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    1120 - Iok - 273 - 286 - Ilyas Ba Yunus - Contemporary Sociology - An Islamic Critique PDF

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    Elmir Karadži

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Contemporary Sociology: An Islamic Critique Tyas Ba-Yunus ‘Contemporary sociology is one ofthe most recent contributions that Western civilization has made to human understanding. It is not only one of the ‘youngest, but also perhaps the most all-encompassing of all the sciences that Strive to understand human behavior in social interaction. Sociologists have ‘concemed themselves with the processes of consensus and conflict, cooperation ‘and conflict, organization and disorganization, conformity and deviance, order ‘and change, and other phenomena tht fll within the preview of human society. ‘On the one hand, they have focussed on interpersonal relationships in small group situations. On the other, they have studied processes of larger magnitude generated within the larger human society. Polity, economy, education, famni- ly, war, peace, law, justice, religion, crime, birth, death, migration, recreation —whatever human beings do in relation with other human beings has been considered to be a Bonafide area of sociological enquiry. Lately, with the developments in industry and commerce, as human rela- tionships have become more complex and problematical, sociologists have been increasingly called upon to serve as planners, analysts, advisors and ad- ministrators in addition to their normal careers as college teachers and pro- fessors. In short, demand for sociologists has increased with the increase in the problems of society. A quick survey of sociological offerings like criminology, military sociology, industtial sociology, sociology of education, ‘demography, and population, shows us how sociologists have been selling their discipline in the market place of their problem-ridden societies. ‘On the other hand, the lay perception of sociologists has been varied. Some look at sociologists as social philosophers or armchair theorists. Others regard sociologists as sociologists and therefore radicals and rabble rousers. Many think sociologists teach one to be sociable. Those who tend to divorce social from economic and political affairs take sociologists to be experts in family affsirs and child socialization or in education and other every day affairs. In fact, a sociologist may fit any of these impressions. On the other hand, 214 Islam: Source and Purpose of Knowledge hhe may not possess any of these qualities and expertise. Depending upon one's specialization, one may be oriented toward grand theory or more interested in testing hypotheses by collecting and generating data. One may or may not bbe a socialist. In fact, some sociologists are among the most conservative persons in the world today. Likewise, some sociologists may be quite sociable while others may be most difficult to get along with. Finally, for sociologists the term social means anything pertaining to social interaction, which includes political, economic, business, industrial, and professional aspects of socicty, although some sociologists may not like to specialize in such themes. I. Origins of Sociology Although Ibn Khaldin introduced his Science of Society (Tim al Imran) in and around the year 778 A.H. / 1377 A.C., itis customary to trace the origin of modern sociology back to the writings of the French philosopher, ‘Auguste Comte (1212-1273 A.H. / 1798-1857 A.C.), who was born almost four hhundred and fifty years after Thn Khaldiin. Although there may be a few com- ‘mon points between the views of Ibn Khaldiin and those of Comte, the discon tinuity between the Western sociological tradition and what could have become a full grown Islamic tradition of sociology has been almost complete. Even the belated discovery of Tbn Khaldn in the West cannot be credited to the efforts of Western sociologists; in fact, of all the Western social scientists, sociologists are perhaps most ignorant of fbn Khaldiin and his work today. This does not mean that a continuity between Ibn Khaldin and Comte could necessarily result in the enrichment of the Islamic tradition. Most plausibly, hhowever, it could have saved contemporary sociology from its present extreme provincialism, There is litle doubt that sociology, as itis practised and taught in schools of higher learning today, is intimately related to and is an intellec- ‘ual product of its native post-industrial civilization. In its search of problems, in its methodology, in its world view, and in its biases, it reflects the impact upon its practitioners of the general Western environment from which they derive their basic sustenance. II, What Can We Learn from Sociology Today? ‘Whatever its other weaknesses, sociology cannot be blamed for intellec- tual self praise or self-serving indulgence. Within the domain of science, there is hardly a discipline more critical of itself. As the discipline is maturing with time, sociologists are spending a great amount of energy in tearing it apart. Sztompka (1399 / 1979: 3-22) has summarized more than twenty types of yas BaYunus 275 criticisms that sociologists have made against sociology. They have denounc- cd their job as “sorcery” (Andresky, 1392 / 1972), “a doctrine of hypocrisy and irresponsibility” (Gray, 1388 / 1968), and “pseudo-science” (Kirk, 1381 / 1961) to “a bag of fads and foibles” (Sorokin, 1375 / 1956). Sociologists not only have criticized sociology, but have been perhaps the ‘ost potent crities of Western civilization itself. Whereas Durkheim (1370 1951) and Merton (357 / 1938) spoke of anomic as inherent inthe industrially ‘developed and prosperous West, and Reisman (1372 / 1953) pointed out the ‘acute level of individuation from modern man's unending rat-race, Mills (1375 11956) bemoaned the accentuation of power mongering in contemporary, com plex society. Likewise, sociological researchers and theories abound on such topics as mental sickness, suicide, crime, delinquency, criminal justice, divorce, unwed mothers, and racial and ethnic prejudice in Western civilization. ‘The rampancy of these problems in Western civilization and their seeming incurability must be a lesson for those non-Westerners in general and Muslims in particular who, looking at the West from a distance, have been unduly im- pressed with its glamor. Ifa Muslim student in the West has learned this lesson, sociology has served him well. Afterall, Comte conceived of his science of society mainly in order to solve the compounding problems of his industrial- ly developing civilization, IH. Assumptions and Strategies Jn introducing his “social physics?” Comte had two important motivations. ‘One was his perception that industrial revolution hat liberated forces that were playing havoc with society. Second was his theory that a rational, rather than religious strategy, could be applied to alleviate these problems by incorporating the methodology of physical and natural science in the service of social rela- tionships. Aron (1387 / 1968, 76:77) summarizes Comte’ position in these ‘words: the method that has triumphed in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology must eventually prevail in politics and culminate in the founding of a positive science of society, which is called sociology” In this quest for a scientific status for sociology, Comte received a great deal of support from a number of notable European social philosophers. Herbert Spencer, for instance, was of the opinion that “there can be no com- plete acceptance of sociology as a science as long as the belief in a social ‘order not conforming to natural law survives.” (I3Il / 1894, 394) This posi- tion was also explicitly taken up by John Stuart Mill, Emile Durkheim, Lester ‘Ward, and Vilfredo Pareto, to name just a few. This positive strain in sociology hit responsive chord in America where, following the lead of Lester Ward, sociology produced such “paper-and-pencil” empiricists as George Lundberg, 276 Islam: Source and Purpose of Knowledge Samuel Stauffer, Clifford Shaw, and lately James Coleman and Ortis Dudley Duncan, ‘As mentioned above, however, sociologists suffer from an acute discord among themselves. There are more disagreements than agreements among them. One area of disagreement pertains to this very issue i.e., the applica- tion of scientific empiricism in sociology. Despite Comte and a number of notables who followed him on this issue, there have been equally notable challengers ofthis view. Not the least important of these has been none other than Max Weber. Weber conceived of sociology as a science of social action which is to be explained by way of understanding the interpretive meanings that the actor attaches to the environment. ‘The action is social insofar as, by virtue of the subject meanings attached to it by the acting individual (or individuals), it takes ac- ‘count of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course. (Weber, 1366 / 1947, 88) Because the interpretation of the actor cannot be reached by empirical obser- ‘ation, experimentation or otherwise, sociology according to Weber is fun-

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