Book excerpt: The contemporary world has reached a pivotal moment of escalating injustices and apocalyptic risks, but also of unprecedented opportunities. Mounting pressures of social and ecological problems are met by a confluence of intellectual trends that allow the questioning of entrenched assumptions and the unleashing of a forward-oriented sociological imagination. In Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World, a diverse collection of international experts explore contemporary trends, alternative visions, and new directions for sociological research, raising issues that reflect the complexity of challenges facing future projects on a shared planet. Topics include: Global Inequality Multipolar Globalization Climate Change Contentious Politics and Social Movements Feminist and Indigenous Perspectives in Latin America An African-centred approach to Knowledge Production Post-Islamist Democracy Based on the revised papers of the Opening and Closing Plenaries of the Third ISA Forum of Sociology in Vienna, Austria, July 2016, which Markus Schulz organized on the theme "The Futures We Want: Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World."