Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination PDF
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Rethinking Modernity This page intentionally left blank Rethinking Modernity Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination Gurminder K. Bhambra © Gurminder K.Bhambra 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-0-230-50034-1 All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St.Martin’s Press,LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States,United Kingdom and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-22715-6 ISBN 978-0-230-20641-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230206410 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.Logging,pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bhambra,Gurminder K.,1974– Rethinking modernity :postcolonialism and the sociological imagination / Gurminder K.Bhambra p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1.Sociology.2.Postcolonialism.I.Title. HM585.B486 2007 301.09182(cid:2)1—dc22 2006053293 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 for my parents, Lakhbir S. and Joginder K. Bhambra, and my brother, Amritpal S. Bhambra This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements viii Introduction: Postcolonialism, Sociology, and the Politics of Knowledge Production 1 Part 1 Sociology and Its Historiography 1 Modernity, Colonialism, and the Postcolonial Critique 15 2 European Modernity and the Sociological Imagination 34 3 From Modernization to Multiple Modernities: EurocentrismRedux 56 Part 2 Deconstructing Eurocentrism: Connected Histories 4 Myths of European Cultural Integrity – The Renaissance 83 5 Myths of the Modern Nation-State – The French Revolution 106 6 Myths of Industrial Capitalism – The Industrial Revolution 124 Conclusion: Sociology and Social Theory After Postcolonialism – Towards a Connected Historiography 145 Notes 156 References 168 Index 190 vii Acknowledgements My intellectual debts in the writing of this book are many and the proper place to start is the beginning, to the University of Sussex where I was first an undergraduate, to LSE, and to the University of Sussex again. John Holmwood has seen this project through from its inception and has read and commented extensively on the revisions made to the manuscript. His interventions have contributed, in large part, to the development of my thought over these last few years and I truly appreciate the generosity of spirit with which he has engaged with my work. I owe thanks also to Mia Rodríguez-Salgado, an inspiration when I was at the LSE, who has given freely of her time and expertise in discussing the arguments made here. For this, and much more, I am grateful. I am also appreciative of the intellectual support from William Outhwaite and for his, and Peter Wagner’s, comments on an earlier version, which were invaluable. Iwould like to thank Libby Assassi, Andrew Chitty, Joan Cocks, Barbara Einhorn, Nisha Jones, Zdenek Kavan, Sam Knafo, Vicky Margree, Gregor McLennan, Mihnea Panu, Raluca Parvu, Robbie Shilliam,Neil Stammers, Jeppe Strandsbjerg, and Paul Yates who have all engaged with the argu- ments made here at various stages of their development. During the period of writing this book, I have had financial support in the form of postdoctoral research fellowships from the Economic and Social Research Council and the School of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Sussex for which I would like to record my thanks. I also spent one semester at the Five College Women’s Studies Research Centre at Mount Holyoke College during this time and I would like to thank mycolleagues there for their hospitality. viii Introduction: Postcolonialism, Sociology, and the Politics of Knowledge Production ‘Modernity’ is the dominant frame for social and political thought, not just in the West, but across the world. The repercussions of the French Revolution and the processes of industrialization stimulated debates about the emergence of a modern world and this world was held to require a distinctively modernform of explanation. I shall argue that this rests on two fundamental assumptions: ruptureand difference– a temporal rupture that distinguishes a traditional, agrarian past from themodern, industrial present; and a fundamental difference that distinguishes Europe from the rest of the world. These paradigmatic assumptions frame both the standard methodological problems posed by social inquiry and the explanations posited in resolving them. In this book, I call into question the socio-historic evidence for ideas of rupture and difference, and examine how the construction of this evidence itself has led to the development of particular forms of theoretical understand- ings. Most importantly, the equating of modernity with Europe reinforces a fundamental assumption of much intellectual thought today: that particular structures, emerging first in the West, would become universal. Some will assert that such claims are no longer novel. The ideas of temporal and spatial disjuncture on which dominant ideas of modernity rest have seemingly been challenged by many postmodern and post- colonial theorists and yet, while there is increasing hesitancy in equating westernization with progress, it is my contention that the West is still seen as the leader or ‘signifier’ of change. For example, many theorists locate the postmodern turn itself in the advanced capitalist countries of the West and many postcolonial scholars alike continue to use Europe as a reference point, albeit a negative one. I shall argue that there is a need to reconsider the conceptual framework of modernity from a wider spatial 1
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