Modernity, Tradition and Reflexivity in Contemporary Brazil

Abstract

The discussion about modernity has become one of the key axes for the characterization of our time. It has been therefore exhaustively developed. The debate has focused on its definition as either ‘high’, late (advanced) modernity or postmodernity, as well as on modernism and postmodernism. It does not appear to be possible to evade it, though. Insofar as modernity, as I shall argue below, still frames the horizon of the present, a crucial task of social scientists is to understand it. I shall depict modernity in the global plane, through a discussion of Brazilian society. I believe that it will be possible to achieve three intersecting and instructive standpoints on the contemporary historical landscape. A strong liaison between modernity and globalization will become evident during the discussion. The linkage between tradition and modernity moreover will be pursued in order to make their opposition less sharp. Although the question of postmodernity can be contemplated in terms of it being a possible cultural configuration (among others) in advanced capitalism, the characterization of trends I shall propose will have the ‘reflexivisation’ of modernity as an important explicative category.