The Long March Through the Institutions and the Fifth Wave of Juridification

Sometime in 1967 or 1968, German student protest leader Rudi Dutschke coined a phrase that has become historical: In order for the youth movement to truly accomplish social change, it should undertake a “long march through the institutions”—a generational shift in the core constituencies of society, including its elites, thus reforming them from the inside. The youth movements of the 1960s were decisive in the profound transformation of Western society from the mid-1960s and on, which included broad shifts in norms and values, the end of the 30-year post–World War II economic miracle, and the birth of new political programs. Several renowned sociological works have contributed to the analysis and characterization of these changes, their deeper meaning, and their consequences. They include, most famously, conceptualizations of the post-industrial society (Bell 1973; Kumar 1995/2005), reflexive modernity (Giddens 1990; Beck 1992), and postmodernity (Bauman 1992, 1993). The period that preceded the transformation has not been as amply characterized and branded, but has been used as an important reference point to deepen the understanding of the current era, and what caused the transition between the two (Wagner 1994, 2008; Reckwitz 2020, 2021). In this article, we build on these theoretical works and use a periodization of modernity that distinguishes between early, high, and late modernity and two transition periods in between, identified as the first and second crises of modernity (Wagner 1994). The first crisis, in the late-19th century and early 20th century, culminated in popular struggles for civil rights and equity and was resolved by the buildup of near-universal welfare states in tandem with an expansion of industrial capitalism, the two cornerstones of high modernity, through what Habermas (1987: 358ff) has called the “fourth wave of juridification.” The second crisis, in the 1960s and 1970s, came about largely as a reaction to overregulation and the social conformism and normative control of the “mass society” (Giner 1976) and the several “social pathologies” that the institutions of high modernity had produced: imperialist warfare, structural racial injustice, and capitalist exploitation of nature and humanity (Habermas 1987: 285). We reinterpret the “long march through the institutions” as a key process in the transition that took society out of the second crisis, and thus from high modernity to late modernity. The transition itself brought about broad and deep changes in norms and values, but it also produced some of the most distinguishing features of contemporary society, including new forms of bureaucratization, a veritable explosion of audit and evaluation, and a “hyper-defensive” (Power 2004) pursuit of social legitimacy in organizations. We consequently argue that this can be viewed as the results of a fifth wave of juridification. Analogous to Habermas's fourth wave, the fifth wave was the result of changing demands and expectations in no small part caused by the generational shift that occurred as the youth of the 1960s entered the middle class and gradually became the majorities of labor markets, consumer markets, and in the electorate. The core of the argument is that this generation, born after World War II and thus growing up in an era of unprecedented material and social security, but also united by their collective challenging of prevalent social norms and protests against the injustices and social pathologies of modern society, did not leave their individualist values and sense of social justice at the door, but took these with them on their “long march through the institutions” and turned them into demands and expectations on society to not only allow, but indeed support and provide the means for, their self-actualization and pursuit of quality of life in all of life's parts. A major eventual result of their “long march” was the fifth wave of juridification—a major growth of regulation, administration, audit, and evaluation in most parts of society. The article weaves together three major strands of modernity theory, contemporary history, and diagnoses of current society and its discontents. First, the role of a generational shift in the replacement of the social logic of the general by the social logic of the particular as part of the transition from high modernity to late modernity (Wagner 1994, 2008; Reckwitz 2020, 2021), and the several related value shifts that contributed to this change (Inglehart 1977), and their consequences (e.g. Sennett 1998; Rodgers 2011). Second, renowned theories of risk society and reflexive modernization (Giddens 1990; Beck 1992), and of the renewed meaning of the “uncontrollability of the world” under late modernity (Rosa 2020), which contributes strongly to the growing role of risk awareness and risk management in contemporary society (Power 2004). Third, the conceptualization of juridification as a key process in the system's colonization of the life world (Habermas 1984, 1987), which forms a foundation for the identification of several features of contemporary society, that all are results of the fifth wave of juridification: Intensified bureaucratization (Jordana and Levi-Faur 2004; McSweeney 2006), the veritable explosion of audit and evaluation (Power 1997), and the seeming priority given to making things look good rather actual quality and goal attainment (Alvesson 2022). By conceptualizing the “long march through the institutions” as the generational shift that was pivotal in bringing about the fifth wave of juridification, the article offers a partly new explanation for the rise of these pervasive features of late modernity. The article starts with a theoretical description of early modernity, the first crisis of modernity, and high modernity, and a theoretically informed understanding of what these entailed. Thereafter, we discuss the concept of juridification and the four waves detailed by Habermas (1987: 356ff), followed by a description of the key features of late modernity and the social logic of the particular that characterizes