Development of the Civilizational Perspective in Sociological Analysis in the Last Decades

Abstract

The article is devoted to the rethinking and rediscovery of “civilization” and “civilizations” as a theoretical perspective in contemporary sociology. In a broader historical context, the trajectories and interactions of social sciences with the civilizational concept are traced, within which the self-determination of sociology has taken place, as well as the construction and transformation of its research programs. The new development of the civilizational dimensions in sociological analysis, which began after the 1970s, stands out, based on the classical sources of the French and German schools of thought, and further developed as an alternative to the one-sided “cultural” and “social” reductionism and determinism in sociology. The article draws attention to the important contributions and the original theoretical concepts of S.H. Eisenstadt and J.P. Arnason, which have wide international recognition, but are relatively little known in Bulgaria. Overcoming the dominance of culture as a civilization-forming factor allows these authors to develop broader theoretical and interpretive models. They are centered on the relationship between culture and other fields of social life, including the structures of political and economic power, and are considered in the specific temporal and spatial context of the accompanying intercivilizational encounters. The place and importance of the problems of civilizations in different analytical perspectives and theoretical directions are outlined, as well as the opportunities it offers for the study of contemporary processes and political realities.