The Abstract Society
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Abstract Society
| Full title | The Abstract Society: A Cultural Analysis of Our Time |
|---|---|
| Author | Anton C. Zijderveld |
| Published | 1970 |
| Pages | 184 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Anton Zijderveld’s 1970 sociological account of modern life as abstraction — institutions experienced as unreal, meaning thinning out — which reads as if it were written about the present. |
Where I heard about it
- Visakan Veerasamy (@visakanv) — on X, March 2025: “take Anton Zijderveld’s ‘The Abstract Society’ (1970) … You could assume it was written in 2024,” part of a broader point that “there were many writers from decades ago who wrote about many of the problems that we grapple with today.”
Connections
- Ideological Family Tree — a diagnosis of modernity that keeps getting re-derived.
- Visakan Veerasamy — the recommender.
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.