Culture as a Question of Modernity

It seems that the concept of culture is becoming ever more ambivalent. On the one hand, since the 20th century nearly every topic or object can be perceived as a product of culture or as an expression of a specific cultural subdomain. On the other hand, we are witnessing a return of identitarian movements which use culture as a normative concept to designate the substantial unity of a "we" and separate this unity from other cultures and people. Against this back-drop, the article traces back the concept of culture to the specific situation of modernity, which could be characterized by the loss of substance and the challenge of contingency in all fields of the lifeworld. The essay argues that, emerging in this modern situation, culture is not defined by a specific content or a set of objects, but is used rather as a way of putting one's own position into question. Seeing things through the lens of culture implies that the actual given comes into view as something that has developed socially and historically. From such a perspective, culture is neither an arbitrary concept nor a substantial unity but allows for a critical reflection on the present.