Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity

513 Pages·2013·3.345 MB·English

by  Hartmut Rosa, Jonathan Trejo-Mathys

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“Hartmut Rosa has put forward the most developed social theoretical analysis a Hartmut Rosa advances an account
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of the temporal structure of
of the acceleration of time from the perspective of critical theory.
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h society from the perspective of critical
His theory of social acceleration is of great importance, since it explains
e theory. He identifies three categories of
how our social lives are speeding up and extends critical theory into a new a
Hartmut rosa o change in the tempo of modern social
and fruitful avenue of inquiry—and maybe even into a new generation
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r life: technological acceleration, evident
is a professor of sociology and political of social theorizing and critique.”
yc in transportation, communication, and
science at the Friedrich-Schiller-Uni-
—Jerald Wallulis, production; the acceleration of social
versität Jena. He has also taught at University of South Carolina oe
change, reflected in cultural knowl-
Harvard University. He is the author
f
l edge, social institutions, and personal
of Alienation and Acceleration: Towards
“Ours is a high-speed society: we need a proper conceptual me relationships; and acceleration in the
a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Tem-
and theoretical framework for making sense of it. As Hartmut Rosa pace of life, which happens despite the
porality and co editor, with William or
shows in this ambitious and wide-ranging work, the concept expectation that technological change
E. Scheuerman, of High-Speed Society: d
of social acceleration offers a rich starting point for doing so.” a should increase an individual’s free time.
Social Acceleration, Power, and Modernity.
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According to Rosa, both the
—William e. scheuerman, t
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structural and cultural aspects of our
JonatHan treJo-matHys Indiana University, Bloomington
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institutions and practices are marked
is an assistant professor of philosophy o
i by the “shrinking of the present,” a
at Boston College. His work has been “Hartmut Rosa, a rising star in the field of German sociology, proposes T
n decreasing time period during which
published in such journals as Ratio Juris, a new critical theory that explains and explores the narrative of ‘run-away- y
expectations based on past experience
Philosophy and Social Criticism, and modernity’ conceptually, empirically, and normatively. In the second half
reliably match the future. When this
Constellations. He is currently writing a of the twentieth century, most giants of social thought focused on the
phenomenon combines with techno-
book on the structural transformation reproduction of the social and political order in late capitalism, class society, H
logical acceleration and the increasing
of political authority and obligation in
social systems, and structures of power, but Rosa does the opposite:
a pace of life, time seems to flow ever
the emerging world society.
he reassembles the focus of his theory on the transformation of order.” rr faster, making our relationships to
—ulrich Beck, o each other and the world fluid and
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University of Munich problematic. It is as if we are stand-
sm
ing on “slipping slopes,” a steep social
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terrain that is itself in motion and in
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turn demands faster lives and tech-
Jacket design: Catherine Casalino t
New Directions in Critical Theory nology. As Rosa deftly shows, this
Jacket image: © National Gallery, London /
self-reinforcing feedback loop funda-
Art Resource, NY
Columbia University Press
mentally determines the character of
New York
modern life.
cup.columbia.edu
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SOCIAL ACCELERATION
new directions in critical theory
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new directions in critical theory
Amy Allen, General Editor
New Directions in Critical Theory presents outstanding classic and contem-
porary texts in the tradition of critical social theory, broadly construed. The
series aims to renew and advance the program of critical social theory, with
a particular focus on theorizing contemporary struggles around gender, race,
sexuality, class, and globalization and their complex interconnections.
Narrating Evil: A Postmetaphysical Theory of Refl ective Judgment , María Pía Lara
T he Politics of Our Selves: Power, Autonomy, and Gender in Contemporary Critical Theory ,
Amy Allen
Democracy and the Political Unconscious, Noëlle McAfee
The Force of the Example: Explorations in the Paradigm of Judgment , Alessandro Ferrara
Horrorism: Naming Contemporary Violence , Adriana Cavarero
Scales of Justice: Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World , Nancy Fraser
Pathologies of Reason: On the Legacy of Critical Theory , Axel Honneth
States Without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals , Jacqueline Stevens
The Racial Discourses of Life Philosophy: Négritude, Vitalism, and Modernity , Donna V. Jones
D emocracy in What State? Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, Daniel Bensaïd, Wendy Brown,
Jean-Luc Nancy, Jacques Rancière, Kristin Ross, Slavoj Žižek
Politics of Culture and the Spirit of Critique: Dialogues , edited by Gabriel Rockhill and Alfredo
Gomez-Muller
The Right to Justifi cation: Elements of Constructivist Theory of Justice , Rainer Forst
The Scandal of Reason: A Critical Theory of Political Judgment , Albena Azmanova
The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics, Adrian Parr
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SOCIAL ACCELERATION
A NEW THEORY OF MODERNITY
Hartmut Rosa
Translated by Jonathan Trejo-Mathys
columbia university press new york
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columbia university press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Beschleunigung: Die Verä n derung de Zeitstrukturen in der Moderne copyright © 2005 Suhrkamp
Verlag Frankfurt am Main
English translation copyright © 2013 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosa, Hartmut, 1965–
[Beschleunigung. English]
Social acceleration: a new theory of modernity / Hartmut Rosa; translated by Jonathan
Trejo-Mathys.
p. cm. —(New directions for critical theory)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-231-14834-4 (cloth: alk. paper)—isbn 978-0-231-51988-5 (e-book)
1. Time perception. 2. Time pressure. 3. Time—Sociological aspects. 4. Social
change. 5. Civilization, Modern—21st century. I. Trejo-Mathys, Jonathan. II. Title.
hm656.r6713 2013
303.4—dc23
2012029515

