Europe in world regional perspective: formations of modernity and major historical transformations

Abstract

The paper seeks to present a world regional approach to the analysis of modernity and in doing so it also aims to make a contribution to comparative sociology and social theory. It is argued that world regions are the most suitable entry-point for comparing different sociopolitical constellations of our time, preferable to continents, civilizations and nation-states. However, a world regional foundation on its own is insufficient, due to the internal plurality and historically changing forms of world regions, and therefore needs to be accompanied by a concept that provides some degree of coherence within world regions and a tool for comparison with other world regions. The notion of modernity offers this level of generality while at the same time allowing for variety in its historical forms. Six main formations of modernity are identified, of which the European model was the first one and often a cultural reference for many other parts of the world. The thesis is that in the present day the most important developments are in the Asian and Latin American varieties, which unlike Europe are witnessing major historical transformation. Decisive in all of this is the question of democratization in the shaping of social imaginaries. Beginning with the problem of how to define the specificity of Europe, the paper provides an exploratory analysis of some of the salient considerations around a number of world regions, their formations of modernity, and the extent of major historical transformations in their present constitution.

Governing the Anthropocene

“…Now it would appear that the entire world is embroiled in societal and technological modes of organization that began in Europe in the nineteenth century. Modernity, too, has been strongly influenced by the European and later the North American variants (see Delanty, 2015a, 2015b; Mota and Delanty, 2015; Wagner, 2012). It would seem to be the case that the diverse routes of modernity throughout the world, while departing in significant ways from the western world, have nonetheless embarked on much the same project of relentless growth and environmental destruction.…”

The Conceptualization of European Modernity in Gerard Delanty’s Sociology

“…В ряде работ Деланти стремится продемонстрировать возможности своего под-хода для анализа неевропейских обществ, в которых модерн развивался в соот-ветствии с собственной цивилизационной и региональной логикой (Delanty, 2015b(Delanty, , 2016b. В данном случае его анализ отчасти перекликается с «неевропейской кон-цептуализацией модерна», осуществленной Н. Музелисом .…”

Confessional pluralism in Central and Eastern Europe: A GIS approach

“…Central and Eastern Europe is a geographical subunit of the continent between three seas the Nordic, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea. Gerard Dalanty is a well-known historian on the field of Europe (Delanty, 2015(Delanty, , 2018. He developed six subregions across the continent using two main criteria.…”