Resonance: A sociology of the relationship to the world

Used book in very good condition

In his two previous books, Hartmut Rosa pointed to social acceleration as the main problem of late modernity. First Step Towards the Good Life , his third work, is based on the central notion of resonance and presents itself as a sociology of the relationship to the world.

If acceleration is the central problem of our time, resonance may be the solution. This is the thesis of the present work, which lays the foundations of a sociology of the "good life" - breaking with the idea that only material, symbolic or psychological resources are sufficient to achieve happiness.
The quality of a human life depends on the relationship to the world, provided that it allows for resonance . This increases our power to act and, in return, our ability to let ourselves be "taken", touched and transformed by the world. That is to say, the exact opposite of an instrumental, reifying and "mute" relationship, to which modern society subjects us. Because if we seek them, we experience relationships of resonance more and more rarely, due to the logic of growth and acceleration of modernity, which profoundly disrupts our relationship to the world on an individual and collective level.
From the most basic bodily experience (breathing, eating, sensations, etc.) to the most elaborate emotional relationships and cognitive conceptions, the relationship to the world takes very diverse forms: the relationship with others in the spheres of friendship, love or politics; the relationship with an idea or an absolute in the spheres of nature, religion, art and history; the relationship with matter, artifacts, in the spheres of work, education or sport.
While analyzing the tendencies towards crisis – ecological, democratic, psychological – of contemporary societies, this theory of resonance masterfully renews the framework of a critical theory of society.