Civilizational Turn in the Contemporary Sociology: the Contribution of S. N. Eisenstadt

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Abstract

The article highlights the contribution of Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt (1923-2010) to the elaboration of key sociological ideas in civilizational analysis. The appeal to the civilizational approach in contemporary sociology is caused by theoretical and methodological deficit in understanding multiple national, regional, local and global sociocultural configurations of dynamic modernity. The sociological tradition of civilizational analysis is represented by M. Weber, E. Durkheim, M. Mauss, P.A. Sorokin, N. Elias, B. Nelson, E. Tiryakian, S. Arjomand, J. Arnason and other scholars. Among them, a most significant figures who played key role in turning contemporary sociology towards civilizational analysis is S.N. Eisenstadt. His concepts of “civilizational dimension of societies”, “axial civilizations”, “multiple modernities”, “civilization of modernity” set the agenda of contemporary civilizational analysis.

About the authors

Ruslan G. Braslavskiy

Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS

ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6522-7095
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

Vladimir V. Коzlovskiy

Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS; St. Petersburg State University

Russian Federation, St.-Petersburg

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  1. Maslovskiy M. Civilizational Analysis, Theories of Multiple Modernities and the Models of Globalization. Sociological Journal. 2025;31(1):9. doi: 10.19181/socjour.2025.31.1.1

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