13.12.2016 - 09:10

Guest Lecture by Volker H. Schmidt

East Asia and the Breakthrough of Global Modernity: Impact and Implications  |  Room SG U 126, Building SG, Geibelstr. 41, 47057 Duisburg  |  Tue, Dec. 13, 2016, 16–18 h

Abstract:
In this talk, I will argue that the past three decades or so have seen what arguably amounts to the greatest and most dramatic transformation in history, ushering in what I call the Age of Global Modernity. I will also argue that most of the change behind the breakthrough of Global Modernity is spatially concentrated in Asia, especially in East Asia. To substantiate these two claims, I will first present data supporting the notion of the relatively recent onset of the Age of Global Modernity and then show, in a second step, how (East) Asia has contributed to this development. In a third step, I will draw some conclusions as to the likely consequences of the breakthrough of Global Modernity.

Volker H. Schmidt
Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. He is author or co-author of six books and editor or co-editor of another four volumes, and has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters in English and German. His main areas of specialization are the sociology of justice, social policy, social theory, and global change (with a special emphasis on East Asia). He was a Fellow at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University (1997/98), at the excellence cluster on "Religion and Politics in Modernity", University of Münster (2008/09), at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld (2013/14), and at the Center for Advanced Studies in Bioethics, University of Münster (2013/14). His most recent publications include the book Global Modernity: A Conceptual Sketch, Palgrave Macmillan (2014).

Contact: Prof. Tao Liu, IN-EAST, tao.liu@uni-due.de