Whither Social Science

Bibliographic Data

ID9976448
AuthorsOm Bakshi (The author is Professor of Political Theory, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi., corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume43
Issue2
Pages137-183
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8817 • E-ISSN: 0973-0702
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002088170504300202
OpenAlexW1969814126
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

The development of new approaches in recent times has brought about major changes in the study of social and political life. They reject almost everything that has been traditionally accepted, for which they have been severely criticized. But focusing on academic issues alone won't help much. We can understand the new approaches, their concerns, their rejection of science as model, their disdain for objectivity, universality, truth, relevance and so on, more adequately by relating them to the social conditions that obtain in the West. There are, however, major differences between these conditions and those that obtain in countries like India. And the kind of problems facing these countries can be addressed meaningfully by the more traditional approach than by the approaches developed recently. This is why, while it does not seem to have much future in the West, where it originated and continued for long, it may survive, even flourish, in countries like India

Development economics · Economics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Objectivity (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Relevance (law · Social science · Sociology · Universality (dynamical systems · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Society, and Development

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