Concept
Reflexive modernization
Overview
The concept of reflexive modernization or reflexive modernity was launched by a joint effort of three of the leading European sociologists: Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Scott Lash. The introduction of this concept served a double purpose: to reassess sociology as a science of the present (moving beyond the early-20th-century conceptual framework), and to provide a counterbalance to the postmodernist paradigm offering a re-constructive view alongside deconstruction.
The concept built upon previous notions such as post-industrial society (Daniel Bell) and postmaterial society, but stresses how in reflexive modernization, modernity directs its attention to the process of modernization itself.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Related ideas
- Modernization theory
- Modernity
- Welfare state
- Science
- Anthony Giddens
- Zygmunt Bauman
- Deconstruction
- Adaptation
- Ulrich Beck
- Risk society
Place in the tradition
Part of Environmental sociology.