it. In the latter part of the article, we lay out the theoretical argument about the generational shift, the fifth wave of juridification and their consequences. Sociologically defined, modernity is the historical period inaugurated by the practical implementation of Enlightenment ideas in politics, science, and economy from the late 18th century and on, and lasting to this day. An implicit weakness of the sociological understanding of modernity is that it gives the impression of this period as unitary and stable. It certainly was not, and implicit to be with some of periodization on of in the two which has been in the modern era, and were as and as Enlightenment that or should be (Wagner the century, political and economic the to a of the in society (Habermas but and to the of which a (Wagner the century, industrial brought an expansion of not by the that it also process to the first crisis of modernity, as these consequences of the prevalent social order and a broad to institutions by of The result of this crisis a of civil rights and the of and and the buildup of welfare states to with social and thus from and class to of the (Wagner the civil rights of early modernity in but did not to the of modernity for the which that social and through the welfare were to the practical to the and collective by Enlightenment The of the first crisis of modernity produced high modernity, characterized by a social logic of the general and and and as an society by all (Giner 1977), by the The social logic of the general itself in a of features of Western society by the of its including and the and industrial and collective and and conformism of and and in also unitary and a expansion of of a of and norms and of social and sense of and and pursuit of in the of life's and a general and of or Sennett The to norms by of a to and by norms (Inglehart 1977), also in and as as in and and was largely about making the with their social to be and but meaning and in the collective pursuit of material and social of which were by an of and the collective of society and thus and sense of and in with in with the of and which not only life but also and and of the under collective and the values of a after World War II and on and in the of order and in social and economic the of the and the of the social and The was by and and social by the welfare German and social and in the of modernity thus its of social through which and were with unprecedented material and social security, and for the and in from society, were of and to in the and movements that up civil society and popular and (Wagner Reckwitz The was by the of of the institutions of high modernity under the political the welfare and industrial capitalism, which together of for in the for after World War II and the society” what had preceded this in of and the as have been as a for most had also in the struggles for and and for that in the have been to of modernity thus a sense of and also a sense of to change this (Bell for the prevalent social order was which in itself can be as an of the social of the society was (Wagner in a sense the normative control in control means control through the of norms to in with the to the norms become for normative control to and to in with norms under the impression that it is by their 1993). a of for the deep of the social logic of the general high modernity, normative control thus works to and the of modern was to be as as or a in all of and The of the welfare and the society under high modernity was certainly a of of the that the of modernity a expansion of in society. is in part The practical implementation of Enlightenment in and civil rights and and in the economic a for to out their to the of and to as as not with by a general these of and brought material and social and a in also brought what Habermas as the of from life as the and economic their of and thus that partly with the value of civil society and life (Habermas 1987: In with the of the from the life parts of the life world also became part of the and with A is the that to the that had in the life world to but which institutions and in order for modern society to general and in became for and to and their in a society on and rights and between and The thus the life world by and of its and are to into new of with and of the welfare The life world and life to the of the (Habermas 1987: In a and are into these as to and become to the from the life which to and of (Habermas 1987: The most of colonization of the life world by the through juridification, which means that the and of the of society and of life (Habermas 1987: The is in of the works in and the of in that have juridification as the growing of the and its institutions on society (e.g. and 2008; are not only some between these two of juridification but also a Habermas juridification as a broad process of social change, but the concept also as a to in that are in the system's colonization of the life is we use the concept of juridification in this In four waves of juridification have the of and for states and First, the of the as part of the of in and Second, the of the with the German and its as a key Third, the of the born by the and but only at a in in the and 20th The fourth and wave of juridification was the of the welfare by in the of the political by the movements of the 20th century (Habermas 1987: the first wave all political to the and thus first to society by the and fourth waves were produced by popular struggles for civil rights and and the of from the to its First, rights that the of the the the to and the material for in the with the conceptualization of the first crisis of modernity in the which to the near-universal welfare and social rights to civil rights (Wagner the fourth wave of juridification occurred through in tandem with it the most colonization of the life world by the thus the the welfare of society with and social and thus them from the on of in to the material and social for them to in institutions and civil society. the juridification and bureaucratization of and and of several values in the life which to social by and and and to reinterpret and parts of life in with