Reactionary modernism

"Reactionary modernism" is a term coined by Jeffrey Herf in 1984 book, Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich, to describe the mixture of "great enthusiasm for modern technology with a rejection of the Enlightenment and the values and institutions of liberal democracy" which was characteristic of the German Conservative Revolutionary movement and Nazism.[1] Herf's application of the term to describe Fascism has been widely echoed by other scholars.[2]

Herf now applies the term to the government of Iran under the Ayatollahs, the government of Iraq under Sadam Hussein, and Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda.[1] Other scholars, including Paul Berman, have also applied Herf's term to Islamism.[3][4][5][6]

Cultural critic Richard Barbrook argues that members of the digerati, who adhere to the Californian Ideology, embrace a form of reactionary modernism which combines economic growth with social stratification.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b The Totalitarian Present: Why the West Consistently Underplays the Power of Bad Ideas, Jeffrey Herf, The American Interest
  2. ^ Fascism, Mark Neocleous, University of Minnesota Press, 1997, p. 60.
  3. ^ Power and the idealists, or, The passion of Joschka Fischer and its aftermath, Paul Berman, Soft Skull Press, 2005, p. 168.
  4. ^ Fascism, Mark Neocleous, University of Minnesota Press, 1997, p. 2.
  5. ^ New World Empire: Civil Islam, Terrorism, and the Making of Neoglobalism, William H. Thornton, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, p. 74.
  6. ^ Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics, Emmanuel Sivan, Yale University Press, 1990, p. 81.
  7. ^ Barbrook, Richard (1999). Cyber-Communism: How The Americans Are Superseding Capitalism In Cyberspace. http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/04/17/cyber-communism-how-the-americans-are-superseding-capitalism-in-cyberspace/. Retrieved 2010-03-14.