scholarly journals The problem of sociology in the Arab world between its theoretical reality and applied necessities

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Salih Samir Al-Dulaimi Salih Samir Al-Dulaimi
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Applied Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Theoretical Science

The rapid changes that have occurred in the countries of the Arab world is reflected on the concerns of the humanities in general and sociology in particular. They have also changed the nature of the problems that social thought deals with. It has become the interest of sociologists to study these societies starting from their own desire to understand the problems of these societies, their social structures, their problems, and their inner socio-political forces. Sociologists agree that sociology leads to knowledge and a sound understanding of human behavior, but they disagree about whether this science is trying to uncover any social facts in order to deploy them in making better societies. Some scientists believe that sociology is a theoretical science, but others see it as an applied science. Other scientists, on the other hand, see sociology as both a theoretical and applied science, and even they do not see that there are boundaries between theoretical sociology and applied sociology.The argument that sociology is both a theoretical and applied science cannot only enhance our interest and scientific knowledge about facts, but also contribute to the possibility of drawing a clear picture of the nature of the current and future social life. At the same time, the theoretical importance that contributes to the enrichment of scientific knowledge can be deployed to study the reality of our societies under the current circumstances.

scholarly journals Tio Ie Soei Dan Nona Tjoe Joe (Pertjinta'an Jang Membawa Tjilaka): Tegangan Antara Konservatif dan Modern

ATAVISME ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-155
Author(s):  
Dwi Susanto
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chinese Community ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
Future 2

Nona Tjoe (Pertjinta'an Jang membawa Tjilaka) adalah sebuah cerita yang berbeda dari pcngarang ccrita peranakan China pada era 1920. Cerita ini juga memberikan karakteristik yang berbeda dari cerita-cerita Tio le Soci. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi dan mcnjclaskan keadaan kehidupan sosial masyarakat/komunitas China yang ter-refleksi dalam Nona Tjoe Joe. Dengan memfokuskan pada representasi kehidupan komunitas China, tulisan ini berusaha mcnjawab beberapa pertanyaan "dimanakah kita sekarang dan apa yang terjadi dengan kehidupan kita sekarang dan akan datang" (2) bagaimana masyarakat China merespon pengaruh Barat (3) dengan analogi posisi wanita, seperti apa pilihan identitas peranakan China. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan itu, artikel ini memfokusukan pada teks sebagai refleksi fakta sosial. Kemudian, refleksi itu dianggap sebagai fakta kemanusian seperti perasaan, identitas, strategi untuk. bertahan hidup masyarakat China Abstract: Nona Tjoe Joe (Pertjinta 'an Jang membawa Tjilaka) is a different story compared to other peranakan Chinese stories in 1920 era. This story also gives the characteristic different from the other Tio le Soe.i stories, The study aims to explore and explain the condition of social life of Chinese community as reflected in Nona Tjoe Joe story. Giving the focus on the representation of the Chinese life, this article attempts to give answers of t.hc following questions: (1) how did Chinese community give answer "where is now and what happen with our present time and future", (2) how did Chinese community responds to the West influence, (3) with analogy of women position, what was the choices of identity peranakan Chinese. To answer those questions, this article gives the focus on the text as a reflection of social facts. The reflection is considered as human fact of feeling. identity, strategy to defending life of Chinese community. Keywords: reflection Chinese community, conservatism, modem

Ethnicity in the Soviet Union: Analytical Perceptions and Political Strategies

1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodor Shanin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship

Social facts and policies can be understood only in light of our own perceptions. This holds true with a vengeance where ethnicity, nationhood, or nationalism are concerned. All through the twentieth century this syndromecum-terminological chain has played an extensive, puzzling and usually unpredicted part in structuring social life and political action. New ethnic identities (for example, Tanzania'ism or Indonesian'ism) with their related designations and loyalties have cometo the fore with a speed that reveals the transitional and relational nature of ethnic phenomena. The same holds true for the ups and downs of acute nationalism. On the other hand, many throughout the world would agree with the great Catalonian historian, Pierre Vilar, whose internationalist values are not in doubt, that “in the relationship between my own life and history, nationals problems seem to overwhelm all others.” However one may conceptualize ethnicity and nationalism, their political impact has provided a major and continuous dimension of social action.

