Beyond binary thinking: Making sense of modernity as a historical phenomenon

Abstract

Jeffrey Alexander’s The dark side of modernity is an attempt at making sense of the fact that “modernity” – the Western quest for progress and reason and pursuit of perfection – went awry and all the questions that come with having to recognize that. Questions such as how to make sense of the persistence of evil, the relationship between good and evil, how to make sense of modernity and its meanings in the world today, and the place of social theory in helping us understand shifts in Western modernity.