The Complexity of Global Sociology

9/15/13

The idea of having a universal understanding of sociology among nations of the world is quite an obstacle. The two publications we read do not clearly state a solution to the problem. Both Burawoy and Moore simply address the concept of global sociology. I personally found Burawoy's reading to be more straightforward and honestly, more bearable to read. I was interested in what he had to say in regards to other countries. I found that his thought on having a common practice of sociology through collaborative and collective studies all around the world based on global issues was more respectable than Moore's concept of global sociology dated 47 years ago. Moore simply envisions the thought of having a global sociology (which is his article seemed to only involve the U.S. and Europe) and states that there are large gaps that needs to be bridged to become a subdivision of sociology. Burawoy actually addresses the problems that restrict the unity of sociological works and explains the complexity of understanding its components. Language dominance (English) as well as socioeconomic factors are examples of these limiting components. Sociologists in some countries have to become involved in an international organization, because in their country, sociology is not valued as highly as other nations around the world. I thought Burawoy was more organized structurally in his study than Moore, who seemed to drift off on incomprehensible tangents that I had difficulty following.

I found this video summarizing the challenges of global sociology.

This video is very relevant to our class discussion. This video, uploaded by the ISA, gives you multiple factors hindering the addition of global sociology: linguistic domination, resource asymmetry, privatization of research, and alternative theories. Notice that the majority of the whole video is in English. That alone shows the problem with global sociology. There is a constant push to write scholarly journals in English. At the 3:00 mark, many sociologists argue that there is not an equal opportunity for some countries. He says that no government or institution or university would support you in the way other nations would and that the best opportunity would be apart of an external source. What's that external source? An international organization. The struggles of some countries are so overbearing that participation is drastically diminished as explained  at the 7:08 mark. For those that do continue and work for an international organization privatize their ideas for the benefit of that organization, not a contribution to the knowledge bank of the world. This video revealed the true inequality of sociology. There are still many internal and external components that interfere with progress.

Also, I found the "Story of a Shoe" exercise very informative and entertaining. I shared part of my paper on Nike in class, but I knew beforehand the allegations against them as a company. The studies and journals online were infinite due to their negative publicity. It was nice to hear that companies like TOMS focus less on profitability and more on the well-being of their employees abroad. It was very engaging class this week!