<i>The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics</i> (Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, S. Laurel Weldon (eds) New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 872 pages)

Abstract

philosophy, Wagner's research focuses on the comparative analysis of both social and political forms of modernity.In Modernity: Understanding the Present, Wagner presents an overview of the social theory that engages with the concept of modernity by analysing the changing definition of the term 'modernity' in its historical and contemporary contexts.The work creates a strong foundation for the interpretation of modernity in the 1960s and its post-1979 reassessment, when a sense of superiority of the West during the Cold War era divided the world into three domains: the liberal-democratic industrial capitalism of the First World, the Soviet-style socialism of the Second World and the Third World of so-called 'developing countries'.Wagner divides the book into two parts.In the first part, he takes a revisionist approach to Western modernity by re-theorising its relation to the Enlightenment, the French and American revolutions, the Protestant Reformations and the worldview prevailing during the Cold War era.The second part analyses Western modernity's association with capitalism and democracy in contemporary expression.Although the use of extensive subtitles allows for a better understanding of the material and summaries of Wagner's findings, the book fails to clarify how post-modernity exposes itself in liberal democracies, and whether modernity refers to an abstract imagined space.It would have been helpful to address this question explicitly by inviting a conversation about theoretical and practical differences between modernity as an idea and modernisation as a process.Overall, the book discusses interpretations of the term 'modernity' and its application to global societies in a historical sense e.g. the European and non-European trajectories of modernity and varieties of post-colonial situations.Wagner's interpretation, as influenced by the philosophical and sociological theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber and Immanuel Kant, helps us understand the historical roots of contemporary tension between democracy and democratisation.It is clear through Wagner's writing style and organisation that the book is intended for fellow scholars and advanced-level graduate students rather than undergraduate students or the general public, although the contents do provide a stimulating read for all.