Laccélération in question is that of social life. This topic is analyzed and described under the microscope in the first part of the book as through its objective component (effects of technical developments and innovations, effects of processing and social structures mutations) that through its component subjective (the feelings of the people [of a certain age] of the acceleration events of everyday life in recent decades). The author points out the paucity of sociological work on time, an essential substrate analysis and proposes its methods of approach. It relies heavily on authors like P. Virilio or N. Luhmann. If he sometimes cites Marx, this is not to follow the Marxist tracks that could have been fruitful here. Browsing through these pages, I could not help but mentally replace (and with some irritation) multiple occurrences of the word 'modernism' or 'modernity' and 'modern society' by 'capitalism' and 'capitalist society'. 'Modern' is an extremely ambivalent tautological term. The second part of the book and in particular Chapter 'causes' seems unconvincing. The author highlights three totally independent motors: an economic engine, a socio-cultural engine, and a cultural engine whose effects react on each other. This separation is arbitrary. Is not there only one defined by the rotation of capital -so entirely linked to the very existence of capitalisme- driven by the need for profit, stimulating technological innovation, constantly upsetting structures social policy and its sole benefit, acting on the most intimate aspirations of individuals via the omnipresent consumerist ideology? This path could bring coherence to the whole. The book, however, is very serious and deserves attention.
