'Reconsidering the classics' is the theme of this selection of papers, from the 1997 Cologne conference of the International Institute of Sociology. This does not imply going back to their answers, but to their topics. Some of the issues covered in this volume are: freedom of societies; the privatisation of belief, ethnicity, and globalisation; East-West relations; and institutional rehabilitation. The book includes articles by major contemporary sociologists, including Raymond Boudon, Samuel Eisenstadt, William D'Antonio, Saskia Sassen, Pierpaolo Donati, Eugeen Roosens, Nikolai Genov, Mattei...

Neither the title of the 35th Congress of the International Institute of Sociology, nor its timing and location were coincidental -- The Moral Fabric in Contemporary Societies being discussed in 2001 in Poland, a country which had experienced two totalitarianisms in the previous century. The events of the new millennium thus far demonstrate that history is aimless unless the societies who are its agents have moral goals or visions which they pursue. The contents of this volume constitute the best evidence of a belief in the universality and importance of moral issues for the social...

The 36th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology (IIS) was a true milestone in the history of IIS, for it heralded many firsts: the first World Congress to be held on the Asian Continent, the first to be held in China, and the largest attendance by far of any of the organization's World Congresses. This book is a compendium of 18 papers presented by plenary speakers from 10 different nations. It addresses sweeping issues related to the age of globalization and social change, including cultural diversities, migration and equality, social transformation, and national...

The 37th World Congress of the IIS focused on theory and research at the forefront of sociology and the relationship between sociology and its neighbouring disciplines. This volume constitutes a sustained effort by prominent sociologists and other social scientists to assess the current standing of sociology. It is a stocktaking of the unique nature of sociology in the light of advances within the discipline itself and within a range of neighbouring disciplines. Some of the chapters outline institutional and professional strategies for sociology in the new millennium. Others trace scholarly...

The break-up of the Soviet Union is a key event of the twentieth century. The 39th IIS congress in Yerevan 2009 focused on causes and consequences of this event and on shifts in the world order that followed in its wake. This volume is an effort to chart these developments in empirical and conceptual terms. It has a focus on the lands of the former Soviet Union but also explores pathways and contexts in the Second World at large. The Soviet Union was a full scale experiment in creating an alternative modernity. The implosion of this union gave rise to new states in search of national...

This book is about contemporary sociological analysis: its discussions, contradictions and controversies. Authors from various backgrounds discuss developments on all continents. The 34 contributions are centered on six themes. The first is multiple modernities, showing us that there is no single road to the modernization of societies. The second theme is globalization, with new concepts like spatialization, world languages and new social movements. In part three, multiculturalism and diaspora movements are viewed as the pivotal factors for change in many societies. The fourth theme is the...

The 38th World Congress of IIS addressed some of the most fundamental issues of sociological inquiry in light of global processes and the development of different fields of knowledge: What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of social as opposed to natural processes? How do efforts to map the social and political world interact with that world and with traditional sociological practices? What can we say about relationships between scientific, political and religious beliefs? This volume sets the stage for a sustained look at what social science can say about the twenty-first century...

With Africa as its point of reference and departure, this volume examines why and how the two concepts – radicalisms and conservatisms – should not be taken as mere binaries around which to organize knowledge. It demonstrates that these concepts have multiple and diverse meanings as perceived and understood from different disciplinary vantage points, hence, the deliberate pluralization of the terms. The essays show what happens when one juxtaposes the two concepts and how they are easily intertwined when different peoples’ lived experiences of poverty, political and social alienation,...

Volume II of Africa's Radicalisms and Conservatisms continues the broad themes of radicalisms and conservatisms that were examined in volume I. Like volume I, the essays examine why the two “isms” of radicalisms and conservatisms should not be viewed as mere irreconcilable conceptual tools with which to categorize or structure knowledge. The volume demonstrates that these concepts are intertwined, have multiple and diverse meanings as perceived and understood from different disciplinary vantage points, hence, the deliberate pluralization of the terms. The twenty-two essays in the volume...