The paper is devoted to the critical analysis of modernization in modernist vision of modernity. A peculiar ‘metonymic’ logic of the connection between different discourses and narratives of the ‘monolithic modernity’ is demonstrated and the involvement of the imperial civilization discourse is analyzed. The paper also analyses some principal breaches in this logic, which open up interpretative space for the development of the theories of plural modernity. The paper is based on the rich material of contemporary political philosophy and social theory.