I’m still stuck on a point that Annalise (forgive me for any misspellings!) raised in class, in response to the question of whether or not modernity has limited our social awareness, or if it has fostered it. The question, for me, could potentially allow a much closer understanding of how modernism still works upon our society and upon ourselves as individuals.Are we more socially aware? Certainly. Despite the conversation we had in our first class, during which we arrived at a general consensus that the effects of technology have only succeeded in isolating us in more ways that it connects, I do believe that we have a better understanding of how our actions send ripples across the globe; how could we not? It’s a self-reproducing system of course – a hundred years ago, there would have been fewer ways in which we could have made such impacts on such a scale.Does it make us more socially active? It’s difficult to say. Make the case for the evils of Marx’s ‘alienation from the product’ theory if you will, and I cannot deny that it has its ill-effects, but to some extent (and I’m playing Devil’s advocate here) it does allow us to meet our basic needs, exceed them even, in order to pay attention to the larger global issues.I find it interesting that many of our contemporary do-gooders (Al Gore, Bill Gates, etc) are people whose needs are not only met but far exceeded due to their wealth.I do my best to understand modernism as a way of thinking that is not always rooted in the negative. Perhaps the effect of industrialization doesn’t carry as many ill-effects as we’re inclined to believe it does.As a side note, I truly enjoyed the seminar this evening!
-Steve
