La sociedad moderna: una sociedad capitalista funcionalmente diferenciada

Uwe Schimank

doi:10.5354/rmad.v0i28.26944

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Modernity as a Functionally Differentiated Capitalist Society

Authors

Uwe Schimank Universidad de Bremen

No. 28 (2013)

https://doi.org/10.5354/rmad.v0i28.26944

Abstract

This contribution presents the theoretical idea that modern society can be conceived of as a capitalist society without contradiction to its characterization as functionally differentiated. A three-component analytical model of capitalist society is proposed. The first component refers to inter-systemic structures and dynamics mediated by money which are peculiar to the relations of the modern economy to the other societal sub-systems. The second component identifies markets as intra-systemic governance structures of the economy with peculiar dynamics that cannot be found in other sub-systems of modern society. Both components are interrelated: Only because the intra-systemic structures and dynamics of the economy have profound inter-systemic repercussions in all other sub-systems, one can speak of a capitalist society brought about by a capitalist economy. These two components are accompanied by a third one: that we live in a capitalist society shapes, as a general cultural pattern of orientation, our actions and thereby becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.