Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- In homage to Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Menachem Magidor, Hayim Tadmor, Piotr Stzompka, Elizier Ben-Rafael and Shalini Randeria -- I: The Historical Trajectory of Modernity -- 1. Modernity in socio-historical perspective, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt -- 2. The Axial Conundrum: Between historical sociology and the philosophy of history, Johann P. Arnason -- 3. Cultural crystallization and civilization change: Axiality and modernity, -- 4. The exception that proves the rule? Rome in the Axial Age, W.G. Runciman -- 5. Civil Society: Some remarks on the career of a concept, Jürgen Kocka -- 6. Challenges of modernity in an age of globalization, T.K. Oommen -- 7. The dark side of modernity: Tension relief, splitting, and Grace, Jeffrey C. Alexander -- II: Modernity and Pluralism -- 8. Pluralities and pluralisms, Zvi Werblowsky -- 9. Multiculturalism revisited, Han Entzinger -- 10. Ethnic revival and religious revival in "Providential decomcracies", Dominique Schnapper -- 11. Doubts about pluralism, Ralf Dahrendorf -- 12. The end of the "social", Alain Touraine -- 13. Collective identity and the representation of liminality, Bernhard Giesen -- III: Religion, Nationalism and Pluralism -- 14. Weber's sociology of religion and Ancient Judaism, Wolfgang Schluchter -- 15. Comparative analysis of the civilization of modernity: 1203 and 2003, Edward A. Tiryakan -- 16. Political culture in the Islamicate civilization, Saïd Arjomand -- 17. Multiple religious modernities: A new approach to contemporary religiosity, Danièle Hervieu-Léger -- 18. Religion and power in the history of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Michael Confino -- 19. From religion to nationalism: The transformation of the Jewish identity, Eliezer Ben-Rafael -- IV: Modernity as World Reality -- 20. Who invented modernity in South India, and is it modern?, David Shulman -- 21. Is Israel Western?, Sammy Smooha -- 22. Cultural translations and European modernity, Gerard Delanty -- 23. Center-periphery, creolization and cosmopolitanism, Ulf Hannerz -- 24. Europe's multiple modernity, Erik Allardt -- 25. Civilizational resources for dialogic engagement?, Donald N. Levine -- V: Challenges of Collective Identities -- 26. French and German Judaism facing modernity, Rolland Goetschell -- 27. From East Europeans to Europeans, Piotr Sztompka -- 28. Is Hindu-Muslim cleavage the paradigmatic case for conflicts in South Asia?, Stanley J. Tambiah -- 29. Democracy in Latin America: The 'only game in town'?, Luis Roniger -- 30. The European identity, Alberto Martinelli -- VI. Epilogue: Modernity as Program -- 31. Basic mechanisms of moral evolution: in Durkheim's and Weber's footsteps, Raymond Boudon -- 32. Collective identity and the constructive and destructive forces of modernity, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt -- Appendix -- The trail of a scholar -- A scholarly portrait, Donald N. Levine -- Bibliography -- Index of Persons -- Index of Subjects.

The authors of this volume explore the tensions and dilemmas that impact pluralism and homogeneity in modern societies. This is the first work in this field in which the frame of discussion is a comparative civilizational analysis. It focuses on issues that are at the heart of the contemporary human experience and culture. The contributors to this book, renowned scholars from all over the world, tackle these issues by referring to different temporal and spatial settings. This book is in homage to Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt. We honor his ground-breaking work in the comparative study of modernities and civilizations. Contributors are: Jeffrey C. Alexander, Erik Allardt , Saïd Arjomand, Johann P. Arnason, Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Raymond Boudon, Michael Confino, Ralf Dahrendorf, Gerard Delanty, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Han Entzinger, Bernhard Giesen, Rolland Goetschell, Ulf Hannerz, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, Jürgen Kocka, Donald N. Levine, Menachem Magidor, Alberto Martinelli, T.K. Oommen, Shalini Randeria, Luis Roniger, W.G. Runciman, Dominique Schnapper, Hayim Tadmor, Stanley J. Tambiah, Wolfgang Schluchter, David Shulman, Sammy Smooha, Piotr Stzompka, Edward A. Tiryakan, Alain Touraine, Zvi Werblowsky, and Björn Wittrock.

Description based on print version record.