Global Modernity and Social Contestation

This is a truly global and politically challenging book, bringing together top level researchers and sharply tackling its themes. People from every corner of the planet and from all walks in the social sciences will surely profit from reading it.

A timely and central collection of essays, entangling the complexity of modernity´s eurocentrism and its unresolved ambiguity. Theoretically, this is a compelling book. Yet, it is illustrative of how the global South has become a crucial catalyst in rethinking the very premises of the paradox of modernity. Bringel and Domingues speak of a flexible alternative global modernity. Here, the Frankfurt School and critical theory are evoked as essential pillars to decipher the turning point of the planetary transformation instigated by the Arab revolutions, reflecting the “global conceptions of justice”. From Tunis, to Cairo's Tahrir, from Bahrain to Libya, Syria and Yemen, from Athens to Spain, then to the Occupy movement in the US, from Kiev's Midan to Rio de Janeiro, then Hong Kong, since 2011 more than 1000 cities witnessed irreversible insurrections and protests. The chain of successive occupying specific Square movements, much inspired by the moving images of the Arab Spring, replicated similar tactics of squatting in public spaces. Who are the new social actors in specific countries of the South? How are social movements reshaped under the new bendable global age? How is contestation in specific spaces of the global South articulated? How important is the discourse of human rights for demoratisation? These themes are consistently interwoven throughout the book.

A new generation of truly global sociology, grappling with the contemporary world through the lenses of critique, contestation, and social movements. A significant contribution.