the of of and of understanding and (Habermas 1987: It is no that the of the fourth wave of are not but from the juridification (Habermas 1987: a reaction and a second crisis of modernity (Wagner Reckwitz and thus be in the transition to late modernity. In to high modernity, contemporary society is characterized by a social logic of the the and in high modernity, the social logic of the particular the for and in to self-actualization and the pursuit of quality of life 2020, 2021). broad and deep change in values and norms has been amply and The for as a was profound the youth that took the of the social movements of the to the for these movements were as social and the and by the youth most of all a of the norms and of society, including all that up the social logic of the The of and to for the good of social and were by values as and meaning (Inglehart The in of by the economic an important role by the new from the struggles for material and social that had life and also of the youth to thus them to their and and the these them in of a life and life (Inglehart have these to the structural of the economy and the of life and life in the of the 20th century and that has been a of a of a of and a of the core ideas that social 2011). The of the social logic of the general is to have given to a of not only are as and to their but also their and social to a of and The society of is not an society, the individualist pursuit of self-actualization and quality of life in all parts of life is a key and all its has to be that is only and become that is and and their only and but also and to for their to the also and are and with an of and with and that are or are through and under the of and that and with are to and all that can be and is and a and of an The of as a result of value changes that the social logic of the general with the social logic of the but this transformation occurred in with the crisis of high modernity that had to with overregulation and a on of the institutions of society to social the political was as its to be by overregulation and of by and including industrial and the welfare In tandem with the economic crises of the 1970s, the political was to be gradually by not only political and including but also a of social and the by social in the The welfare was by the not only but also and are to on and the role of the is as first and of the for and Rodgers The of of the at from under economic and to the of and from the material of the to the expansion of rights and and the of the was also part of a to the consequences of modernity that from its of and and by the of and the 20th century, modernity certainly its “social pathologies” (Habermas 1987: 285). The youth that society and to and values with self-actualization and an individualist for quality of life of also on the of the broad of the prevalent of and the for exploitation and in the of The analysis of the consequences of this has been in of the strongly reflexive of late and as part of the of politics, and in the second of the 20th century, to that modernity has not the security, and order it but rather produced a of broad and deep to social the of humanity (Giddens 1990; Beck of what was and was on second and on new and as and (Giddens did not its to but from largely to largely high modernity the and on a of in late modernity, by consequences took itself was in of and were by their the of the risk society and reflexive modernization have that and early modern risk for and for society as a the point is not the between not modernity and but between late modernity and high modernity. are of a new and a new in late in and early modern were largely and under late modernity are to the of through the of and the institutions of modern society are at the of and to be to them (Giddens The of the and of contemporary society also to be growing and rise to that be but are as The and that up the of the social order of high modernity, and the social it were to a The of the and of the were not only the but also viewed the prevalent order as their with and that not be good (Wagner The generation, which at the of the social movements of the had a In their and the social logic of the general was a of and and thus a to their self-actualization and the in their protests against and social injustices of all change in of partly a of new material and (Inglehart born or after World War had up the economic into at a in of and were also to look in rather in what had been in from the of economic and security, is a all the for as as are new and that can only be by self-actualization as political the social movements of the 1960s of in a and deeper meaning, as their was The and social changes these movements for the and and by most been at in the (Wagner the most of 1968, the political caused major but we to a of in the of norms and in the entered into the middle They from entered labor markets, and became of welfare and to of in their and in the institutions of society, as most as the most and of and of the welfare They march through the It was a in that had unprecedented to and the political and ideas that had to popular had a in the and the society had with imperialist capitalist exploitation of and several of the prevalent order of society, and the world the of it all was first and became a of all that was to with the the and economic and social the and and a society on institutions in of industrial capitalism, the the consumer society, class and all of the society. of this is to that all these institutions that the or of high modernity had to what the new and from and to to also in the of and protest (Power as we the of the social logic of the and the value shift from conformism and sense of self-actualization and quality of was in part the of institutions be for industrial and an welfare the for youth of political ideas and broad of student protest have been at By in order for all of life to be 2020), life be in and it the and were by a of in the 1970s, which the economic and a that with to a sense of and by the of economic growth and expansion and the came to a the for was and Western to to to with the world and from The of the generational