Sari Hanafi is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut. He served as President of the International Sociological Association (2018–23) and Vice President of the Arab Council for Social Sciences (2015–16). An International Fellow of the British Academy, he was also the Editor of Idafat: The Arab Journal of Sociology (2007–22). His contributions to the field have been recognized with some of the Arab world’s most prestigious academic awards, including the Abdelhamid Shouman Award (2014) and the Kuwait Award for Social Science (2015). In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of San Marcos, Peru.

• Preface by Michael BurowayIntroductionFrom Classical Liberalism to Political LiberalismSymbolic LiberalismThe Dialogical Liberal ProjectSocietal Polarisation and Academic FreedomSecularism as Religion vs. Multicultural SecularismSexual and Gender Diversity: Embracing vs CelebratingThe Demise of Family Authority: The Case of Swedish Compulsory Child RemovalConclusion

Sari Hanafi’s book offers an original analysis and critique of Western sociology, as well as a diagnosis and therapy for polarised societies. The book resembles its author. It is both powerful and generous, global and local, critical and dialogical. The analysis comes straight from Beirut, but will appeal to a larger audience interested in the prospects of sociological theory, post-colonialism, political liberalism and democratic alternatives. - Frédéric Vandenberghe, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro