Palgrave Undoing Eurocentrism: Paradoxes and Prospects

This book offers a timely and provocative reassessment of Eurocentrism as one of the defining yet most contested paradigms of the modern world. Moving beyond conventional treatments that frame Eurocentrism as a historical legacy or intellectual bias, Undoing Eurocentrism examines it as a pervasive system of thinking, doing, and being embedded within contemporary institutions, social structures, and cultural practices. Drawing on critical social theory, Augie Fleras explores the intersections of Eurocentrism with coloniality, racism, whiteness, nationalism, and higher education, demonstrating how these mutually constitutive processes continue to shape knowledge production and social reality. Organized into three parts―Eurocentrism as idea, Eurocentrism in action, and beyond Eurocentrism―the book traces the evolution, politicization, and persistence of Eurocentric frameworks while engaging current debates across sociology, political studies, international relations, cultural studies, and postcolonial scholarship. Challenging readers to rethink familiar assumptions, it advances an anti-Eurocentric and ultimately polycentric vision for a more inclusive and pluralistic future. Combining conceptual rigor with contemporary relevance, Undoing Eurocentrism provides scholars and students of sociology, social theory, intellectual history, and social justice with an innovative framework for understanding and confronting one of the most enduring structures of power in the modern age.