ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some key societal trends such as globalization, increasing mutual connections and intensifying communication, and gathered them under the concept of compressed modernity. The recent era of globalisation has given rise to the digital form of capitalism, that is, digital and distributed capitalism, in which neoliberal agendas and IT play significant roles. In the wealthy West, the rapid shifts in capital and production made possible by digital capitalism and the global market economy have pushed Western workers into a crisis. With respect to the other social dimension of forming ties, that is, temporality, digitalisation has changed the tempo of interaction between human beings and social systems. The changes in ecological, demographic and economic dimensions as well as the rapid technological development form the basis for the current changes in cohesion, social solidarity and political agendas in Western societies.
