Civilizational Analysis, Theories of Multiple Modernities and the Models of Globalization

In world sociology there are currently several versions of the theory of multiple modernities. One of them draws on S. Eisenstadt’s civilizational analysis which highlights the socio-cultural foundations of various types of a modern society. In addition, theories of alternative, entangled and successive modernities are presented in the works of J. Arnason, G. Therborn and P. Wagner. The article presents an analytical review of these theories. The use of different combinations of the aforementioned approaches for analyzing social transformations in Russia and the USSR is highlighted. It is noted that followers of the multiple modernities theory argued that globalization could take various forms and go in many directions. However other approaches prevailed in most studies of globalization processes in sociology and global history, although they did not dedicate sufficient attention to the multiplicity of such processes and the continuing rivalry between them. From the multiple modernities perspective the Soviet version of modernity has been characterized as an alternative mode of globalization. As Arnason emphasizes, communist modernity was a global phenomenon and its dynamics were an important part of 20th century globalization processes. This scholar focuses on civilizational aspects of the Soviet version of modernity which ultimately proved to be unsustainable. Arnason also poses the question whether modern-day China could form an alternative model of globalization.