still partly constructed by ideological opposition to others but also formed by an active and productive engagement with them. European modernity meets other modernities, European identity comes up against an emerging cosmopolitanism that challenges many of the European Union's projects. This is an incisive and invaluable account, one that will not simply serve the needs of students and commentators on Europe but will also set the parameters of debates about Europe's future." - Krishan Kumar, Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia, USA "Delanty's carefully considered arguments against Eurocentric, imperialist, and postcolonial approaches to the history of European modernity clear the ground for an impressive discussion of European pasts, from the Romans to now, resulting in what may be called a cosmopolitan approach to the history and sociology of modernity - not just in Europe but elsewhere as well. Of immediate and obvious interest to those engaged in debating Europe, Delanty's book will also speak to scholars of modernity in general. A timely and effective intervention." - Dipesh Chakrabarty, Professor of History, University of Chicago, USA

Cataloging source

UK-WkNB

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Summary expansion

This book seeks to provide an interpretation of the idea of Europe through an analysis of the course of European history. It aims to discover the structure of qualitative shifts in the relation between state, society and individual, how they occurred and what were their consequences for the formation of social and culture structures for European history. The book makes a major contribution to the debate on the idea of Europe and offers an interdisciplinary approach drawing especially from history, sociology and political theory, but also from geography and anthropology. The theoretical objective of is to make sense of the course of European history through an account of the formation of a European cultural model that emerges out of the legacies of the inter-civilizational background. It considers how in relation to this cultural model a societal structure takes shape. The tension between both gives form to Europe's path to modernity and defines the specificity of its heritage. The structuring process that has shaped Europe made possible a model of modernity that has placed a strong emphasis on the values of social justice and solidarity. These values have been reflectively appropriated in different periods to produce different interpretations, societal outcomes and a multiplicity of projects of modernity