Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah

A major figure of macro-sociology, Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt developed a comparative-historical perspective that brought together the comparative study of institutions, Martin Buber's lead on human creativity, and a Weberian interest in world religions and civilizations. His approach intertwined structural differentiation within a cultural-interpretative approach to social dynamics in historical and modern societies. Among his contributions are studies stressing the role of agency, structure, and culture in processes of change; a critical assessment of modernization and revolutions; institutional and civilizational analyses, among them of Japan and Jewish civilization; and the perspective of “multiple modernities.”