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"An in-depth investigation of political modernity, this book researches its origins and trajectory as a specific dimension of modern civilisation and of so-called 'real socialism' redefined as authoritarian collectivism. It articulates a renewed critical theory of political modernity through an analytical exposition coupled with developmental concepts"--

Intro -- Emancipation and History: The Return of Social Theory -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Tables -- Introduction -- 1 Vicissitudes and Possibilities of Critical Theory Today -- Defining Critical Theory -- Contemporary Modernity -- Renewing Critique -- 2 Global Modernity: Levels of Analysis and Conceptual Strategies -- Introduction -- Levels of Analysis -- Descriptions -- Middle-range Analytical Concepts -- General Analytical Concepts -- A Trend-concept: Secularization -- Conclusion -- 3 Existential Social Questions, Developmental Trends and Modernity -- The Problem -- Existential Social Questions -- Existential Questions, Developmental Trends and Modernizing Moves -- Final Words -- 4 History, Sociology and Modernity -- Introduction -- Historical Sociology and Sociological Theory -- Theory and Mechanisms -- Conclusion -- 5 Realism, Trend-concepts and the Modern State -- Introduction -- Beyond Empiricism (and Critical Realism) -- The Modern State and Modern Society -- Collective Subjectivity, Mechanisms, Modernization -- Final Words -- 6 Family, Modernization and Sociological Theory -- Two Intertwined Themes -- Globalization and Modernization -- The Family, the 'Dimensions' of Social Life and the 'Existential Questions' -- Conclusion -- 7 The Basic Forms of Social Interaction -- Introduction -- Principles of Organization, Mechanisms of Coordination -- Principles of Antagonism, Mechanisms of Opposition -- Coordination, Antagonism -- Interactive Inclinations -- Bases of Justification -- Conclusion -- 8 The Imaginary and Politics in Modernity: The Trajectory of Peronism -- Introduction -- Theoretical Background -- Historical Peronism -- The Argentina of Kirchner and Fernández de Kirchner -- The Imaginary and Politics in Modernity -- 9 Critical Social Theory and Developmental Trends, Emancipation and Late Communism -- Introduction.

Cover -- Global Modernity, Development,and Contemporary Civilization: Towards a Renewal of Critical Theory -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- General Introduction -- Part I: Critical Theory andModern Civilization -- 1. Apogee, Limits and Renewal of Critical Theory -- 2. Civilization and Modernity -- Part II: Polarized Flexible Accumulation inan Unequal World -- Part II: Introduction -- 3. China Takes Off: The East Asian Experience -- 4. Latin America: Slipping Back to the Past? -- 5. India In and Out of South Asia: Dreams and Illusions -- Part II Conclusion -- Part III: Complexity and Re-Embeddings,Solidarity and Abstractions -- Part III: Introduction -- 6. India, Indic Civilization and Social Complexity: The Radical Case -- 7. China: Homogeneity and Post-Communist Pluralization -- 8. Latin America, the West and Complexity -- Part III: Conclusion -- Part IV: Democratization and the Persistence of Domination -- Part IV: Introduction -- 9. The Latin American Molecular Democratic Revolution -- 10. India as a Mass Democracy -- 11. China and the Multilayered Dictatorship -- Part IV: Conclusion -- Final Words -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Critical social theory is a late product of the Enlightenment, though pushed beyond its original intentions. It then developed mainly with Marxism, but since the beginning other strands have been important, such as anarchism, feminism, anti-colonialism, anti-racism and environmentalism. The immanent critique of modernity must be seen indeed as ecumenical. In its plurality, it must have however at its core the realisation of equal freedom and full solidarity that remains an unfulfilled promise and offers a criterion of demarcation for critical theory. The diagnosis of the times for critical approaches also depended on identifying long-term developments, especially within Marxism, but this seems to have been almost entirely forgotten. I will argue that it is both possible and necessary to resume this strategy. Finally, I ask how we connect these conceptual issues to praxis. The article concludes with a more substantive discussion of political modernity.