Instead, it is characterized by an ideology of rationalization. As Feenberg says at one point, modernity is the project of building a rational society . Some of these assumptions will inevitably support the prevailing hegemony. Thus, a cultural horizon is the basis for a social hegemony. E.g., the 'chain of being' in feudal societies constituted a cultural horizon that helped to establish hierarchy in society, and protect caste relations.
Rationalization is our modern horizon.
It defines the basic cultural parameters on which modernity rests. Rationality, as defined earlier, also exists in premodern societies . These also had practices of accounting, legal systems, and game play, which were domains that required some degree of rationalization. However, in premodern societies, these rationalizations remained limited to a select few social domains, and were reconciled with rituals and the social hierarchy by recontextualizing strategies. In modern societies, in contrast, formally rational activities are liberated from such recontextualizing strategies and their validation is supposed to rest on universal logical or scientific principles rather than on contingent needs or traditions.