The contemporary socio-cultural condition of the Western civilization is labelled with the terms "postmodern age" and "late modern age". They designate the fact that contemporary Western society differs from the modern age in several essential aspects. There is, however, no agreement whether the period of the modern era has ended or we have entered the next stage of modernity. The paper will discuss parallels between the major interpretations of contemporary socio-cultural conditions and the theory of socio-cultural dynamics of Pitirim A. Sorokin. His theory of socio-cultural dynamics is based on the data about cultural and social phenomena of Western civilization from its beginning to the second decade of the 20th century. Examined will be the thesis that Sorokin's theory, although much forgotten and ignored, is in some of its aspects still relevant today. The paper will also present the possibility of a creative application of Sorokin's approach to some of contemporary socio-cultural dilemmas.
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