Processes of social flourishing and their liminal collapse: elements to a genealogy of globalization

dc.check.date2018-08-17
dc.check.infoAccess to this article is restricted until 24 months after publication by request of the publisher.en
dc.contributor.authorSzakolczai, Árpád
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-18T08:22:45Z
dc.date.available2016-10-18T08:22:45Z
dc.date.issued2016-08-17
dc.description.abstractThis article aims at exploring a long-term historical perspective on which contemporary globalization can be more meaningfully situated. A central problem with established approaches to globalization is that they are even more presentist than the literature on modernization was. Presentism not only means the ignoring of history, but also the unreflective application to history of concepts taken from the study of the modern world. In contrast, it is argued that contemporary globalization is not a unique development, but rather is a concrete case of a historical type. Taking as its point of departure the spirit, rather than the word, of Max Weber, this article extends the scope of sociological investigation into archaeological evidence. Having a genealogical design and introducing the concept of ‘liminality’, the article approaches the modern process of globalization through reconstructing the internal dynamics of another type of historical change called ‘social flourishing’. Taking up the Weberian approach continued by Eisenstadt in his writings on ‘axial age’, it moves away from situations of crisis as reference point, shifting attention to periods of revival by introducing the term ‘epiphany’. Through the case of early Mesopotamia, it shows how social flourishing can be transmogrified into globalizing growth, gaining a new perspective concerning the kind of ‘animating spirit’ that might have driven the shift from Renaissance to Reformation, the rise of modern colonialism, or contemporary globalization. More generally, it will retrieve the long-term historical background of the axial age and demonstrate the usefulness and importance of archaeological evidence for sociology.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationSzakolczai, A. (2016) 'Processes of social flourishing and their liminal collapse: elements to a genealogy of globalization', British Journal of Sociology, 67(3), pp. 435–455. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12213en
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/1468-4446.12213
dc.identifier.endpage455en
dc.identifier.issn0007-1315
dc.identifier.issued3en
dc.identifier.journaltitleBritish Journal of Sociologyen
dc.identifier.startpage435en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/3188
dc.identifier.volume67en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherJohn Wiley & Sons Ltden
dc.rights© 2016, London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Szakolczai, A. (2016) 'Processes of social flourishing and their liminal collapse: elements to a genealogy of globalization', British Journal of Sociology, 67(3), pp. 435–455, which has been published in final form at 10.1111/1468-4446.12213. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.en
dc.subjectAxial ageen
dc.subjectComparative historical sociologyen
dc.subjectMax Weberen
dc.subjectGenealogyen
dc.subjectLiminalityen
dc.subjectReligious experienceen
dc.titleProcesses of social flourishing and their liminal collapse: elements to a genealogy of globalizationen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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