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Global Modernization, `Coloniality' and a Critical Sociology for Contemporary Latin America

Rio de Janeiro University Research Institute

This article analyses recent social, cultural and political developments in Latin America, with special reference to the `modernity/coloniality' project, as well as offering an alternative sociological interpretation of the contemporary subcontinent. It analyses in particular Walter Mignolo's work as the main expression of that `post/decolonial' project, a general interpretive effort that reflects actual social changes but offers misguided theoretical and political perspectives. The article then proposes a discussion of modernity as a global civilization which is now unfolding its third phase, characterized by greater complexity and pluralism. In addition it argues that modernity should be seen as a two-pronged phenomenon, featuring not only domination but also emancipation. Against the reification of modernity, the article suggests that we see it as woven by multiple and contingent modernizing moves.

Key Words: complexity • critical theory • decolonization • Mignolo • third phase of modernity

Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 26, No. 1, 112-133 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0263276408099018


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