shift in the core of middle under these new of and a world The new and norms of the new had to be with a and of the to and institutions that a of the of In the student entered into the life that in with the social of high modernity, had life by the first major economic of the era, and a of the were not to be and turned into of society, and were certainly not to the them had after the major of the two world and the struggles for social and and but with a social and a of against it the to with to their social and material The individualist and of the social movements of the 1960s were The result was a late modern that demands of institutions that and up for its “social but that also the and particular that can for and of the of the and and the their “long march through the their for expectations and that their and their be and by society. and became demands for and of against industrial exploitation of nature turned into of and for The for and was into consumer demands for and it did not the late modern as a or a and of and institutions to control and to The the key of modernity (Rosa but a that had to to is under late modernity, the social logic of the particular collective and which it It is can not be nature be and be the late modern War on a for an a for a and that the and institutions of society are on of in with the and in the of and is the fifth wave of juridification: and institutions are to out new of their control or the impression of to to an and and consumer result is and growing and new and and new of audit and and or social and are by new control and and of are to and and new and in the of the that can be and the of become a of a growing of expectations and demands from and by making it look is to what for the and to are “hyper-defensive” (Power and to is for (Rosa the society” (Power has a structural that works to deepen rather of audit and evaluation are to and and these to and is rather (Power and a of audit, and evaluation, and regulation, and growing In a new is in a new evaluation or to an be and the particular also viewed as and on an the consequences are a expansion of and (Jordana and Levi-Faur 2004; McSweeney The process is regulation, evaluation, and means new new for the growing of and and to of and of core of of the from and the new and are out of a for legitimacy and rather that which is and and to be at making things look rather (Alvesson 2022). management by the and to be of and are to and goal attainment but with consequences of and with a growing A particular is the of to as the to and in and control with management have that results in rather and and has brought about a and or a of the of and the of a of high modernity and of what Habermas as the fourth wave of juridification (Habermas 1987: not its on society under late modernity but is with new in the of the of the social and and of are to and and and are to in in the but and thus of that and that not on the and are and gradually by the of and their to in the of and and to the of the and on and of all In this article, we have march through the institutions” as the and generational shift that brought the youth of the 1960s into the of a core of society, the middle born and under unprecedented material and social and and entered into in of expansion of and the early of risk society, the and with the means of of the social order and a to of and certainly produced in of the political of them had were also in their pursuit by the of the world” of economic and material were The result was a new middle with collective protests against injustices in the of movements and and with for meaning and through new forms of 2020), and a of expectations and demands that the institutions of society them the means for this pursuit and them from the of social pathologies and the (Rosa of the and social The institutions of modernity, most the capitalist economy and the to these new expectations and demands by the only means to and of risk and The through the regulation, administration, and evaluation and for regulation, administration, and is the fifth wave of juridification. It in no small caused by the expectations and demands of late core the turned into a middle was not what Rudi the student protest the to in 1967 or to undertake a “long march” a “long march” it The values and of the youth of the 1960s had a in society and its institutions under late modernity. In this article, we have an to reinterpret the of this and thus of the “long march” as the of theories of late modernity and the of contemporary society, together with expansion in the of regulation, audit and evaluation, and The we is a fifth wave of juridification, to the as and by Habermas The at are It was the expansion of the general welfare the 20th century, it was by of and that up the most in the system's colonization of the life world and the fourth wave of juridification. the social order it became or at as by a and youth took it itself to change society for the the second crisis of modernity The of the for the expansion of the welfare and its with industrial capitalism, was the of the social movements of the the of the that these movements was a or to not to the prevalent social by the political and the social logic of the but to for and It in an from the colonization of the life world by the and a of control institutions by their and the most the were not in theoretical the youth the “long march through the institutions” that Dutschke had to with changing crisis, new their sense of to material and social into a for self-actualization and a that the institutions them the means for their as as the social pathologies of high modernity. the labor movement the rights to and a of social in the late 18th and early did the youth movement of the 1960s that “social pathologies” be and that society provide them with the means for the struggles of the movements in the late and early 20th the first crisis of modernity, in the fourth wave of juridification, the youth movements of the 1960s and the end of the economic the second crisis of modernity, and the fifth wave of juridification. In this article, we have a partly new theoretical understanding of the at