Modernity as history: Post-revolutionary China, globalization and the question of modernity

Processes associated with globalization have provoked important changes in our conceptions of modernity, as well as the discourse of modernization. While the end of socialism has encouraged a 'renaissance' of modernization discourse, this discourse is significantly different than in the past in its willingness to make room in modernity for civilizations other than the EuroAmerican. At the same time, post-colonial criticism has played a significant part in the downgrading of the same time, post-colonial criticism has played a significant part in the downgrading of EuroAmerican modernity by pointing to its origins in colonialism, which encourages calls for recognition of alternative modernities, or alternative claims to modernity. Intentionally or not, the combination has resulted in a renewed reification of cultural and civilizational traditions. This article juxtaposes two sets of literature to examine these developments critically. The two sets are a general, mostly sociological, literature on modernity and modernization, and literature on Chinese modernity which has proliferated in recent years. Juxtaposition of these two sets of literature provides a space that enables a critical perspective on culturalist tendencies in studies of modernity that persist despite strong evidence of problems that cut across cultural or civilizational boundaries.