Utopian Realism — Late Modernity Revisited

The analysis of late modernity comprises a series of Giddens’ texts first published in the early 1990s. These include most notably The Consequences of Modernity, Modernity and Self-identity and to a lesser extent Beyond Left and Right , which in part already moves from sociological analysis towards more programmatic pronouncements. Unlike his works around structuration theory, which deal with abstract theoretical concepts (structure, agency, time, space, power), these texts are centred on a substantive analysis of the world we inhabit today, and the social transformations, inequalities, opportunities and threats we encounter in it. 1 For the most part, these works attempt to analyse contemporary societies with ambitiously all-encompassing scope. The Transformation of Intimacy (1992) focuses on more clearly demarcated sociological issues, but nevertheless reflects and elucidates key conclusions evident in his wider analysis of late modern times, and is as such an important part of this central cluster of his work. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.