Civilizational turn and metatheoretical reconfiguration in contemporary sociology

Abstract

The article offers a reconstruction of contemporary sociological theory, which gives a central position to civilizational analysis. In the late 20th century, attempts to solve the agency-structure problem led to the formation of a new metatheoretical dilemma of “mutual constitution vs. analytical autonomy”, which overshadowed the traditional dilemma of individualism and holism. The constitutivist solution removed the agency/social structure dichotomy in the relational conception of power, while the autonomist solution mediated it by relying on the analytic conception of culture. The civilizational turn brings together these two lines of metatheoretical reconceptualization of sociological problematic, focusing on the relation of culture and power to each other. The model of the relationships between “dimensions” and “spheres” of social life developed within the sociological version of the civilizational approach combines the metatheoretical positions of analytical autonomy and mutual constitution.