XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

192

Conceptualizing Changing Social Structures Beyond the West

RC09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development (host committee)

Language: English

Processes of social transformation are directly linked to the question of changing social structures. Since the critique of the classical modernisation theories in the 1970s we are well aware that processes of change did hardly follow the path of European modernisation. Change is linked to the unequal global interdependencies as described by dependency theory and the globalisation debate; and the processes of change are influenced by specific local contexts that lead to multiple modernities. However, when it comes to social structure the classical theories of Marx, Weber and their followers are still dominant. Do our theories of social structure really apply all parts of our world? Are we able to describe and conceptualize social change just with an application of Marx or Weber? What are the patterns of changing social structures outside “the West” and how do we conceptualize changing social structures? To answer these questions we need to studies of different countries and comparative studies, too.