The Industrial Imperative and Second (hand) Modernity

This chapter looks at a particular instance of adjustment to a new environment. It consists of recorded focus group sessions, where ‘ordinary’ people discussed the state of and prospect for their localities, and some interviews with leading persons in the communities. The chapter presents empirical material from three small Icelandic towns that are in the midst of a far-reaching ‘reinvention’ phase. It seems to be intent on leaving behind the structures of an uncertain fisheries-based first modernity, but one wonders whether they are about to enter an industrial ‘second-hand modernity’. A defining characteristic of the move towards second modernity is reflexivity: this is reflexive modernization. The concept of reflexivity has often been used in a broadly positive sense, to signify increased contemplation by individuals and collectivities of their life’s conditions and how to cope with them. First modernity involves individuals that are reflective, while true reflexivity is the product of second modernity.