Public Sociology and Democratic Theory

Public Sociology and Democratic Theory
■ Stephen Turner
University of South Florida, USA

ABSTRACT
Sociology, as conceived by Comte, was to put an end to the anarchy of opinions characteristic of liberal democracy by replacing opinion with the truths of sociology, imposed through indoctrination. Later sociologists backed away from this, making sociology acceptable to liberal democracy by being politically neutral.
The critics of this solution asked ‘whose side are we on?’ Burawoy provides a novel justification for advocacy scholarship in sociology. Public sociology is intended to have political effects, but also to be funded by the politically neutral state. He argues that public sociology is institutionally neutral, but that committing to an organic relation with a social movement is legitimate as a matter of the sociologist’s personal value choice. Although this produces side-taking sociology, by improving the case for particular standpoints it serves to improve democratic discussion generally, which is an appropriately neutral public aim.
KEY WORDS
Burawoy / Comte / democratic theory / foundations / liberal democracy / political
neutrality / public sociology / standpoint theory / value-neutrality

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Sociology and Postcolonialism

Sociology and Postcolonialism: Another ‘Missing’
Revolution?
■ Gurminder K. Bhambra
University of Warwick

ABSTRACT
Sociology is usually represented as having emerged alongside European modernity. The latter is frequently understood as sociology’s special object with sociology itself a distinctively modern form of explanation. The period of sociology’s disciplinary formation was also the heyday of European colonialism, yet the colonial relationship did not figure in the development of sociological understandings.
While the recent emergence of postcolonialism appears to have initiated a reconsideration of understandings of modernity, with the development of theories of multiple modernities, I suggest that this engagement is more an attempt at recuperating the transformative aspect of postcolonialism than engaging with its critiques. In setting out the challenge of postcolonialism to
dominant sociological accounts, I also address ‘missing feminist/queer revolutions’, suggesting that by engaging with postcolonialism there is the potential to transform sociological understandings by opening up a dialogue beyond the simple pluralism of identity claims.

KEY WORDS
feminism / identity / modernity / multiple modernities / postcolonialism / sociological
theory

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PENERAPAN AGROPOLITAN DAN AGRIBISNIS DALAM PEMBANGUNAN EKONOMI DAERAH

The Application of The Agropolitant and Agribusiness
In Regional Economy Development

The reality that a role of agriculture sector very mportant as a main basic of the national economy to tackle a crisis impact. For the regional economy development will be realized with the application of agropolitant and agribusiness concept in regional economy development or local economy development.

In agropolitant concept, service center will be give by village level and a place near with farmers stay, for the agriculture activity service, working capital credit and market information. The development activity of agribusiness, farm agribusiness and supporting agribusiness, while down-stream agribusiness is not progress yet maximally. The farmers must be together with to get added value for upstream agribusiness and down-stream agribusiness by agribusiness cooperative development and joint venture with Private Company or BUMN/BUMD.


Pembangunan ekonomi yang sentralistis dimasa lalu, mengakibatkan terjadinya krisis multidimensi yang dialami bangsa Indonesia, khususnya krisis dibidang ekonomi. Krisis ekonomi yang terjadi merupakan akibat dari masalah fundamental dan keadaan khusus. Masalah fundamental adalah tantangan internal berupa kesenjangan yang ditandai oleh adanya pengangguran dan kemiskinan, sedangkan tantangan eksternal adalah upaya meningkatkan daya saing menghadapi era perdagangan bebas. Keadaan khusus adalah bencana alam kekeringan yang datang bersamaan dengan krisis moneter yang merembet dari negara tetangga. Krisis ekonomi ditandai melemahnya nilai tukar uang dalam negeri terhadap mata uang asing (Gunawan Sumodiningrat, 2000).

Dewasa ini pemerintah memang telah mulai semakin memperhatikan pembangunan ekonomi daerah melalui jargon-jargon ekonomi politik seperti desentralisasi ekonomi, otonomi daerah, ekonomi kerakyatan dan pemberdayaan usaha kecil, menengah dan koperasi. Namun hingga saat ini belum jelas formatnya dan bagaimana implementasi konkritnya masih kita tunggu hasilnya. Bahkan apabila ditelaah lebih jauh, kadangkala kebijaksanaan makro ekonomi yang diterapkan justru tidak konsisten dan bertentangan dengan upaya pengembangan ekonomi daerah.

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Prajateerpu, Power and Knowledge: The Politics of Participatory Action Research in Development Part 1. Context, Process and Safeguards

by :Michel Pimbert and Tom Wakeford

ABSTRACT
Prajateerpu (translation: ‘people’s verdict’) has been devised as an exercise for allowing those people most affected by the ‘Vision 2020’ for food and farming in Andhra Pradesh (AP, India) to shape a vision of their own. We explore Prajateerpu as a case study in participatory action research that took place against a background of social, political and scientific controversy in which we were active participants. Having examined different methods in combination, including the citizens’ jury, scenario workshop and public hearings involved in the Prajateerpu
process, we assess the safeguards that were put in place to ensure a balanced and credible deliberative process. We suggest that the exchanges between the five organizations that formed the core team, the facilitators, oversight panel, witnesses, and jurors in Prajateerpu, along with the use of a set of carefully designed safeguards, may contain valuable lessons for those who wish to engage in collaborative inquiries where the political stakes in the outcome of this way of knowing are high.

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