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An overview of Sociology as a discipline in Pakistan: Challenges and opportunities
... (Shah et al. 2005Appointment of low quality teachers and the presence of sharp grouping among teachers at universities create problems at university campuses in Bangladesh. Up to now university teaching is viewed as a lucrative job considering the social prestige and honour attached to it. ...
Sociology is frequently termed as a 'science of social crisis' (Sen 1997). This is true in two planes – sociology originated in Western Europe in a period of social crisis, and its development is associated with continuing crises. Similarly, sociology in Bangladesh, since its inception as an academic discipline in 1957, has been in constant encounter with multifarious challenges. Previous discussions on the state of the discipline in Bangladesh insinuate a growing sense of institutional crisis. An institutional crisis implies 'a fundamental conflict between an institution and a larger social context' (Baker and Lenhardt 2008). A few Bangladeshi sociologists have analyzed the underlying causes of crisis of Bangladesh sociology. Khan (1990) points to the epistemological problems and states that 'sociology has remained in a state of permanent crisis since its emergence'. To Islam and Haque (1999), the crisis lies in the lack of theory building and, indeed, in a gradual decline of interest in studying sociological theories. Sen (1990) argues that the equilibrium model of the West is insufficient for the study of Bangladesh society. Islam (1999) related the crises of sociology to the crises of modernity. To him, the crisis of Western sociology comes with the crisis of 'overdevelopment' while the crisis of Bangladesh sociology is associated with the crisis of 'underdevelopment'. Scholars have also offered various solutions to the problems: adopting a Marxist approach (Sen 1990, Khan 1992), offering strong foundation of theory building to students (Islam and Haque 1999), developing a multidisciplinary approach (Sen 1990), and holistic application of the discipline as well as the disciples (Akhter 2008). The present paper focuses on the state of Bangladesh sociology by introducing the concept of 'hybrid sociology' to analyze the crisis of present day Bangladesh sociology. 'Hybrid sociology' here refers to the crossbreeding of different sociological traditions, i.e., using different elements of different sociological traditions within a single research project. Starting from the 1970s Bangladeshi sociologists have been concentrating on, in Alatas' (2006) words, "empirical, single-case and own-country studies." Most of these researches are based on Western theories, concepts, ideas, and methods – just applying them to field-level problems. Thus, through these types of work, sociology is assuming a new face, what I term "hybrid sociology." This article argues that the hybrid nature itself creates a crisis for sociology in Bangladesh. At the same time, I show that the overcoming of crises in Bangladesh sociology depends on its keeping pace with global sociological transformations; upgrading university courses in terms of area, content, and methodological sophistication; innovating new tools and theories; and proliferating 'public sociology' (Burawoy 2004). This investigation is conducted based on information obtained from secondary sources that include books, journals, and the findings of other researchers. Also, in the process, some renowned sociologists of Bangladesh have been interviewed in order to paint a more precise picture of present day Bangladesh sociology.
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