The Fragility of Modern Societies

This book argues that knowledge is now central to the modern economy and its productive processes. It is also essential for social relations, social cohesion and conflict resolution. We have moved from a society based around heavy commodities to symbolic goods, from situated markets to non-place-specific locations, from machines to software and from things to ideas. These changes produce new forms of social interaction and new perspectives on identity, practice and association. This penetrating book slices through the cliches and blind alleys of discussions around the knowledge society to reveal the tendons of contemporary change. Written with insight and panache the book explains the momentous nature of the changes associated with the know

This book argues that knowledge is now central to the modern economy and its productive processes. It is also essential for social relations, social cohesion and conflict resolution. We have moved from a society based around heavy commodities to symbolic goods, from situated markets to non-place-specific locations, from machines to software and from things to ideas. These changes produce new forms of social interaction and new perspectives on identity, practice and association. This penetrating book slices through the cliches and blind alleys of discussions around the knowledge society to reveal the tendons of contemporary change. Written with insight and panache the book explains the momentous nature of the changes associated with the knowledge society.

Introduction
Excursus

Fragility

PART ONE: THE TEXTURE OF MODERN SOCIETIES

The Nation State

Functional Differentiation

Rationalizing the Irrational

Traditional and Modern Societies

The Extension of Social Conduct

PART TWO: KNOWLEDGE SOCIETIES

The Emergence of Knowledge Societies

The Society of Societies

PART THREE: KNOWLEDGE ABOUT KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge as a Capacity for Action

Culture and Knowledge

From Capacities to Realization

Incremental Knowledge

Knowledge and Information

Limits of Power and Knowledge

Excursus

Forms of Capital

PART FOUR: FUSION THROUGH DISSOLUTION

The Disappearance of Human Agency

A Surplus of Social Manipulation

Excursus

Herrshaft kraft Wissen

PART FIVE: FRAGILE SOCIAL STRUCTURES

The World of Post-Industrial Societies

Collective and Individual Capacities to Act

PART SIX: GOVERNING KNOWLEDGE SOCIETIES

The Stalled Society

The Politics of Knowledge Societies

Political Action and Knowledgeability

PART SEVEN: FRAGMENTATION AND HOMOGENIZATION OF SOCIAL LIFE

The Advent of Mass Societies

The Globalization of the World

Globalization in Historical Times

The Divisions of the World

The Reconfiguration of the Globe

PART EIGHT: POLICING KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge Politics

Regulating Knowledge

The Social Control of Knowledge Claims in Science

The Societal Regulation of Knowledge

The Virchow-Haeckel Controversy

The Public and Science

The Developments of Social Controls

Knowledge Hierarchies and Monopolies

PART NINE: EMANCIPATION AND KNOWLEDGE

The Knowledge/Power Axis

The New Risks of Knowledge

Modern Social Movements

Excursus

Knowing and Risks

PART TEN: KNOWLEDGE, UNCERTAINTY AND CONTINGENCY

Prospects or What Remains Open