Loss

Contemporary society is marked by forms of loss in manifold ways: from the effects of climate change to the protest movements of those who have lost out in the process of modernisation, from the regression of liberal democracy to ways of dealing with grief and death in self-help discourses, from compensation for victims of violence to the vulnerabilities of an aging society. But what is behind these diverse phenomena?

In his new book, Andreas Reckwitz demonstrates that the roots of this current explosion in the economy of loss can be traced all the way back to the dawn of modernity, and to a key predicament of Western modernity: namely the antagonism between the future-oriented promises of a society organised around progress and the painful, negative experiences of loss that accompanied these developments. In this landmark sociological study, Reckwitz demonstrates how modern society is at heart driven by a paradoxical relationship to loss: modernity seeks to contain losses while at the same time intensifying them. It makes losses systematically invisible while also actively cultivating and managing them: from nostalgia to risk calculations, from religion to psychotherapy and the politics of victimhood.

In the vulnerable era of late modernity, however, the fragile relationship between loss and progress has been thrown out of balance. The burning question for contemporary society is thus: How can Western modernity come to grips with loss if its promise of progress has been stripped of its credibility?

»In his groundbreaking study Loss, sociologist Andreas Reckwitz explains, for the first time, why today’s crises are connected with loss, and why progress is no longer so important.« DIE ZEIT

»[Reckwitz] has produced an analytically precise sociology of loss that reaches a long way back historically and also incorporates ideas from philosophy and religion.« Guido Kalberer, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
»Perhaps the most important non-fiction book of this autumn.« Alexander Cammann, DIE ZEIT

»Reckwitz wouldn’t be Reckwitz if his analysis of society did not also include hints toward how we can overcome these fears. A fascinating glimpse into the psychological condition of the German populace.« Michael Bröcker, Berlin.Table

»Of the many doctors beside the sickbed of capitalism, Professor Andreas Reckwitz is certainly one of the most intelligent.« Irmtraud Gutschke, neues Deutschland

»His analysis is … realistic and nuanced. This book is recommended reading for anybody who values sociology’s perspective on the present and wants to engage more deeply with the complex relationship between progress, loss, and the future of modernity.« Sebastian Meißner, soundsandbooks.com

»The author has produced a highly analytical work that not only contextualises contemporary issues but can also serve as an aid for policy design.« Tamara Ehs, Portal für Politikwissenschaft

»A book that challenges the reader – and opens their eyes.« Nürnberger Nachrichten

»By foregrounding the losses of modern society, Andreas Reckwitz manages to strikingly illustrate the explosiveness of our current situation.« Martin Hubert, Deutschlandfunk

»Eye-opening and compellingly written. … Many readers will recognise a reflection of their daily experiences in this book.« Claas Christophersen, NDR Kultur

»Reckwitz seizes upon a concept, [loss], and turns it into a tool of interpreting an entire epoch – this has been the great skill of the philosophy of history since Koselleck. … But that is not the only feature that makes this book so convincing, but also how the theme of loss is explored in such a fundamental and epochal fashion, combining the history of ideas and mentality with cultural history, all of which is viewed through the lens of sociology.« Marc Reichwein, WELT

»[An] impressively systematic [treatise] … with the courage to make big theoretical propositions.« Ulrike Baureithel, Der Tagesspiegel

»Loss is an intelligent, stimulating, sprawling … attempt to provide a profound description of our present moment in the West.« Stefan Reinecke, taz. die tageszeitung