Muslim History and Social Theory

"Are we all modern? It appears that being modern is unavoidable, but there are many ways of understanding that condition. Contemporary social theory, desperately seeking to avoid the legacy of Orientalism, often appears to deny the social reality of modernity. By combining empirical case studies of Muslim history with a judicious use of social theory, Professor Jung, in a remarkably honest account of his own journey to the East, opens up an exciting challenge for future research to break out of the legacy of modernization theory without abandoning the idea that we are all modern." (Professor Bryan S. Turner, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and ACU, Melbourne) "This book offers a wider ranging, theoretically nuanced and empirically rich analysis which makes an equally important contribution to social theory and Middle Eastern history. Dietrich Jung aims to re-think the existing understandings of modernity by extending the analysis beyond the Western world. Jung charts the complex and contradictory experiences of the Middle East and how this part of the world shaped, and was also shaped by, the global forces of modernity. His key argument that we are all modern, but in different ways is both persuasive and highly important." (Professor Sinisa Malesevic, University College, Dublin)

This book combines contemporary discussions on modernity with the history of the Muslim world. This framework attempts to accommodate a core assumption of classical modernization theory – the global nature of modernity – with the pluralistic perspective of the rise of a multiplicity of historically concrete forms of modernities.This book combines contemporary discussions on modernity with the history of the Muslim world. From a heuristic perspective, it is sketching out a framework for a global sociology of modernity. This framework attempts to accommodate a core assumption of classical modernization theory – the global nature of modernity – with the pluralistic perspective of the rise of a multiplicity of historically concrete forms of modernities. It tries to reconcile a universalistic concept of modernity with the fact of modernity’s multiple historical realizations. At the same time, this discussion of contemporary social theory puts forward a critique of the still so conveniently applied equation of modernization with Westernization. In empirical terms, the book substantiates this critique in drawing its exemplary illustrations from the historical experience of Muslim peoples. Bringing Muslim history and discussions in social theory together, this book represents a synthesis of research efforts in sociology and Islamic studies.