scholarly journals Reflections on the Context of the Change of War

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-94
Author(s):  
Mihai Marcel Neag ◽  
Lucian Ispas
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Operational Environment ◽  
Abstract Form ◽  
Continuous Transformation ◽  
Combined Analysis ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Real Challenge

Abstract In order to understand and explain the changes of war in a very complex operational environment and in a continuous transformation, we must anticipate, render in an abstract form and create solutions for successful decisions. The estimates of this communication resulted from a combined analysis of the conditions of war without winners and losers, given that humanity has evolved towards modernity from the perspective of changing the forms of consciousness, reshaping relationships and social structures, technological developments, or reporting the individual to the environment around him. In this context, identifying the relationships between the phenomenon of war and the other aspects (domains) of social life becomes a real challenge.

The Construction and Deconstruction of Secularism as an Ideology in Contemporary Muslim Thought

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Khalid Masud
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Distinction ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The Given

AbstractThis article starts with a sketch of the encounters and experiences of modern secularism in four areas of the Islamic world (Turkey, Arab world, South Asia and Southeast Asia); these point to the diverse conditions and constructions that have become central issues of regional and trans-regional discourse: laizism through reform, nationalism through decolonization, Islamic nationalism through state formation, and tolerance through traditional multi-ethnic environments. In analysing the basic writings of five exemplary modern Muslim thinkers, it is shown that modern Islamic thought, tied to the idea of mutual exclusive ideological constructions of secularism and Islamism, remains ambiguous while at the same time facing the factual unfolding of secularism in Muslim countries: the works of Mawdudi contain absolute denial of secularism; al-Qaradawi argues for the strict opposition and separation of the secular and the religious; al-Attas denies that Western processes of religious secularization are applicable to the development of Islam. On the other hand, Iqbal and Rahman, although maintaining a clear distinction between the secular and the religious, point to coinciding dimensions of religious and secular dimensions in modern political and social life. The reflection of the secular and the religious is highly shaped by historical and political influences as well as by ideologization, thus creating obstacles for fruitful conceptual reconstructions of the given dimensions of the coincidence of both — Islam and the secular conditions of modern society.

Webs of meaning: Theories and evidence from contemporary Ireland

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-243
Author(s):  
Tom Inglis
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Meaning Theories ◽  
Do So ◽  
As If ◽  
The Way

Meaning is basic to social life. Without it we are, as Bourdieu put it, like fish out water. And yet, within mainstream sociology, meaning is taken for granted. There are two questions. Is it important to try and get at meaning? And, if yes, how do we do so? In this article, I argue that we have progressed much theoretically from the debate that took place between Schutz and Parsons back in the 1960s. It is as if meaning and structures are opposite sides of the same coin but we either look at one side or the other: we cannot address them simultaneously. However, I argue that to do good sociology, it is necessary to try to marry what is going on in the actor with the way in which the actor is constituted within social structures. Given that we can only develop an approximate understanding of any actor and that we can only develop an approximate understanding of social structures, any attempt to link the two is necessarily tentative but, nevertheless, worthwhile.

Islamic-Secular Dialogue in the Arab World

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-89
Author(s):  
Mohammed El-Msaoui
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Political Sphere

Many debates between Islamists and secularists have taken place in the Arab political sphere with the aim of building bridges of communication between the two actors who contributed to the transformations that have taken place in the Arab world. Despite the multiple dialogues between Islamists and secularists, conflict and tension have prevailed on both sides, with conflict taking on all forms of material and moral violence. One of the most significant indicators of the crisis in communication is the emergence of violence. That being so, this study broaches the problem using Habermas’s basic idea, which focuses on violence as a disease of human discourse and communication. According to Habermas, violence is the result of distorted discourse between fundamentalists and others; it is a distorted discourse because it does not recognize the other as it is. The study employs the Habermas communicative action theory as a central concept. Accordingly, Habermas’s theory of communication is invoked to understand the causes of the escalation of violence in the Arab political sphere.

