PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Italy's current crisis conceals a sociological issue that deserves qualified attention: The plurality of European modernity. Starting from a critical assessment of Shmuel N. Eisenstadt's concept of multiple modernities the paper deals with the internal differentiation of the classical model of European modernity. Plessner's concept of "belated nation" allows a survey of different components and speeds of modernisation processes. Applying Plessner's model to Italy's current situation presupposes however to work out more precisely its ideal typical structure and sociological foundation. Furthermore, the normative bias of Plessner's study on Germany has to be put methodologically in parenthesis, so that Plessner's analytical frame can be used beyond its original context. First, the article elaborates Plessner's model ideal typically and differentiates between its political-, economical-, religious-, intellectual- and culture-sociological issues. In the second step, the implicit references to the sociological work of Karl Mannheim and Max Weber are reconstructed. In the third step, the paper evaluates the fruitfulness of Plessner's approach with regard to its application to Italy's current crisis. Concluding it retraces the limits of Plessner's analysis and indicates which further inquiries are necessary to develop an ideal typical concept of the plurality within the European modernity.