How may we characterie contemporary society in a world so complex? Can looking at thediverse paths followed by various cultures in the modern world generate useful new socialscientific typologies, or must a different set of questions be posed in this era ofglobaliation? What, in short, is the nature of modernity? These are some of the questionsaddressed by the contributors to MultipleModernities. Following the theme in anearlier work edited by Shmuel Eisenstadt, Public Spheres and CollectiveIdentities, this book challenges conventional notions of how the world haschanged politically, socially, and economically. The authors consider the meaning of modernityin contexts as different as communist Russia, modern India, the Muslim world, Latin America,China and East Asia, and the United States. Miscegenation, transnational migration,technological developments, and changing communications have shifted the ground on whichtheories of society were once built; political system, diaspora groups, religion, and"classical" theories of modernity have to be reconsidered in a newcontext. Authors and chapters include: S.N. Eisenstadt,"Multiple Modernities"; Bjrn Wittrock, "Modernity: One, None, orMany? European Origins and Modernity as a Global Condition"; Johann P. Arnason,"Communism and Modernity"; Nilfer Gle, "Snapshots of IslamicModernities"; Dale F. Eickelman, "Island and the Languages ofModernity"; Sudipta Kaviraj, "Modernity and Politics in India";Stanley J. Tambiah, "Transnational Movements, Diaspora, and MultipleModernities"; Tu Weiming, "Implications of the Jrise of 'Confucian' EastAsia"; Jrgen Heideking, "The Pattern of American Modernity from the Revolutionto the Civil War"; and Renato Orti, "From Incomplete Modernity to WorldModernity." Written in clear and non-technicallanguage for both a scholarly and general audience, this volume confronts the problem of justwhat constitutes the common core of modernity. Shmuel N.Eisenstadt is Rose Issacs Professor Emeritus of Sociology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.He is the author of The Political Systems of Empires andco-editor of Public Spheres and Collective Identities,available from Transaction.
These essays illuminate the processes of world history, modern civlizations and modes globalization from a comparative sociological point of view. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004129931).
This volume brings together several of Prof. S.N. Eisenstadt's essays written over the years on Jewish history and identity. The major argument of the essays follows the Weberian view of Jewish historical experience as that of a distinct civilization, as a distinct Great Religion, the first monotheistic civilization - without, however, accepting many of Weber's concrete analyses. The core of the argument that underlies these essays is, that the best way to understand the Jewish experience is to look on Jews not just as a religious or ethnic group, nation or "people," although they have been all of these, but as bearers of a distinct civilization. These essays examine the historical experience of the Jewish people and communities in ancient medieval and modern times in the framework of such civilizational analysis in which special attention is given to the analysis of Israeli society and to the continual changing place of Israel in a central component of Jewish identity, in line with the different historical experience and collective agendas of the Jewish communities.
This book attempts to analyze the civilizational and historical context of the development of the modern revolutions — of the Great Revolutions and of their relations to modernity, to the civilization of modernity, its dynamics and tribulations.
The republication of From Generation to Generation-almost half a century after its first appearance in 1956-constitutes a good occasion for a look at the way in which problems of youth and generations developed in contemporary societies. In this brilliant, pioneering effort, different approaches in the social sciences to the analysis of these issues receive close scrutiny. Eisenstadt reexamines these issues by including in this edition several new chapters on this theme.
These essays illuminate the processes of world history, modern civlizations and modes globalization from a comparative sociological point of view. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004129931).
This book attempts to analyze the civilizational and historical context of the development of the modern revolutions — of the Great Revolutions and of their relations to modernity, to the civilization of modernity, its dynamics and tribulations.
This book explains why the best way to understand the Jewish historical experience is to look at Jewish people, not just as a religious or ethnic group or a nation or "people," but, as bearers of civilization. This approach helps to explain the greatest riddle of Jewish civilization, namely, its continuity despite destruction, exile, and loss of political independence. In the first part of the book, Eisenstadt compares Jewish life and religious orientations and practices with Hellenistic and Roman civilizations, as well as with Christian and Islamic civilizations. In the second part of the book, he analyzes the modern period with its different patterns of incorporation of Jewish communities into European and American societies; national movements that developed among Jews toward the end of the nineteenth century, especially the Zionist movement; and specific characteristics of Israeli society. The major question Eisenstadt poses is to what extent the characteristics of the Jewish experience are distinctive, in comparison to other ethnic and religious minorities incorporated into modern nation-states, or other revolutionary ideological settler societies. He demonstrates through his case studies the continuous creativity of Jewish civilization.
Winner of the prestigious MacIver Award when it was first published, this remains a towering work of modern political sociology, especially of macrosociology. Its main objective is comparative analysis of political commonalities found in different societies, both historical and present. The book seeks to find some pattern or laws in the structure and development of such systems. The imaginative use of data helps to bring order into what might otherwise be considered a speculative volume. The purpose of The Political Systems of Empires is to apply sociological concepts to the analysis of historical societies through the comparative analysis of a special type of political system. This analysis does not purport to be historical or descriptive. Its main objective is comparative analysis of political commonalities found in different societies. The book seeks to find some pattern or laws in the structure and development of such systems.
This book explains why the best way to understand the Jewish historical experience is to look at Jewish people, not just as a religious or ethnic group or a nation or “people,” but, as bearers of civilization. This approach helps to explain the greatest riddle of Jewish civilization, namely, its continuity despite destruction, exile, and loss of political independence. In the first part of the book, Eisenstadt compares Jewish life and religious orientations and practices with Hellenistic and Roman civilizations, as well as with Christian and Islamic civilizations. In the second part of the book, he analyzes the modern period with its different patterns of incorporation of Jewish communities into European and American societies; national movements that developed among Jews toward the end of the nineteenth century, especially the Zionist movement; and specific characteristics of Israeli society. The major question Eisenstadt poses is to what extent the characteristics of the Jewish experience are distinctive, in comparison to other ethnic and religious minorities incorporated into modern nation-states, or other revolutionary ideological settler societies. He demonstrates through his case studies the continuous creativity of Jewish civilization.
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