In the last decades, a number of renowned social theorists announced contradictory
diagnoses for the project of Modernity: modernity was declared to be “ended”, “overcome”,
“transformed”, “radicalized”, and “revived”. Today the concept undergoes major revision as it is
being criticized, discarded, reconsidered and accepted again. The vitality of the debates around
the concept of Modernity testifies to the fact that it remains crucial for our understanding of the
‘modern’ condition. On the other hand, current controversies also highlight the fact that the
concept is more than a theoretical means to account for the modern world; rather, it is a social
construct that is dependent on our present situation and on our critical capacities to deal with it.
Therefore, the question arises who is involved in shaping the new visions of Modernity and who
makes claims to these visions? Which discourses emerge from these new visions of Modernity?
What are the new conceptual constellations in these discourses and who are the new actors of
these debates? Which norms and values will be brought forth?
The workshop seeks to explore these questions from the perspectives of sociology,
political theory, and cultural studies, by launching a public debate on “current imaginaries of
Modernity”.
Workshop Program
15:00 Opening remarks by Prof. Viktor Rudenko and Dr. Mikhail Ilchenko
15:10 Peter Wagner Re-imagining Modernity: Biophysical Resources and the Logics of
Socio-ecological Transformations (presentation in English)
15:40 Viktor Martyanov Apologia of Modernity (presentation in Russian)
16:10 Discussion
Peter Wagner is co-director of the RSF project “Varieties of modernity in the current
global constellation: the role of the BRICS countries and the Global South,” №18-18-00236;
Professor at the University of Barcelona; editor of the journal “Social Science Information”; author of “Modernity as Experience and Interpretation: A New Sociology of Modernity” (2008);
“Modernity: Understanding the Present” (2012); “African, American and European Trajectories
of Modernity: Past Oppression, Future Justice?” (2015); “Progress: A Reconstruction” (2016);
“Collective Action and Political Transformations: The Entangled Experiences in Brazil, South
Africa and Europe” (2019)
Viktor Martyanov is director of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Russian
Academy of Sciences (Ural Branch); Candidate of Political Sciences; author of
“Metalanguage of Political Science” (2003); “Metamorphosis of the Russian Modern” (2007);
“The Political Project of Modernity. From the World-Economy to World-Politics: Russia's
Strategy in the Globalized World” (2010); “Russia in Search of Utopias. From a Moral Collapse
to a Moral Revolution” (in collaboration with Leonid Fishman) (2010); “Rental Society: In the
Shadow of Capital, Labor and Democracy” (in collaboration with Leonid Fishman and Dmitry
Davydov) (2019)
Workshop Organizing Committee
Viktor Rudenko – the Chairman of the Committee, Academician of the Russian Academy
of Sciences, Doctor of Law, Professor;
Viktor Martyanov – Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Russian
Academy of Sciences (Ural Branch), Candidate of Political Sciences;
Andrey Menshikov – Associate Professor of the Ural Institute of Humanities at Ural
Federal University, PhD in Philosophy;
Leonid Fishman – Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Political
Sciences;
Mikhail Ilchenko – Senior Researcher of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the
Russian Academy of Sciences (Ural Branch), Candidate of Political Sciences.
