This volume investigates the shifting conceptualization of progress as a social and historical construct during the final decades of the twentieth century. Editors Jeffrey C. Alexander and Piotr Sztompka assemble a collection of scholarly contributions that examine how the Enlightenment-era belief in linear advancement faced critical re-evaluation amidst global political shifts and cultural transformations. The text provides a framework for understanding how social movements and intellectual currents challenged traditional notions of modernization and development.

Scholars and students of sociology frequently cite this work as a significant contribution to the discourse on late-twentieth-century social theory. Experts highlight the text for its rigorous academic approach to deconstructing the ideological underpinnings of progress in a rapidly changing global landscape.