High-Speed Society

Hartmut Rosa is Professor of Sociology at the University of Jena and Affiliated Professor of Sociology at the New School University.William E. Scheuerman is Professor of Political Science and Western European Studies at Indiana University.

• ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionHartmut Rosa and William E. ScheuermanPart 1. Classical Perspectives on Social Acceleration1.A Law of AccelerationHenry Adams2.The Pace of Life and the Money EconomyGeorg Simmel3.The New Religion-Morality of SpeedFilippo Tommaso Marinetti4.The Mania for Motion and SpeedJohn Dewey5.The Motorized LegislatorCarl SchmittPart 2. High-Speed Society: Theoretical Foundations6.Social Acceleration: Ethical and Political Consequences of a Desychronized High-Speed SocietyHartmut Rosa7.Is There an Acceleration of History?Reinhart Koselleck8.The Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Globalizing Capital and Their Impact on State Power and DemocracyBob Jessop9.The Contraction of the PresentHermann Lübbe10.Speeding Up and Slowing DownJohn UrryPart 3. High-Speed Society: Political Consequences?11.The State of EmergencyPaul Virilio12.The Nihilism of Speed: On the Work of Paul VirilioStefan Breuer13.Temporal Rhythms and Military Force: Acceleration, Deceleration, and WarHerfried Münkler14.Speed, Concentric Circles, and CosmopolitanismWilliam E. Connolly15.Citizenship and SpeedWilliam E. ScheuermanList of ContributorsIndex

“This is an intriguing collection of texts centering on a theme about which social science has had little, and certainly little that is systematic and cumulative, to say. The editors’ idea is to try to capture the thought, ever more widespread since the eighteenth century, that more and more aspects of our lives—technological, economic, public and political, private and intimate—are speeding up. To what extent is this true? If true, what are its consequences, for instance, for the quality of individual lives and for the functioning of democratic politics, and for the condition of those marginalized by and excluded from this allegedly accelerating dynamism of modernity? It is an excellently edited collection of interesting essays on an important subject.”—Steven Lukes, New York University