Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 211

Giddens’s critics argue that perhaps he exaggerates the discontinuity between modernity and previous societies and that tradition and habit continue to structure people’s everyday activities. The modern period is not so unique, they say, and modern people are not so different from those who went before. Others think that his account of globalizing modernity underplays the central sociological question of power – in particular that of transnational corporations to promote a form of globalization that privileges their needs at the expense of the world’s poor. The concept of ‘modernity’ essentially masks the power of capitalist corporations.

Some critics also argue that Giddens sees reflexivity in almost wholly positive terms, reflecting the opening up of social life to more choice. However, such reflexivity could also be leading to heightened levels of ‘anomie’, as described by Durkheim, and, in that sense, reflexivity may be more of a problem to be solved than a welcome development to be promoted.