Reflexive Europe and the Era of Late Modernity

Abstract

the paper proposes a conceptualization on ‘europe’ using late modernity as a social grand theory for background. it builds primarily on Giddens’ modernization argument, while the paper also invokes an intentionality framework in order to better describe the interrelation between individual emancipation and institutional reflexivity. ‘Europe’ as entity is normatively (re)theorized through this lens, i.e. how it can contribute to the subjects’ self-liberating agency. the paper focuses with particular attention on institutional shifts in four sectors—education, labor, science, and art.