Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of modernity as it is used in this book. It pleads for a dynamic understanding of modernity, one that leaves ample scope for modernity’s constant self-transformation. It also argues that modernity is a world-encompassing phenomenon, hence the notion of global modernity. However, it is only during the past few decades that modernity has broken through on a genuinely global scale. This breakthrough, the chapter claims, is an event of seismic proportions whose significance the world is only just beginning to come to terms with. The aim of the book is to help lay some conceptual foundations for its adequate understanding.