The Past in Ruins: Tradition and the Critique of Modernity

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University of Massachusetts Press, 1992 - History - 175 pages
What is the fate of tradition in the modern world? Once a vital source of social cohesion and continuity, many traditions in the West today seem to have been undermined or to have disappeared altogether. Some observers regard this erosion of past values and practices as a disaster, the root cause of contemporary spiritual and social decay. Others see the same phenomenon as emancipatory, making possible new ways of living and new modes of cultural expression.

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