Abstract:
The article presents the logical reconstruction of the theoretical context of sociological debate about post-Soviet Russia. A starting point of this meta-theoretical analysis is modernization theory that is seen as a one part of a theoretical formation including also alternative theories of institutional divergence, local civilizations and capitalist world-system. A common trait of all these theories is adherence to building coherent, deterministic and reductionist models of social configurations. A new theoretical formation is represented by theories more sensitive to the contingency of global modernity and the variety of its institutional and cultural forms.