Max Weber, multiple modernities and the re-orientation of social theory

Abstract

The debate on "multiple modernities" has focussed till so far either on finding plausible contrasts between different paths into modernity or on theorizing concepts like civilization, region etc. What is missing, however, is a systematic methodological discussion of how to compare different civilizations in the face of the so-called Small N-problem. This problem is the more pressing the better historical-sociological research on Asia and Europe shows how contingent the so-called Rise of the West actually was. The paper ends with some suggestions about the way how civilizational analysis could deal with these methodological problems and what sociological classics like Max Weber can teach us in this respect.