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Fuchs, C.
5. The Antagonisms of the Global Modern Age The antagonism between structures and actors results in a clash of estrangement and selfdetermination that is characteristic for all subsystems of modern society. In respect to the increasing global character of modern society, several antagonisms can be found subsystem technosphere ecosphere economy polity culture
faces on the way towards globality an antagonism between… global alliance technology global megamachine global sustainability global degradation global wealth global empire global participation global control global wisdom global imperialism
Table 2: Antagonisms of the Global Modern Age
The basic conflict is that many people can’t cope with the increased complexity of the world because their lives are increasingly shaped by global alienated structures that are out of their reach and that they can’t participate in. They are not provided with much help for better understanding and participating in these structures, but are rather left alone and all on themselves. The increased feeling of powerlessness and alienation has resulted in identity conflicts and along with it in an aggravation of nationalism, racism, fundamentalism, ethnical conflicts, etc. Globalization is an ambivalent process that produces both new opportunities and risks in all subsystems of society. These conflicts can be described as antagonisms. subsystem technosphere ecosphere economy polity culture
on the way to the global modern society the individual faces antagonisms between…that challenge its identity individual global technology individual global ecology individual global economy individual global politics individual global culture
Table 3.: Antagonisms between individual identity and the increased global character of modern society
5.1. Technosphere: Global Alliance Technology vs. Global Megamachine In modern society, technology is both medium and outcome of capitalistic development. By establishing new technologies, productivity can be increased and hence economic capital organized more efficiently. Technology mediates capital accumulation. Economic capital accumulation requires a permanent increase of productivity and hence there is a need for permanently developing new, more productive technologies. Capital accumulation results in new technologies. Technology as such is a means for achieving defined goals efficiently and simplifying human existence. In modern society it is not a means that serves primarily human ends, but a means that serves only partial economic interests, hence it is a means of domination and control. Technology as such can increase human wealth and co-operation, but as a means of control it is a megamachine that serves as a medium of domination and alienation. In capitalism, technology is not only a means for increasing productivity, but also a means for reducing the turnover time of capital. The turnover time is the total time of production and circulation of capital. The faster capital can be produced and circulated, the higher the speed of accumulation. Technological progress in capitalism is a continuous effort to shorten turnover time. The history of technological progress is a history of the globalization of society. Especially transportation and communication technologies (railway, telegraph, broadcasting, automobile, TV, aviation, digital computer-based communication technology, and most recently digital network technology and the Internet) have increased the speed of global flows of capital, commodities, power, communication,
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