1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910960665403321

Autore

Salerno Roger A

Titolo

Landscapes of abandonment : capitalism, modernity, and estrangement / / Roger A. Salerno

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2003

ISBN

9780791486276

0791486273

9781417538072

1417538074

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (282 p.)

Collana

SUNY series in the sociology of culture

Disciplina

302.5/44

Soggetti

Social integration

Marginality, Social

Capitalism - Social aspects

Alienation (Philosophy)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-261) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Capitalism, Abandonment, and Modernity -- Abandonment and Social Theory -- Psychology of Separation and Loss -- Fragmentation and Abandonment of Conscience -- Abandonment of Community -- Abandonment of Nature -- Dark Utopia: Globalization and Abandonment -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Using social theory and cultural analysis, Roger A. Salerno explores the relationship of abandonment to the construction of contemporary capitalistic cultures. Beginning with an array of narratives on the emergence of capitalism in the West and its undermining of traditional social institutions and structures, he provides an overview of both the definition of and reactions to abandonment, analyzing its historical, social, and psychological dimensions. The author contends that abandonment anxiety and feelings of estrangement not only have deep psychological roots, but also important social causes and cultural manifestations such as a quest for security or a hunger for commodities. Salerno surveys important contributions of writers,



artists, philosophers, and social scientists and how their work expresses this sense of modern abandonment. He also examines how and why this phenomenon has become a central motif in renderings of community, the environment, and the process of globalization and presents a richer understanding of our modern social condition.