Giddens.modernism and Post-Modernism

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Modernism and Post-Modernism

Author(s): Anthony GiddensSource: New German Critique, No. 22, Special Issue on Modernism (Winter, 1981), pp. 15-18Published by: New German CritiqueStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/487860.

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Modernismndpost-modernismbyAnthonyGiddens

There are threecomments should ike to make about the content fJiirgenHabermas's interestingnd provocative aper. One concerns hefurther evelopment f a pointthat s a keytheme nwhathe has to say;the second ofmyremarks s insomepart ritical f Habermas'sarguments;and the finalone is reallya question,an enquiry bout the differencesbetween Habermas's views and thoseofAdorno.1. Habermas raisesan issue both ofgreat mportancend of formid-able complexitynsuggestinghat ertain ransformationsftime-experi-ence are intrinsicallynvolvedwithso-called modernism n art. Heconcentrates is discussion ponthe secret appeal to theclassicalburiedin modernism, nd upon the temporal elf-destructivenessf the avant-gardewhich s constantlymplicatedn themoment f tsowndissolution.This theme undeniably onnects with a fondnessfor the scandalous,adistaste for ll conventionwhichhowever cknowledges hat oday's can-dals are tomorrow's onventions and hence s perhapsunable nfact orealise the impactof thatvery negation which t seeks. I findHaber-mas's analysisof these matters oth subtleand thought-provoking.ut Ithinkt spossible o connecthemmore irectlyhanHabermas oes, nthisparticular aper at least,with ransformationsftime-space elationsintroducedbythespreadofindustrialapitalismn the ate 18th nd 19thcenturies. am impressed ya convergence frecentwork n thephiloso-phyoftime, ocial history,nd urban heory, ponwhat an be called thecommodificationf time-spacewith he formationf ndustrialapitalism;thiswork, think, an be directlyonnectedwithMarx'sclassicalcharac-terisation f the commodity. ' n capitalism,Marx makesclear,timeas quantifiedform becomes fundamental o the intersectionf classrelationswithin he labour-process. he quantificationf time s the me-dium of the exploitativegenerationof surplus-value,n contrast o thedirect appropriation f surplusproduction r labourin agrarian lass-dividedcivilisations.Of course, there s an abundanceof historicalmaterialdocumentingthe diffusion f clocks, the technology or thequantificationf time, npost-feudalEurope; Mumford, mongothers,has arguedthattheclock,

I. cf. AnthonyGiddens,A ContemporaryritiqtuefHistoricalMaterialismnBerkeley,California, 1981).15

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16 Giddensrather than power-machinerys such, is the primeelement n modernmechanical culture.But it takes a good deal of theoretical nalysistoconnectsuchmaterials o a morepenetratingnderstandingf timeandspace as themselves ommodified orms.As Marxshows, ll commoditieshave a double existence, s both ubstance nd form.A goodorproducthas qualities of its own; but these are complemented,n a capitalisteconomy, by the pure form of exchange-value.As exchange-value,commoditieshavenothingncommon s regards heir ubstance: nythingcan be exchangedfor nythinglse,viamoney. immel swrong, owever,to regard moneyas theprimeexemplar f the commodificationf socialrelations.More elemental, s Marx indicates xpeciallyncertain ectionsof theGrundrisse,s commodifiedime or,as I preferosay,commodi-fledtime-space).Two connected ocial transformationsre involved: imeacquires a double existence ;and commodified imebecomesdetachedfrom he commodificationfspace.Commodified imehasbecome so much n inherentartof ourexperi-ence in contemporary apitalism, think, hatHeideggerwas forced ointroduce hemosttortuous eologismsnorder o recover philosophicalsense of time time-space).The substance oftime-spaceswhatHeideg-gerrefers o as prescencing, he constitutionfBeingin itsfadingntonothingness. ut inoursociety, he substance oftime-space as becomeovershadowedbytime s quantified orm,ndspaceas quantifiablexten-sion. The consequencesbite verydeeplyintothecharacter f our dailylives, and help createthatdistinctively odern everyday ife of whichLefebvrespeaks.The differentiationfcommodifiedimefrom ommodi-fledspace is integrallyelatedto thecoordination factivitynvolved nlabour discipline n theworkplace;to the severanceof workfrom freetime as sequential segments f a lifegoverned yroutine ather hanbytradition; nd to theseveranceofhumanbeingsfromnature hroughhetransformation f urban space through he prevalenceof the createdenvironment fcontemporaryrbanismThe profound and perhaps nsomerespectrrreversible charac-terof thesetransmutationserebarelyunderstood ythose whoexperi-enced the first orceof their mpact n the 19th entury.n artas in thesocial sciencesone can readilydiscern splitbetween n essentially o-mantic conservatism nd a progressivismhatputs tsweightbehindsci-ence and technology. would nterpretmodernism nart insofar s theterm has a cleardesignation t all) as a break withbothof thesetypes fstandpoint.Modernisms neither nly protest gainst osttraditions,oran endorsement of theirdissolution,but in some degree an accurateexpressionof the emptying ftime-space.2. These considerations ead me to take a morepositive ttitude o-wards certaindevelopments n art whichHabermastreatsrather ismis-sively.Perhapssurrealism, or xample,was a failure s an emancipatoryproject,as contributingo a recoveryf a rational asisfor he normative



