Lageanalyse in Zeiten von Massengesellschaft und Massendemokratie bei Kondylis

The focus of this volume is primarily on the representation of the antinomies of this form of society, including the contradiction that drives individuals into asceticism and discipline in their profession while simultaneously indulging in the hedonism of mass consumption. For economies, it is, for example, the antinomy between resource conservation and disposable consumption, between the globalization of trade on one hand and market isolation on the other due to the intensifying competition among world powers. The unchanging nature of humanity is expressed for Kondylis in the pursuit of power and recognition, in the forces of state formation, and in the restless, rational quest for optimization, which is also reflected in the changing meanings of terms like "substance" due to economic and technological development. This essence reveals itself in the fact that, despite all social and historical change, humanity is grounded in community.