ABSTRACT
The emphasis in the last chapter was on routines, traditions and processes of social reproduction. Although it was acknowledged there that reproduction does involve elements of change, the focus here will be much more on patterns of social transformation. So far, in discussing day-to-day and institutional life, I have concentrated mainly on their stability and continuity (underpinned by the repetitions of the clock and calendar), but this is only part of the story. Modern institutions are also characterised by their ‘dynamism’, the ways in which they can ‘undercut traditional habits and customs’ and, crucially, their ‘extensional transformations’ on a potentially global scale (Giddens 1991: 1). In other words, whereas our primary concern up to now has been with cyclicity or the recursive ordering of practices in time-space, I want us to think next about some of the features of extensionality in social life. This means engaging with the arguments about globalisation touched on towards the end of the previous chapter, where we began to look at issues to do with what John Thompson (1995) calls the ‘extended availability’ of media messages in time and space. Whilst it is certainly not my intention to suggest that media are the principal ‘motors’ of change, I will be exploring the significant role they play, alongside other institutions and technologies, in globalising processes.
