Sociology of the Next Society : Multiple Modernities Glocalization and Membership Order This innovative volume provides insight into the vast changes in societies now and in the near future and highlights the need for a new sociological approach to analyse these changes. It particularly reviews and critiques existing theories of globalization and analyses how global changes affect all subsystems of social membership systems: the scientific academic legal and political systems. The authors propose a new theoretical paradigm in sociology to analyse this “next society”. The book studies emergent communication structures between these systems and looks at the concept of membership as a new research area in the study of the next society. In this context it particularly assesses the problems of further modernization of Chinese society and the directions of this modernization. This book is of interest to researchers and students of social theory globalization studies theory of evolution and those studying modern Chinese society. . Introduction Part I Inventory of Sociological Theory State of research Transitional Situation Outlook: Difference in Membership Conditions Part II Retrospective view: Western modernizations Question First modernity and modernization Second modernity and modernization Third modernity and modernization Redeployment of solidarity integration Outlook: The end of Western modernization Part III Global Studies Motive force and research program Renewal of the concept of society Dimensions of globalization Outlook: Permanent irritation Part IV Third research programme: Multiple modernities membership and globalization Reference problem Culture: correction of the fundamentals Working hypothesis Integration theory Research foci of membership orders Outlook: Changed basic situation self irritation and learning Part V Membership order of Chinese society without solidarity integration Chinas modernization Stabilization in difference Modernization without harmony: main conflicts Outlook: further modernization Part VI Sociology of the next society: Redeployment of sociological theory Postmodernism differentiation of institutions Functional systems An observation: flood of scandals Populism Transition to the next society Globalization research and socio structural semantics Self description of the next society Outlook: Inhomogeneous social structure. .