A future for the theory of multiple modernities: Insights from the new modernization theory

Resume In recent years, the concept of multiple modernities has emerged to challenge the perceived Eurocentrism and unilinearity of traditional theories of convergence, and has led to renewed efforts to appreciate differing trajectories of contemporary political and social development. Its exponents’ key argument – that forms of modernity are so varied and contingent on culture and historical circumstance that the term itself must be spoken of in the plural – is particularly pertinent in an era where a preoccupation with modernity in societies around the world has not lately been adequately reflected in the academic literature. This article reviews the main principles of this approach, synthesizes its evolution and analyzes its strengths and shortcomings. The article finds that the notion of multiple modernities has been useful in widening the scope of study, and that it focuses on important questions that its rivals have not yet addressed. However, three challenges continue to pose problems for the theory: it has been reluctant to engage with the complexities and evolution of the modernization theory it critiques; it has not consistently delineated and defined its major unit of analysis; and it has not yet identified the ‘core’ of modernity itself in a way that allows for ideas, movements or societies to fall outside its remit. Although theorists have begun to address the unit of analysis problem by incorporating political dynamics into the study of civilizational difference, the selective incorporation of the empirical methodology and findings of Inglehart & Welzel’s value-based, path-dependent approach offers another means by which multiple modernities theory can overcome the challenges identified.