Alienation and Acceleration
Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality

Hartmut Rosa (Author)

9781509572076, Polity Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 March 2026

144 pages
21.3 x 13.7 x 1 cm, 0.181 kg

"The urge to 'move fast and break things' has defined an enthusiasm for innovation as permanent acceleration in Silicon Valley and beyond. It has often been a human disaster and, even when not, a distraction from asking what makes for good human lives. In Alienation and Acceleration, Hartmut Rosa provides a much-needed account of what is going on, why, and what we can do to regain a sense of purpose in personal and social life."
Craig Calhoun, Arizona State University and Princeton University

Modern life is speeding up, constantly. While the art of saving time reaches unprecedented heights through the introduction of ever-new technologies of communication and production, it nevertheless feels as though we are running out of time. In all Western societies, time scarcity is increasing and individuals report the impression of having to run faster and faster every year – not in order to get somewhere, but just to stay where they are.

In this short book Hartmut Rosa outlines his theory of social acceleration and uses it to analyze the causes and consequences of the temporal processes that characterize modern societies. He shows that modern temporal structures are governed by the logic of an acceleration process that defines the essence of modernity. He also develops a critical theory of social acceleration, arguing that acceleration leads to severe forms of alienation from time and space, from things and actions and from self and others, thus constituting a key obstacle to the realization of a 'good life' in late-modern society.

Introduction

PART ONE
A Theory of Social Acceleration

PART TWO
Social Acceleration and the Contemporary Versions of Critical Theory

PART THREE
Outlines of a Critical Theory of Social Acceleration
Conclusion

Endnotes
Literature

Subject Areas: Sociology & anthropology [JH]