The Era of Great Transformation and the Social Reconstruction of Reality: A Perspective from the Sociology of Knowledge

From the second half of the twentieth century to the present,the world has been undergoing an era of profound transformation.Although this epochal shift is most visible in international relations and the political sphere,its driving force lies in the deep changes in the mechanisms of social construction of reality over the century.The sociology of knowledge provides a theoretical perspective and corresponding analytical framework for understanding this era of great transformation.As the birthplace of modernity,Western societies experienced a dual trend of (1) the rise of nation states and the associated institutional centers in society and (2) the de-centering movement during the twentieth century.On the one hand,this process promoted the global expansion of capital and institutional rationality;on the other hand,it fostered the rise of individual rationality,subjectivity,and agency.This,in turn,generated profound challenges to modernity and stimulated waves of social critique across different fields.The encounter and interaction between these currents of social change and the rise of the internet and digital media since the 1990s have created “a perfect storm.” This has driven fundamental transformations in the foundations of contemporary society and set in motion the gears of the great transformation.