Гилотината и Новото време
The gillotine and modernity

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to trace certain specific traits of Modernity, using the guillotine as a symbol. The rapid political changes at the end of the 18th century, the ideas of human rights, the overcoming of privileges, the growing role of machines, the growing anonymity in the emerging mass society and other characteristics of Modernity are illustrated through the guillotine, which symptomatically appeared with the Great French Revolution. The paper argues that the guillotine is one of the main symbols of Modernity, much like the clock; from the methodological point of view, the analysis of a given epoch through the functions and uses (material, social, moral, etc.) of a concrete object is not only entertaining, but represents -a sociological challenge.

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