The theme of varieties of modernity, in its new form, has come to the fore at a time when the primary interest of social sciences is no longer the transformation of societies from tradition to modernity. Rather, in recent decades, social science has dealt with a ‘new’ phase of modernity, termed ‘postmodernity’, ‘late modernity’, ‘high modernity’ or ‘liquid modernity’ by diverse theorists. In this development, one element has been central to the theorizing of modernity: the fact that a notion of modernity has spread around the globe so quickly. As a critique of modernity or as a perspective on a so-called ‘new modernity’, postmodernism led some observers to pay renewed attention to modernity's current phase. The debate on varieties of modernity could be seen as a response and a contribution to new theoretical developments regarding modernity.

Recently, several works have appeared treating the ‘plurality of modernities’ (see Arnason, 1997, 1993; Eisenstadt, 1996; Wagner, 2000, 1999a, 1999b). This shows that current events under conditions of modernity not only give rise to arguments between the defenders of modernity and postmodernists, but also make it feasible, for some critics, to employ the concept of varieties of modernity in the exploration of the contemporary social world. The debate on varieties of modernity, as a sociology of knowledge would show, is not an intellectual product that does not seriously consider the social, but rather, a reflection on the realities of the social world.

In the first place, it might seem surprising that the theme of varieties of modernity has come to the fore at a time when the end of crucial conflicts and tensions between societies has been largely celebrated, with an insistence on the ‘happy ending’ of the war between the socialist and the capitalist blocs (see, for example, Fukuyama, 1992). This, however, should rather be unsurprising, because the collapse of the Eastern bloc, contrary to widely shared assumptions, indicated that ‘convergence’ was far from being achieved. Against those who argued that the collapse of communism marked the end of conflictual relations between human societies, it revealed that societies should be seen as distinct from one another. The realities of the social world failed to support the assumption that societies were converging.