Beyond Sociology: Trans-Civilizational Dialogues and Planetary Conversations

236 Pages·2018·2.41 MB·English

by  Ananta Kumar Giri (eds.)

BEYOND
SOCIOLOGY
Trans-Civilizational
Dialogues and Planetary
Conversations
EDITED BY ANANTA KUMAR GIRI
Beyond Sociology
Ananta Kumar Giri
Editor
Beyond Sociology
Trans-Civilizational Dialogues
and Planetary Conversations
Editor
Ananta Kumar Giri
Madras Institute of Development Studies
Chennai, India
ISBN 978-981-10-6640-5 ISBN 978-981-10-6641-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6641-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017959739
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For P.D. Khera, Björn Wittrock, Rabi Narayan Mohanty, James L. Peacock
and Robert Wuthnow
P
reface
Disciplines such as sociology emerged in the context of the rise of the
modern world, and today there is an epochal challenge to rethink, trans-
form and practice these disciplines in transdisciplinary and transciviliza-
tional ways, where the very terms of our discourse such as society, self,
culture, state and the world emerge out of dialogues among civilizations
and cultures and rooted planetary conversations across borders rather than
continuing the uncritical continuance and reproduction of Eurocentric
definitions of situations. Beyond Sociology carries such a project of critique,
creativity, reconstitution and transformation as it seeks to cultivate path-
ways of transdisciplinary and transcivilizational sociology beyond the traps
of singular valorizations—Western or Eastern.
This journey of ours, exploring the pathways of Beyond Sociology, began
in 2005 at the World Congress of Sociology in Stockholm organized by
the International Institute of Sociology. My friend and co-traveler John
Clammer and I had co-organized a session on this theme. Our book builds
upon this session and includes some new contributions as well.
The Stockholm conference was nurtured by Björn Wittröck, Principal of
Swedish Collegium of Advanced Studies (SCASS), Uppsala. Björn is a
remarkable human being, a deep and kind seeker and inspirer, and is a great
institution leader. Over the last three decades Björn has nurtured so many
collaborative conversations and projects around the world and has brought
many scholars to SCASS, Uppsala, to cultivate new ways of thinking and
being. Ever since my first meeting with him in 1999, I have continued to
draw inspiration from his indefatigable energy and devoted scholarship. We
dedicate this book as a gift of our love and gratitude to Björn for the way he
vii
viii PREFACE
has challenged us to go beyond disciplines and familiar prisons in search of
broad horizons. We also dedicate this book to four other creative social
scientists who challenge us to go beyond sociology and anthropology as we
know. Robert Wuthnow is a creative sociologist whose sociological quest
goes beyond conventional sociological concerns, and it explores issues of
art, creativity and spirituality in open ways. His Creative Spirituality: The
Way of the Artist is an inspiring example of such a journey. Similarly, James
L. Peacock explores new modes of practicing social sciences in creative and
transdisciplinary ways, combining deep scholarship with generosity of spirit
and heart. His Anthropological Lens is a remarkable example of such a jour-
ney. P.D. Khera was an inspiring teacher and student of sociology who nur-
tured generations of students at Hindu College, University of Delhi. What
was remarkable was that every afternoon after classes he used to spend more
time in the library than the students. Khera was also deeply concerned with
the plight of the human condition, which he observed as he walked through
the streets of Delhi. In 1984 he marched against the anti-Sikh riots, and
after his retirement he spent time with tribal people of India. Rabi Narayan
Mohanty was a devoted teacher and scholar of sociology who nurtured
generations of students in Odisha. He lived and breathed with the spirit of
sociology until Fate tragically took him away from us in a road accident,
which took place as he was on his way to attend a sociology board meeting
at Fakir Mohan University, Balasore. Mohanty’s The Academic Elite is a
landmark study that inspires scholars of sociology to strive for new depth
and height in their research and understanding. It is with gratitude that we
dedicate this book to P.D. Khera, James L. Peacock, Rabi Narayan Mohanty,
Björn Wittrock and Robert Wuthnow for what we owe to them as regards
sociology, humanity and much more.
The book has taken a long time to come together, and I thank fellow
contributors for their patience and kindness. I thank my dear friend Marcus
Bussey of the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia for his thoughtful
Afterword. I thank Sara Crowley Vigneau and Connie Li of Palgrave
Macmillan for their kind interest in and support for the project. I thank
Ashwin V. for his help in preparing the manuscript. Finally, I hope this
work helps us to cultivate new sociological imagination and new ways of
being alive and understanding the world in these challenging times of ours.
Deepavali
Festival of Colors
Chennai Ananta Kumar Giri
18 October 2017
a g
cknowledgements and ratitude
We are grateful to the following sources, where the chapters were first
published.
Chapter 1: Daya Krishna, Social Philosophy: Past and Future (Shimla:
Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, 1969).
Chapters 3, 6 and 10 build upon Ananta Kumar Giri, Beyond Sociology:
Windows and Horizons (Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2009).
Chapter 7 first appeared as Philip Wexler, Society and Mysticism. In:
Philip Wexler and Jonathan Garb (Eds.), After Spirituality: Studies in
Mystical Traditions (New York: Peter Lang, 2012). Printed with the kind
permission of the publisher.
ix
c
ontents
1 Beyond Sociology: An Introduction and An Invitation 1
Ananta Kumar Giri
2 The Concept of Society: Beyond the Socio- Centric
and Atman-Centric Predicament 11
Daya Krishna
3 Beyond Sociology: Cultivating an Ontological
Epistemology of Participation 29
Ananta Kumar Giri
4 Deep Sociology 53
John Clammer
5 Inferential Dialectics: On Dialectical Reasoning in 
Critical Social Science and the Socio-Cultural World 71
Piet Strydom
6 Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action:
From Discourse Ethics to Spiritual Transformations 93
Ananta Kumar Giri
xi
xii CONTENTS
7 Beyond Sociology: Mysticism and Society 123
Philip Wexler
8 Confucian Self-Transformation as an Alternative Sociology:
Meaningful Action vs. Performance with Differential
Profundity 145
Wei-Hsu Lu
9 Structure, Agency and Victimization: On the Ethics
of Scientific Writing 173
Gudrun Dahl
10 With and Beyond Plurality of Standpoints: Sociology
and the Sadhana of Multi-Valued Logic and Living 193
Ananta Kumar Giri
11 Afterword: Beyond a Materialist Sociology 221
Marcus Bussey
Index 225