Introduction

The introduction clarifies the purpose of the volume, specifically, the intention to contribute to a presentation of the current theoretical debate of the social sciences that takes into account the complexity and variability of current societies. It makes explicit the novelty of the text which, instead of mapping and reconstructing the landscape of past and contemporary social theories as an ensemble constructed by scholars or grand theories, tries to navigate through the constellation of theories by framing them in terms of some emerging keyword and thematic nodes. It presents the reasons for choosing the eight keywords – Agency, Anthropocene, Coloniality, Intersectionality, Othering, Singularization, Technoscience, Uncertainty – and a brief summary of the key points of the different chapters.