Processes of Singularization and Cleavages in Advanced Modernity: The Emerging Challenges to Democracy
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Abstract
This article analyzes the challenges of democracy in advanced modernity, focusing on the processes of individualization, singularization, and their implications for social bonds and political legitimacy. The transition from the universalist logic of classical modernity, cen-tered on emancipation through universal rights, to a singularist logic that values individual uniqueness, generates new social and cultural fractures. The processes of singularization redefine the relationship between individual and collective identity, transforming social recognition into a performative imperative.
Not everyone has the resources to meet the demands of a singularist society, creating a division between “winners,” members of a cosmopolitan cultural elite, and “losers,” often ex-cluded or retreating into essentialist communitarianism. These dynamics weaken democratic cohesion and fuel populism, which exploits social discontent by opposing a homogeneous vision of the “people” to the elites. Moreover, the erosion of trust in democratic institutions is exacerbated by disintermediation and the fragmentation of public debate.
The proposed analysis, considering the interplay between social bonds and the political dimension, highlights tensions between generality and singularity, rationalization and culturalization, as defining features of the current democratic juncture. This issue calls for a theoretical rethinking that interprets the fault lines and transformations at the core of modern democracies.
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