Dancing Toward Democracy— Future modernities
- ““Utopian realism, such as I advocate it, is the characteristic outlook of a critical theory without guarantees. 'Realism' because such a critical theory, such a radical politics, has to grasp actual social processes to suggest ideas and strategies which have some purchase; 'utopianism' because in a social universe more and more pervaded by social reflexivity, in which possible futures are constantly not just balanced against the present but actively help constitute it, models of what could be the case can directly affect what comes to be the case. An outlook of utopian realism recognizes that 'history' cannot simply be reflexively grasped: yet this very recognition adds weight to the logic of utopian thought, since we no longer hold fast to the theorem that greater understanding of history means greater transparency of action and thus greater control over its course”
(Giddens 1994, 249-250).
The futures of modernities throughout the Asia/Pacific region seem to be inscribing themselves in the present at an accelerated rate. The just-emerging big-picture of the scope of the collapse of economic growth and confidence in Japan, for example, and the pace of change (at times both faster and slower than anticipated) within China are today forcing transformative changes in the relationships between government, economic corporations, and civil groups.
Not only is this a time when we need better tools to understand civil societies and public spheres, it is a time when we should be offering better tools to groups who find themselves disadvantaged in the negotiations for inclusion in these arenas. The sociology of cultures of/in democracy needs to engage the public sphere of the site of study. This engagement proceeds reflexively when local communities appropriate social science studies about their circumstances, but is also possible and desirable for the social scientist to assist in this reflexive appropriation.
