For Harry Redner, the phrase "beyond civilization" refers to the new and unprecedented condition the world is now entering‘specifically, the condition commonly known as globalization. Redner approaches globalization from the perspective of history and seeks to interpret it in relation to previous key stages of human development. His account begins with the Axial Age (700 300 BC) and proceeds through Modernity (after AD 1500) to the present global condition.What is globalization doing to civilization? In answering this question, Redner studies the role played by capitalism, the state, science and technology. He aims to show that they have had a catalytic impact on civilization through their reductive effect on society, culture, and individualism.However, Redner is not content to diagnose the ills of civilization; he also suggests how they might be ameliorated by cultural conservation. Above all, it is to the problem of decline in the higher forms of literacy that he addresses himself, for it is on the culture of the book that previous civilizations were founded. This study will be of interest to sociologists, historians, and social and political theorists. Its style makes it accessible also to general readers, interested in civilization past, present, and future.
PreludePart I: The Past History of Civilization1. An Overview of HistorySection I Historical Turning PointsSection II Cultural ConsciousnessSection III Countering Critics2. The Axial AgeSection I The Mystery of the Axial AgeSection II Ethics, Empire, and LiteracySection III Problems of Literacy3. ModernitySection I The Rise of the WestSection II The West and ModernitySection III In Defense of the West4. Post-CivilizationSection I The Ambiguities of ModernitySection II CatalystsSection III The Events of the Twentieth CenturyPart II: The Present Predicament of Civilization5. The Forces of ModernitySection I A Brief OverviewSection II CapitalismSection III The StateSection IV Science and TechnologySection V Post-Industrial or Information Society6. SocietySection I MegalopolisSection II Social RankingSection III Gemeinschaft and GesellschaftSection IV Friendship, Kinship, and Family7. CultureSection I A Historical Introduction to Global CultureSection II Capitalism and CultureSection III The State and CultureSection IV Science and Technology and CultureSection V The Global and the Local8. IndividualismSection I The Origins of IndividualismSection II Individualism in the WestSection III Individualization and AtomizationPart III: The Future Prospects of Civilization9. Catastrophes of Nature and CultureSection I The Uncertainties of PredictionSection II Jonas and JonahsSection III Scenarios of Cultural Disaster10. The Future as it Might BeSection I Drifting to DisasterSection II Restoring SocietySection III Conserving CulturesSection IV Recovering IndividualismValedictory RemarksEndnotesIndex
