Rosa, Hartmut. Alienation and Acceleration

Towards a Critical Theory of LateModern Temporality

Abstract

This review seeks to expose the primary contributions of the work Alienation and Acceleration, from German sociologist Hartmut Rosa. A translation of the work published in 2013, it endeavours in the integration of the author’s Theory of Social Acceleration with theoretical and normative critical apparatuses, seeking to discover “what is the Good Life, and why aren’t we living it?”. We elucidate, in this direction, the structure and content of this book, in regards to its most important argument: the theorization of Social Acceleration as an alienating, totalitarian time regime, contributor to the crises of society, social identity, and humans’ relations with each other and with the Earth itself.