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| India-Pakistan |
| A different view |
| 2015-06-16 |
| [DAWN] IT is a cliché that Pak society is being torn apart by ethnic, linguistic, religious and sectarian conflicts. From highbrow politicians to street vendors, the level of concern for the strife in society is matched by the depth of ignorance regarding its reasons or the cure. Can anybody think of an actual successful nation state made up of conflicting and antagonistic languages and cultures? Little do we realise that there is a field of knowledge called social sciences, where students are trained to understand the changing dynamics of human societies by following long-established theories, frameworks and methods. The various fields of social sciences, if applied, have a lot to offer where contemporary challenges facing Pakistain are concerned. Social sciences are much more social than they are science. The changing social and economic composition of cities, population kaboom, rural-urban migrations, spread of the road network and civic infrastructure to remote areas, growth of small towns, development of new technologies of cellular communications, satellite and cable television and the rise of social media, are a few of the drivers of rapid social change and transformation in society, about which we have little scientific information. Development is taken to mean economic development in Pakistain. The social sector research by NGOs is not only limited to select fields such as poverty alleviation, health, education etc, but also guided by donor-driven policies that are strategically framed by Western academics and think tanks. Pakistani researchers are expected to fill in the details rather than pose independent research questions that might lead to different answers and unexpected policy outcomes. |
| Posted by:Fred |