FROM POSTCOMMUNISM TO POSTMODERNITY - EXPLAINING SOCIAL-CHANGE IN EASTERN-EUROPE

In exploring social change in Eastern Europe sociological theory has to define its place in a transformation discourse dominated by orthodox economic models. Against the oversimplified behavioral assumptions underlying 'shock-therapy' and against a dualistic perception of the main political actors ('democrats' vs.'conservatives') it has to come to an understanding of the long-term horizon and the intrinsic complexity of the transitions taking place. The future of a revised modernization theory will, therefore, depend on the one hand on its ability to explicate the dynamic interactions between economic, social and political reforms - a task which is outlined in this paper in terms of a sociological reconstruction of the dominant economic reform discourse. On the other hand it will have to counter some post-modernists' ambitions to hail fundamentalist and exclusive (religious, nationalistic) movements as a 'culture of particularism' by reinterpreting the universalistic emphasis of the 'classical approach' without falling back into an evolutionistic philosophy of history.