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ModernismndPostmodernism 17character f everydayife. But I think his s still o see surrealism ithinthe confines of the residualoppositionbetween Romanticism nd pro-gressivism oted above. For surrealism elongedto currents fchange nmodernculturethat stretchwell beyondwhat had become a separatedsphereof art. In literature,n linguistics,nphilosophy,nscience,wefindparallelmodes of transfiguration.he factthattheredo occur somestrikinglyimilardevelopmentsnEuropean culture n theearlyyearsofthe 20th centurymighthave a good deal to do with Kuhn's scientificrevolutions. uch revolutions maybe less a generic art f thedevelop-ment of science, stimulatedby changes internal o science itself, hanfeatures frelatively ncommon, ut moreembracing,ultural ransitions(cf. Bachelard). The common element n the transformationsccurringsubsequentto the turnof the20thcenturys a concern o elucidatetheasymmetryfsubstance nd form. he emergence f structuralistinguis-tics is exemplaryn thisrespect; atter-dayyntheses fstructuralismndpsychoanalysis estupon deeper conceptualaffinitieshanscepticsmaysuspect.However all thismaybe, I would be inclined o see in surrealismnexplorationof substanceand form hatwas byno means ustan abortiveexperiment.f course, t is hard osay na cursory ayanythinghatwould do justiceto a complicated ubject.But I thinktpossibleto see insurrealisman investigation f the generativeprinciples hat create theobservable characteristics f theobject-world; nd at thesame time asublationof thatobject-world, s commodifiedime-space.3. Habermas distinguisheswo senses of modernism, he broadersense referringo the projectof Enlightenment. e wishes to affirmdefenceof modernism n this moregeneralsense,whatevermayhavebeen theshortcomingsfartisticmodernism, gainst heattacks f neo-conservatismtoday. I fully hare his worriesabout the rise of newconservatisms, n variousguises nd contexts.And I wouldalsoaccepthisview,if understandtcorrectly,hat he new conservatisms annot ustbe combattedby establishedorthodoxiesof the Left. The critiqueofEnlightenment as to be partof the intellectual ndeavoursof the Lefttoday,notsimply hemonopoly f theRight.Sucha viewwas,ofcourse,alreadywell-developed n thewritingsf Adorno and Horkheimer. hisbringsme to my pointof interrogationbout Habermas'sdiscussion.Heseveral timesrefers pprovinglyoAdorno,and evidentlyndorses omemain elementsof the ideas of thatauthor,particularlyn respectof therelationbetween thetwotypesof modernism. At the same time,how-ever, he appears rather tronglyo reaffirmheprinciples f Enlighten-mentalmostwithout ualification.What view does he take of thepositionadvanced byHorkheimer nd AdornoinDialecticofEnlightenment?necan recognisewithout ifficultyhatHabermas'sviewshavealwaysdifferedconsiderablyfrom those of the older generation of the FrankfurtSchool. But is thereany sense in which he is preparedto admitthat



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18 GiddensEnlightenmenthoughtndpracticemirroringn a general lane hefateofthe vant-gardenthe hort-term)ontained,tsource, he eedsof tsown dissolution?

a ournalfheFernand raudelCenter or he tudyofEconomies,Historicalystems,andCivilizationsEditor: mmanuelWallersteinReview scommittedo the ursuitfa perspectivehich ecognizesheprimacyf analysis f economies ver onghistoricalime nd largespace,theholism f thesocio-historicalrocess, nd thetransitory(heuristic)aturef theories.

ThecontentsfVolume V (1980-81)nclude:JanosM. Bak Serfsnd Serfdom:Words ndThingsHenri efebvre MarxismxplodedMarianMalowist MerchantreditndthePutting-OutSystemn RuralProductionuringheMiddleAgesWalter odney PlantationocietynGuyanaSpecial ssue n ChicanoLaborandUnevenDevelopmentDebates n Scotland ndAfricaCivilizationsndtheir eclinesPrevious volumescontain articlesbyAnouarAbdel-Malek,SamirAmin,GiovanniArrighi,NormanBirnbaum,FernandBraudel,SilviuBrucan,Arghiri mmanuel,M.I. Finley,Andre

GunderoFrank,ohanGaltung,ErnestGellner,Georges Haupt, RodneyHilton,Eric J. Hobsbawm, Halil Inalcik,ErnestLabrousse, FredericLane, EmmanuelLe Roy Ladurie, BernardMagubane, SidneyMintz,RamkrishnaMukherjee,JamesM. Petras,T.C. Smout,Henri H. Stahl,CharlesTilly,PierreVilarInstitutions36 Individuals 18 (yearly ates)

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Giddens.modernism and Post-Modernism

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