Benson and Miller in Perspective

1979 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 242-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Kuklick
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Applied Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Stock Of Knowledge

Despite differences in coloration Miller and Benson are birds of a feather. Although he is no Pollyanna, Miller believes that there has been a modest and decent series of advances in the social sciences and that the most conscientious, diligent, and intelligent researchers will continue to add to this stock of knowledge. Benson is much more pessimistic about the achievements of yesterday and today but, in turn, offers us the hope of a far brighter tomorrow. Miller explains Benson’s hyperbolic views about the past and future by distinguishing between pure and applied science and by pointing out Benson’s naivete about politics: the itch to understand the world is different from the one to make it better; and, Miller says, because Benson sees that we have not made things better, he should not assume we do not know more about them; Benson ought to realize, Miller adds, that the way politicians translate basic social knowledge into social policy need not bring about rational or desirable results. On the other side, Benson sees more clearly than Miller that the development of science has always been intimately intertwined with the control of the environment and the amelioration of the human estate.

scholarly journals Taking sociality seriously: the structure of multi-dimensional social networks as a source of information for individuals

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1599) ◽  
pp. 2108-2118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Barrett ◽  
S. Peter Henzi ◽  
David Lusseau
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
Cognitive Evolution ◽  
Systems Approaches ◽  
Entropy Measures ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Source Of Information

Understanding human cognitive evolution, and that of the other primates, means taking sociality very seriously. For humans, this requires the recognition of the sociocultural and historical means by which human minds and selves are constructed, and how this gives rise to the reflexivity and ability to respond to novelty that characterize our species. For other, non-linguistic, primates we can answer some interesting questions by viewing social life as a feedback process, drawing on cybernetics and systems approaches and using social network neo-theory to test these ideas. Specifically, we show how social networks can be formalized as multi-dimensional objects, and use entropy measures to assess how networks respond to perturbation. We use simulations and natural ‘knock-outs’ in a free-ranging baboon troop to demonstrate that changes in interactions after social perturbations lead to a more certain social network, in which the outcomes of interactions are easier for members to predict. This new formalization of social networks provides a framework within which to predict network dynamics and evolution, helps us highlight how human and non-human social networks differ and has implications for theories of cognitive evolution.

The Eventfulness of Social Reproduction

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Moore
Keyword(s):  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Structural Transformations ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions

The work of William Sewell and Marshall Sahlins has led to a growing interest in recent years in events as a category of analysis and their role in the transformation of social structures. I argue that tying events solely to instances of significant structural transformation entails problematic theoretical assumptions about stability and change and produces a circumscribed field of events, undercutting the goal of developing an “eventful” account of social life. Social continuity is a state that is achieved just as much as are structural transformations, and events may be constitutive of processes of reproduction as well as change.

Feasting Ritually: An Ethnography on the Implications of Feasts in Religious Rituals

2021 ◽  
pp. 0972558X2110571
Author(s):  
Anil Gopi
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
The People ◽  
Religious Festivals ◽  
The World ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
And Gender

Food and feast are integral and key components of human cultures across the world. Feasts associated with religious rituals have special social and cultural significance when compared to those in any other festivities or celebrations in people’s life. In this study, an approach is made to comparatively analyze the feasts at religious festivals of two distinctive groups of people, one with a characteristic of simple society and the other of a complex society. The annual feast happening at the hamlets of the Anchunadu Vellalar community in the last days of the calendar year is an occasion that portrays the egalitarian nature of the people. While this feast is restricted within a single community of particular caste affiliation and geographical limitations, the feast associated with the kaliyattam ritual of village goddess in North Malabar is much wider in scope and participation. The enormous feast brings the people in a larger area and exhibits a solidarity that cuts across boundaries of religion, caste and community. Beyond the factors of social solidarity and togetherness, these events also illustrate its divisive characters mainly in terms of social hierarchy and gender. A comparative study of both the two feasts of two different contexts reveals the characteristic features of religious feasts and the value of food and feast in social life and solidarity and also how it acts as a survival of their past and as a tradition.

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