New Babylon and the Politics of Modernity

Samenvatting

A summary of issues addressed in Kennedy's Nieuw Babylon in aanbouw: Nederland in de jaren zestig ([Building New Babylon: The Netherlands in the Sixties] 1995). It is argued that the modernity discourse favored by the Dutch elites accommodated tolerance for new developments, thus smoothing the path, & maybe even pointing the way, for the 1960s social & cultural transformations. Using a culture-historical rather than a historical-sociological perspective, the relation between the Dutch social, political, cultural, & religious elites of the 1960s & their adherence to the discourse of modernity is addressed. This adherence to ideas & language thought to represent modernity fueled a high degree of tolerance for the radical ideas of the younger generation, thus preventing a full-blown generation gap. These Dutch developments are contrasted with those in the US, where the tradition of individualism inhibited a similar guidance toward modernity by the elites, a much more pronounced generation gap, & more outspoken adherence to traditional values. Adapted from the source document.