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Lambert Zuidervaart Institute for Christian Studies and University of Toronto November 18, 2005 Friday, 4:00pm-6:00pm Nursing, Room 127 Contemporary struggles over globalization echo debates about modernization in the previous two centuries. How should we understand comprehensive theories of progress? By what criteria should supposed improvements in society be judged? Nearly sixty years ago Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment argued that Western modernization has not delivered what it promises. Modernization is, one could say, an "alienated masterpiece." The same label fits this much-misinterpreted book. Adorno's own successors, led by Jrgen Habermas, have made an adequate reception difficult. This paper aims to retrieve Theodor W. Adorno's social critique for the age of globalization. Habermas argues that Adorno's "critique of instrumental reason" removes the normative foundations for Critical Theory. But Habermas's alternative misses two connections central to Adorno's critique: (1) between technological mastery of nature and social domination of some people by others, and (2) between cultural differentiation and economic exploitation. Under conditions of modernization, so-called progress in one respect incurs regress in another. Adorno could not find a way out of this dilemma. As an alternative to both Habermas and Adorno, I propose the normative notion of "differential transformation." Neither "modern" endorsement nor "postmodern" rejection suffices as a stance toward globalization. Instead we must ask what simultaneous and mutually reinforcing changes--both at differing levels of social institutions, cultural practices, and interpersonal relations, and at structural interfaces among economy, polity, and culture--would allow societal principles such as justice and solidarity better to hold sway. To pursue such questions would be a sign of postsecular hope.  |
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