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.

Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

cover art: Joseph Mallord Turner, Rain, Steam, and Speed–The Great Western Railway, 1844.
© National Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY
cover design: Catherine Casalino

References to Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor
Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since
the manuscript was prepared.
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CONTENTS
Illustrations ix
Translator’s Introduction: Modernity and Time xi
In Place of a Preface xxxiii
I ntroduction 1
1. Temporal Structures in Society 1
2. Two Contemporary Diagnoses of the Times 13
3. A Theory of Social Acceleration: Preliminary Considerations 20
PART 1 THE CATEGORIAL FRAMEWORK OF A SYSTEMATIC THEORY
OF SOCIAL ACCELERATION
1. From the Love of Movement to the Law of Acceleration:
Observations of Modernity 35
1. Acceleration and the Culture of Modernity 35
2. Modernization, Acceleration, and Social Theory 46
2. What Is Social Acceleration? 63
1. Preliminary Considerations: Acceleration and Escalation 63
2. Three Dimensions of Social Acceleration 71
3. Five Categories of Inertia 80
4. On the Relation Between Movement and Inertia in Modernity 90
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vi CONTENTS
PART 2 MECHANISMS AND MANIFESTATIONS: A PHENOMENOLOGY
OF SOCIAL ACCELERATION
3. Technical Acceleration and the Revolutionizing of the
Space-Time Regime 97
4. Slipping Slopes: The Acceleration of Social Change and the Increase
of Contingency 108
5. The Acceleration of the “Pace of Life” and Paradoxes in the Experience
of Time 120
1. Objective Parameters: The Escalation of the Speed of Action 122
2. Subjective Parameters: Time Pressure and the Experience of
Racing Time 131
3. Temporal Structures and Self-Relations 145
PART 3 CAUSES
6. The Speeding Up of Society as a Self-Propelling Process:
The Circle of Acceleration 151
7. Acceleration and Growth: External Drivers of
Social Acceleration 160
1. Time Is Money: The Economic Motor 161
2. The Promise of Acceleration: The Cultural Motor 174
3. The Temporalization of Complexity: The Socio-Structural Motor 185
8. Power, War, and Speed: State and Military as Key Institutional
Accelerators 195
PART 4 CONSEQUENCES
9. Acceleration, Globalization, Postmodernity 211
10. Situational Identity: Of Drifters and Players 224
1. The Dynamization of the Self in Modernity 224
2. From Substantial A Priori Identity to Stable A Posteriori Identity:
The Temporalization of Life 226
3. From Temporally Stable to Situational Identity: The Temporalization
of Time 231
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TRANSLATOR’S INTRCOODNUTCETNIOTNS vviiii
11. Situational Politics: Paradoxical Time Horizons Between
Desynchronization and Disintegration 251
1. Time in Politics—Politics in Time 251
2. The Temporalization of History in the Modern Age 255
3. Paradoxical Time Horizons: The Detemporalization of History in
Late Modernity 259
12. Acceleration and Rigidity: An Attempt at a Redefinition
of Modernity 277
Conclusion: Frenetic Standstill? The End of History 299
Notes 323
Bibliography 419
Index 449
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1. The Modernization Process I
2.1. Acceleration as Increase in Quantity Per Unit of Time
2.2. Exponential Growth as a Result of Acceleration of Continuous Processes
2 .3. T ime Use with Constant Quantity of Activities in an Age of Technological
Acceleration
2.4. “Free Time” and “Time Scarcity” as Consequences of the Relation of the
Rates of Growth and Acceleration
3.1. Compression of Space Through the Acceleration of Transportation
3.2. Technical Acceleration and the Transformation of Relations to the World
6.1. The Circle of Acceleration
7.1. External Drivers of Acceleration
11.1. Paradoxes of Political Time
12.1. The Modernization Process IIa
12.2. The Modernization Process IIb
Tables
5.1. Paradoxes in the Experience of Time
8 .1. T he Dialectic of Acceleration and Inertia: Modern Accelerators and Late
Modern “Brakes”
1 2.1. F rom “Temporalized” History to “Frenetic Standstill”: The Acceleration-
Induced Dialectic of Temporalization and Detemporalization in Modernity
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