How may we characterie contemporary society in a world so complex? Can looking at the diverse paths followed by various cultures in the modern world generate useful new social scientific typologies or must a different set of questions be posed in this era of globaliation? What in short is the nature of modernity? These are some of the questions addressed by the contributors to Multiple Modernities.

Following the theme in an earlier work edited by Shmuel Eisenstadt Public Spheres and Collective Identities this book challenges conventional notions of how the world has changed politically socially and economically. The authors consider the meaning of modernity in contexts as different as communist Russia modern India the Muslim world Latin America China and East Asia and the United States. Miscegenation transnational migration technological developments and changing communications have shifted the ground on which theories of society were once built; political system diaspora groups religion and "classical" theories of modernity have to be reconsidered in a new context.