| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 政治學研究所 === 89 === The purpose of this thesis is to offer an exposition of Anthony Giddens’ thoughts on modernity. The terms ‘modern’ and ‘modernity’ are probably among the most frequently used yet rarely discussed with regards to meaning and connotation. In contemporary social theories, the term modernity is frequently taken as either obsolete or true by definition. In this thesis, I try to interpret Giddens’ ideas on modernity to offer a better purchase on current ideas within the field. In the first chapter, I explain why I think the research on modernity is critical to contemporary social science. Moreover, to explicate Giddens’ thinking, I also discuss Giddens’ academic life and the contemporary academic study in Taiwan of Giddens’ writings. In the second chapter, I briefly describe Giddens’ most widely discussed theory, the Structuration theory, for I think it is the theoretical basis of the thoughts on modernity. I also refer to two important contemporary thinkers’ to trace Giddens’ theoretical background, namely Roy Bhaskar and Jürgen Habermas. In following two chapters, I detail Giddens’ theory of modernity, focusing on its fundamental characteristics, consequences and implications for the study of an increasingly globalized world. In the fifth chapter, I review the criticisms on Giddens’ theory of modernity and try to defend some of those criticisms. In the conclusion chapter, I briefly go through the major points of this thesis and assess Giddens’ insights to the study of modernity.
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