`Reflexive modernization' and other mythical realities

Abstract

This article explores the theory of `reflexive modernization' which is primarily associated with the names of Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. It examines the pressures under which the re-definition of modernity as `pure' reflexivity emerged and suggests that among these, poststructuralism has been the most fundamental. It also examines how the theory, by refashioning modernity, strives to maintain western identity over and above its other, the traditional, as well as to retain the privileges that this identity bestows. The article concludes by arguing that the theory constructs a mythical reality which, however, cannot be taken seriously even as a myth. Its narrators are unaware of what their story does but, unlike the narrators of native myths, they utterly contradict themselves by claiming to be guided by `wholesale' reflexivity.