Sociology Global: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The book examines the world of sociology and its global features and trends. It coversthemes such as: sociologies in the world, major research areas in sociology, collaborationand interdisciplinarity, and contemporary challenges, pertinent issues and debates.

Sociology as a discipline has a history of two centuries which has varied between countries.Its presence across the world is felt now more than ever. Over the years, sociology has beenestablished as a discipline and contributed to the advancement of knowledge about societythrough scientific research. This facilitated the development of knowledge in other areas anddisciplines as well. What sociology is doing globally, the contributions it has made to ourknowledge of society and social phenomena, and the direction in which it is moving are ofinterest to both academics and the general public. There are many books that describe the global character of sociology, but a fully research-based empirical work is yet to arrive on themarket. This book fills that gap. It is about sociologies around the world. Viewed from a globalperspective, this research-based study examines the world of sociology and its globalfeatures and trends. Specifically, the book deals with the trends in sociology; the broad andgeneral areas of fields, subfields and research areas; the prominent, flourishing, emergingand/or declining areas of sociology; the origin of sociological knowledge; geographical regionsand countries; the characteristics of global sociology in terms of language, researchmethodology, disciplinary backgrounds, interdisciplinarity and authorship; the relationshipsbetween the country of affiliation of authors and research areas; the effects of gender of theauthor and its interrelationships with the discipline, department, research areas andcollaboration. The book will be an important resource for students, teachers, practitioners,researchers and the public.

The aim of this book is to examine the world of sociology and its global features and trends. Itis viewed from a global perspective and exercises sociologies in different parts of the worldwhich are integral. More specifically, the study examines sociology through sociologicalresearch, across countries where the discipline exists. The book deals with themes such associologies in the world, major research areas in sociology, collaboration andinterdisciplinarity, and contemporary challenges, pertinent issues and debates. The book haseight chapters.

The topics the book deals with include the trends in sociology as inferred from sociologypublications; the broad and general research areas that are evident in sociology at the globallevel; the prominent, flourishing, declining and/or emerging areas of sociology; the origin ofsociological knowledge geographical regions and countries; the characteristics of globalsociology in terms of language, research methodology, disciplinary backgrounds,interdisciplinarity and authorship; the relationships between the country of affiliation of authorsand research areas; the differences in the departmental affiliation and disciplinarybackgrounds of authors; the gender of the author and its interrelationships with the discipline,department, research areas and collaboration; the effect of gender, discipline andcollaboration of authors on the impact of sociology; and the key outlets and the location of theoutlets of sociological research.

Reviews

This book is lucid and fresh it offers a provocative overview of sociology over time and across space. The discipline of sociology emerged and became institutionalised with a focus on individual societies. Sooryamoorthy goes beyond reviewing the ways in which this discipline has been adapted to examine a globalising world. He demonstrates that the insights of sociology are indispensable for coming to terms with global challenges Gregory Hooks, McMaster University, Canada.

Finally, a book that acknowledges and explains efforts and successes of sociologists to shed light on the multiplicity and complexity of social processes throughout the world. Professor Sooryamoorthy shows that sociology has grown to be a truly global science constantlycontributing to a better understanding of how to improve the conditions of humankindDevorah Kalekin-Fishman, University of Haifa, Israel.

Sociology Global offers a rich, data-driven mapping of global sociology its development, its diverse forms and currents and its acute relevance in our challenging times. Comprehensive inits scope and meticulous in its comparative analysis, this volume confirms the view that global sociology is a field whose time has truly comeWilliam K. Carroll, University of Victoria, Canada.

Sooryamoorthy has produced an excellent, highly readable and necessary survey of sociological research around the world, and in a way that pays serious attention to voices from the global south. Mining evidence from a broad spectrum of journals and databases, he outlines major trends insociological knowledge and factors influencing it in various locations, thereby offering an indispensable guide for anyone interested in the structures, problems, contributions and fortunes of global social knowledgeMohammed Bamyeh, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Author Bio

R Sooryamoorthy is Professor of Sociology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Heis also Research Fellow at the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in STI Policy, Stellenbosch University,SouthAfrica. He is the author of Sociology in South Africa (Palgrave, 2016) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of theSociology of Africa (Oxford University Press, 2022).