New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World

A.Touraine, Director, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Translated by G.Elliot

"How rare it is that one of the world's most original social theorists writes a book so plain and important that it could be used as an introductory text for first-year students. Alain Touraine's New Paradigm should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand today's world as it is coming to be."Charles Lemert, Wesleyan University

• Introduction: A New ParadigmPart One: When We Referred to Ourselves in Social Terms1 The Break9/11FearA world in declineWhere is meaning to be found?2 GlobalizationFrom the post-war states to the globalization of the economyAn extreme capitalismThe rupturing of societiesAlter-globalismFrom society to warA globalized world3 Europe: A State without a NationThe decline of the national stateIs European unity possible?The EU and the USAThe European stateEuropean powerlessnessThe absence of a European consciousness4 The End of SocietiesThe social representation of societiesThe European mode of modernizationSociety and modernityThe crisis of representationThe three deaths of European societyThe irruption of democracyThe return of the politicalFarewell to societyThe war above usWhen system and actors separate offThe rupturing of the social bondAre we witnessing the end of social movements?Conclusion5 Revisiting the SelfWhat is modernity?The victory of modernityThe end of social thinkingEmancipatory individualismForms of social determinismFrom focusing on the world to focusing on the selfThe awakening of the subjectPart Two: Now that We Refer to Ourselves in Cultural Terms6 The SubjectThe subject and identitySources of the subjectDefence of sociologyThe individual subjectRightsAre we all subjects?The negation of the subjectA related noteThe subject, social movements and the unconsciousProximityThe subject and religionThe subject and the schoolThe experience of being a subjectThe anti-subjectBetween gods and societies7 Cultural RightsPolitical rights and cultural rightsMinorities, multiculturalism, communitarianismRedistribution and recognitionThe new social movementsModernizationsEntry into the post-social worldSexual rightsThe limits of cultural mixingAbout the ‘veil’Communities and communitarianismsLiberals and communitariansSecularismInter-cultural communicationReturn to new ideas8 A Society of WomenAn altered situationEquality and differenceSexuality and genderThe woman-subjectThe role of menPost-feminismThe Argument: By Way of ConclusionBibliographyName IndexSubject Index