What's wrong with the concept of multiple modernities?

Abstract: The concept of multiple modernities has been developed with a view to highlighting the ways in which modern societies differ from each other. Other sociological approaches, by contrast, emphasize such societies' commonalities. But does the juxtaposition of convergence and divergence in the form of a mutually exclusive, binary opposition really make sense? Might it be that there is convergence in some respect, while diversity persists in other respects; that there are dimensions of social change that exhibit common trends across regions and cultural zones, while other aspects of social life show remarkable resilience against homogenization? The present paper argues that our observation of convergence or diversity might be less a matter of truth or falsity than an artifact of our chosen methodologies. Based on this premise, the concept of multiple modernities will be rejected as sociologically meaningless, conceptually flawed and empirically dubious. It is sociologically meaningless

Object Details

• Alternative title: Was ist falsch am Konzept der multiplen Modernitäten?
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 16 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; nicht begutachtet

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Working Paper Series of the Research Network 1989 ; Bd. 6

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2008
• Creator: Schmidt, Volker H.

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-16365
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:50 PM CET