ABSTRACT

Modern sociology as it developed in Europe in the nineteenth century - and later also in the United States - was focused on the understanding of modernity as it took shape in Europe. Developments in Ali or most societies indicate that the various institutional arenas - economie, politicai and familial - exhibit relatively autonomous dimensions that come together in different ways in different societies and in different periods of their development. This chapter offers the challenges by examining two such concepts - civil society and public sphere - and then 'nationalisms'. The construction of collective identities has characterized Ali human societies throughout their histories, and it has been effected in Ali societies by the interaction among special social actors. It has constantly occurred in different historical settings, including the axial civilizations as well as non-axial ones like Japan.