Abstract
This article draws on results from a long-term research program carried out by the Science Centre Berlin for Social Research (WZB) and the Swedish Collegium of Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (SCASSS) on the history and sociology of the social sciences. The transformations of the discourses on society is outlined in the three major periods of transformations that have occurred in the age of modernity in Europe since the late 18th century. These three transformations have all involved a fundamental restructuring of the key political, economic and discursive institutions. The article outlines these institutional transformation and their mutual linkages and social embeddedness with special reference to problems of societal knowledge, technology and identity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, B. (1983).Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso. London.
Burrage, M. (1993). From Practice to School-based Professional Education: Patterns of Conflict and Accommodation in England, France and the United States. In S. Rothblatt and B. Wittrock (eds.) op.cit. pp 142–187.
Burrage, M. and Torstendahl, R. (1990).Professions in Theory and History: Rethinking the Study of Professions. Sage. London.
Forgan, S. (1989). The architecture of science and the idea of a university.Studies in History and Philosophy of Science,20, 405–434.
Foucault, M. (1970).The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences. Vintage Books. New York.
Garten, J. E. (1992).A Cold Peace: America, Japan, Germany, and the Struggle for Supremacy. Times Books. New York.
Gellner, E. (1983).Nations and Nationalism. Blackwell. Oxford.
Giddens, A. (1990).The Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press. Cambridge.
Grimm, D. (1986). The Modern State: Continental Traditions. In F X Kaufmann, G Majone and V Ostrom (eds.)Guidance, Control and Evaluation in the Public Sector. Walter de Gruyter. Berlin.
Hawthorn, G. (1976).Enlightenment and Despair: A History of Social Theory. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Heibron, J. (1990).Het Onstaan van de Sociologie. Prometheus. Amsterdam.
Hollingsworth, J. (in press). Are Social Systems of Production Converging? In R Hollingsworth and R Boyer (eds.)The Social Embeddedness of Capitalism. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Jonsson, U. (1992). The Paradox of Share Tenancy under Capitalism: A Comparative Perspective on Late Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century French and Italian Sharecropping.Rural History.3. 191–217.
Koselleck, R. (1975).Preussen zwischen Reform und Revolution. Allgemeines Landrecht, Verwaltun und soziale Bewegung von 1791 bis 1848. Ernst Klett Verlag. Stuttgart.
Koselleck, R. (1985).Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time. The MIT Press. Cambridge, MA.
Lazonick, W. (1991).Business Organization and the Myth of the Market Economy. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Manicas, P. (1987).A History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Blackwell. Oxford.
Murakami, Y.P. (1993). Scientization of Science.Annals of the Japan Association for Philosophy of Science.8. 175–185.
Perkin, H. (1984). The Historical Perspective. In B R Clark (ed.).Perspectives on Higher Education: Eight Disciplinary and Comparative Views. University of California Press. Berkeley.
Rosecrance, R. (1986).The Rise of the Trading State: Commerce and Conquest in the Modern World. Basic Books. New York.
Rothbaltt, S. and Wittrock, B. (eds.) (1993).The European and American University Since 1800: Historical and Sociological Essays. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Rousseau, G.S. and Porter, R. (eds.) (1980)The Ferment of Knowledge: Studies in the Historiography of Eighteenth-Century Science. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Rueschemeyer, D., Huber Stephens, E. and Stephens, J.D. (1992).Capitalist Development and Democracy. Polity Press. Cambridge.
Rueschemeyer, D. and Skocpol, T. (eds.) (in press).States, Social Knowledge and the Origins of Modern Social Policies. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ.
Skowronek, S. (1982).Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877 1920. Cambridge University Press. New York.
Teich, M. and Porter, R. (eds.) (1993).The National Question in Europe in Historical Context. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Thurow, L. (1992).Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe, and America. William Morrow. New York.
Torstendahl, R. and Burrage, M. (1990).The Formation of Professions: Knowledge, State and Strategy. Sage. London.
Torstendahl, R. (1991).Bureaucratization in Northwestern Europe, 1885–1985: Domination and Governance. Routledge. London.
Torstendahl, R. (1993). The Transformation of Professional Education in the Nineteenth Century. In S Rothblatt and B Wittrock (eds.) op.cit.
Trädgårdh, L. (1990). Varieties of Volkish Ideologies: Sweden and Germany 1848–1933. In B Stråth (ed.)Language and the Construction of Class Identities. Gothenburg University. Gothenburg. Sweden.
Turner, S. (1987). The Great Transition and the Social Patterns of German Science.Minnerva. 25. 56–76.
Wagner, P. (1990)Sozialwissenschaften und Staat in Frankreich, Italien und Deutschland. Campus Verlag. Frankfurt am Main.
Wagner, P., Weiss, C.H., Wollman, H. and Wittrock, B. (eds.) (1991a)Social Sciences and Modern States: National Experiences and Theoretical Crossroads. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Wagner, P., Wittrock, B. and Whitley, R. (eds.) (1991b)Discourses on Society: The Shaping of the Social Science Disciplines. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dodrecht.
Weisz, G. (1983).The Emergence of Modern Universities in France, 1863–1914. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Wittrock, B. (1991). Cultural Identity and Nationhood: The Reconstitution of Germany. In T Nybom and M Trow (eds.)University and Society: The Social Role of Higher Education and Research. Jessica Kingsley. London.
Zimmerman, M.E. (1990).Heidegger's Confrontations with Modernity: Technology, Politics, Art. Indiana University Press. Bloomington.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wittrock, B. Polity, economy and knowledge in the age of modernity in Europe. AI & Soc 7, 127–140 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01908610
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01908610