Rethinking the Social casts a spotlight on Central and Eastern European societies, making their experiences visible and meaningful within postcolonial discourse.

Modernization theory overlooked important aspects of postsocialist transformation leading to the separation of sociological knowledge and the social production of knowledge. As a result, sociology has become alarmingly irrelevant to the people it studies. This book departs from preconceived notions of "normal" and "modern" to foreground the importance of actual social experience. After all, Central and Eastern Europe is a valuable yet underestimated social laboratory. Thus, the contributors experiment with new theoretical and methodological approaches to bridge the gap between social research and real people.

Contributors include: Izabella Bukraba-Rylska, Jacek Burski, Grzegorz Ekiert, Kaja Gadowska, Anna Giza, Magorzata Gowacka-Grajper, Micha Kaczmarczyk, Krzysztof T. Konecki, Mirosawa Marody, Adam Mrozowicki, Joanna Wawrzyniak, Anne White, Renata Woch, Tomasz Zarycki, and Marek Zirk-Sadowski.