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Europe and the emergence of modernity. The entanglement of two reference cultures

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 23:47 authored by Gerard Delanty
This article offers a theory of the notion ‘reference culture’ by taking as major examples modernity and Europe. Both constitute reference cultures and while different are closely related. A certain entanglement took place between the emergence of modernity and the formation of European culture whereby the latter came to be one of the main carriers of modernity. However, they need to be separated in that Europe, while being the first major expression of modernity, is not the only embodiment of modernity. Modernity can be termed a first-order reference culture and Europe a second-order one. While there have been many second-order reference cultures, the European one was an influential and powerful one, but it was also a temporary one. This article sets out the main features that define the specificity of Europe. Against accounts that emphasize a master narrative or an underlying cultural unity to Europe, it is argued that crucial to the making of Europe was the formation of modes of communication that enabled common practices to develop across a range of different cultures. In this way, it is argued, Europe consolidated as a consequence less of endogenous factors than exogenous ones. Important, too, was the mobile nature of European culture which facilitated translation into other cultures and which was also receptive to modernity. The twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of other varieties of modernity and the global decline of the European model

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity

ISSN

2214-9910

Publisher

Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals

Issue

3

Volume

3

Page range

9-34

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-12-21

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2015-12-21

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2015-12-21

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