High-speed Society

2010-11-01 Science

Author : Hartmut Rosa
Release : 2010-11-01
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 704/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis High-speed Society by : Hartmut Rosa

Download or read book High-speed Society written by Hartmut Rosa. This book was released on 2010-11-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everywhere, life seems to be speeding up: we talk of &“fast food&” and &“speed dating.&” But what does the phenomenon of social acceleration really entail, and how new is it? While much has been written about our high-speed society in the popular media, serious academic analysis has lagged behind, and what literature there is comes more from Europe than from America. This collection of essays is a first step toward exposing readers on this side of the Atlantic to the importance of this phenomenon and toward developing some preliminary conceptual categories for better understanding it. Among the major questions the volume addresses are these: Is acceleration occurring across all sectors of society and all dimensions of life, or is it affecting some more than others? Where is life not speeding up, and what results from this disparity? What are the fundamental causes of acceleration, as well as its consequences for everyday experience? How does it affect our political and legal institutions? How much speed can we tolerate? The volume tackles these questions in three sections. Part 1 offers a selection of astute early analyses of acceleration as experienced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Part 2 samples recent attempts at analyzing social acceleration, including translations of the work of leading European thinkers. Part 3 explores acceleration&’s political implications.

Social Acceleration

2013-05-14 Philosophy

Author : Hartmut Rosa
Release : 2013-05-14
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 348/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Social Acceleration by : Hartmut Rosa

Download or read book Social Acceleration written by Hartmut Rosa. This book was released on 2013-05-14. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hartmut Rosa advances an account of the temporal structure of society from the perspective of critical theory. He identifies in particular three categories of change in the tempo of modern social life: technological acceleration, evident in transportation, communication, and production; the acceleration of social change, reflected in cultural knowledge, social institutions, and personal relationships; and acceleration in the pace of life, which happens despite the expectation that technological change should increase an individual's free time. According to Rosa, both the structural and cultural aspects of our institutions and practices are marked by the "shrinking of the present," a decreasing time period during which expectations based on past experience reliably match future results and events. When this phenomenon combines with technological acceleration and the increasing pace of life, time seems to flow ever faster, making our relationships to each other and the world fluid and problematic. It is as if we are standing on "slipping slopes," a steep social terrain that is itself in motion and in turn demands faster lives and technology. As Rosa deftly shows, this self-reinforcing feedback loop fundamentally determines the character of modern life.

Man and a High Speed Society

1980

Author :
Release : 1980
Genre :
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Man and a High Speed Society by :

Download or read book Man and a High Speed Society written by . This book was released on 1980. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Pressed for Time

2015 Computers

Author : Judy Wajcman
Release : 2015
Genre : Computers
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 47X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Pressed for Time by : Judy Wajcman

Download or read book Pressed for Time written by Judy Wajcman. This book was released on 2015. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The technologically tethered, iPhone-addicted figure is an image we can easily conjure. Most of us complain that there aren't enough hours in the day and too many e-mails in our thumb-accessible inboxes. This widespread perception that life is faster than it used to be is now ingrained in our culture, and smartphones and the Internet are continually being blamed. But isn't the sole purpose of the smartphone to give us such quick access to people and information that we'll be free to do other things? Isn't technology supposed to make our lives easier? In Pressed for Time, Judy Wajcman explains why we immediately interpret our experiences with digital technology as inexorably accelerating everyday life. She argues that we are not mere hostages to communication devices, and the sense of always being rushed is the result of the priorities and parameters we ourselves set rather than the machines that help us set them. Indeed, being busy and having action-packed lives has become valorized by our productivity driven culture. Wajcman offers a bracing historical perspective, exploring the commodification of clock time, and how the speed of the industrial age became identified with progress. She also delves into the ways time-use differs for diverse groups in modern societies, showing how changes in work patterns, family arrangements, and parenting all affect time stress. Bringing together empirical research on time use and theoretical debates about dramatic digital developments, this accessible and engaging book will leave readers better versed in how to use technology to navigate life's fast lane.

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