Andreas Reckwitz - Society of Singularities

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Andreas Reckwitz

Translated by Valentine A. Pakis

polity

First published in German as Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten © Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2017

This English edition © Polity Press, 2020

The translation of this work was funded by Geisteswissenschaften International – Translation Funding for Work in the Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, the collecting society VG WORT, and the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association).

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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3422-7

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Reckwitz, Andreas, author. | Pakis, Valentine A., translator.

Title: Society of singularities / Andreas Reckwitz ; translated by Valentine A. Pakis.

Other titles: Gesellschaft der Singularitäten. English

Description: Cambridge ; Medford, MA : Polity, [2020] | “First published in German as Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten © Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin 2017”-- Title verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | In English, translated from the original German. | Summary: “In this major new book, Andreas Reckwitz examines the causes, structures and consequences of the society of singularities in which we now live”-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019033278 (print) | LCCN 2019033279 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509534227 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509534241 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Social change. | Individualism. | Culture. | Postmodernism.

Classification: LCC HM831 .R425 2020 (print) | LCC HM831 (ebook) | DDC 303.4--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033278

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033279

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Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Limited

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Although books seem to stand on their own in the cultural sphere, they are in fact nodal points within networks and are made possible by infrastructures. This book, too, owes much to many. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to present the building blocks of this work at many conferences and workshops held at various universities and institutions. Without exception, these presentations led to lively debates with colleagues, both known and unknown to me, whose advice and objections improved this book considerably. Special thanks are due to the members of my research colloquium and my department at the Viadrina European University in Frankfurt an der Oder. I would like to mention in particular those who took the time to read the manuscript in whole or in part: Martin Bauer, Michael Hutter, Hannes Krämer, Jan-Hendrik Passoth, Hilmar Schäfer, and Klaus Schlichte. Stefan Wellgraf provided me with many helpful references for Part V. I am indebted to Wiebke Forbrig, Julien Enzana, and especially Moritz Plewa for their reliable research assistance and for their help in preparing the manuscript for publication. Eva Gilmer at the Suhrkamp Verlag edited my original German text with her usual authoritative and critical eye. The early stages of my research on this topic were facilitated by a fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Freiburg, and this book never could have been written without the generous assistance of the Volkswagen Foundation, which supported my research with its “magnum opus initiative” during the years 2015 to 2017. Heartfelt thanks to everyone!