The Contours of High Modernity –
focus on connection between
sociology and modern institutions
An example – a devorce is a crisis in the individual
personal life, which presents dangers to their security and
sense of well-being.
Also offers fresh opportunities for selfdevelopment and
future happiness.
Going through a phase of mourning, is the key to
”reclaiming oneself” after devorse, sickness ect….
You must reach back into the early experience and find
other images and roots for independence, for being able
to live alone and for undertaking the second chance.
The media printed and electronic play
today a more central role.
 The media gives os multiple choices about
how to life our lives, distinct from the
previous periodes of history.
 Personal meaninglessness – the feeling
that life has nothing worthwhile to offer –
becomes a fundamental psychic problem
in circumstances of late modernity

Modernity – some general
consederations.
Modernity = the industrual world.
 The pace of social change much faster
than in any prior system.
 Globalisation of social activity
 Printing (mass media) newspaper, books
 Electronic communication (television,
radio ect.)

The dynamic character of modern
social life.
Separation of time and space.
(we all have a sense of the future, the present
and the past)


Disembedding mechanisms (symbolic tokens
( monetary extance of one form or
another)and expert systems (technical
knowlegde)

Institutional reflexivity (new information and
knowledge)
Science and technology are double-edged,
creating new parameters of risk and
danger as well as offering beneficent
possibilities for humankind.
 We are living in a risky world, where we
will be confronted with our social
existence.

Why modernity and personal
identity
Changes in personal life is directly tied to
social connections of very wide scope.
 Modernity breaks down the protective
framework of the small community and of
tradition, replacing these with much larger
impersonal organisations.
