Development sociology: A pioneer with an open future?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21241/Keywords:
Development sociology, Global sociology, decolonisation, epistemology, developmentAbstract
While mainstream sociology focuses on the societies of the North Atlantic, development sociology conducts research in the Global South. The original field of research, the question of development and theories of development, was supplemented by new perspectives from the 1980s onwards. With an empirical turn, development sociology conducted micro- and meso-level studies. These findings are currently highly relevant in sociological debates on global sociology, criticism of the concept of development and the development industry, and criticism of global inequality with regard to postcolonial structures or competing epistemologies. This seems to be a very good starting point for the future of development sociology. However, the current sociological debates hardly refer to the findings of development sociology, which has lost its appeal as a sociological subdiscipline. At least partly, this is the consequence of shortcomings in development sociology itself. As part of development studies and regional studies, development sociology distanced itself from mainstream sociology, and the results were published outside the field of sociology. The new debates in sociology that also include the Global South offer new opportunities for development sociology. One element is the initiation of a dialogue with the new strands in research and the contribution of empirical insights from development sociology. There are also genuine research topics for development sociology beyond the current debates. First, we need an ongoing nuanced empirical analysis and critique of development and of the development industry. A second field is the systematic study of diversity of societies and their processes of change. In addition to the currently prevailing concept of colonial society, this also encompasses other paths of change, including alternative modernities alongside Western capitalism and socialism. Whether “development” is the central concept for these tasks is at least an open question.
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