Knowledge and Society: Situating Sociology and Social Anthropology, Revised Edition (Collected Essays)

In this book, the author emphasizes the importance of contextualization and discusses the controversy regarding data collection techniques among sociologists and social anthropologists. He argues that there is an organic relationship between the nature of the themes studied and the methods invoked; the nature and characteristics of the universe studied and the methods employed; and that no method is inherently superior or inferior but they are contextually relevant or irrelevant. The book also addresses the advantages and disadvantages of having a pre-conceived theoretical framework and a conceptual kit in the study of ongoing social movements. The book further demonstrates how theories, concepts, data collection techniques, themes of research, and structure of society are linked. All chapters in this book singly and in combination address the ambiguous boundary between sociology and social anthropology, the unwarranted anxiety that cultural/social sciences exhibit to catch up with the 'scientificity' of material and life sciences, and the lack of clarity that sociology is prone to have regarding the appropriate units of analysis in different contexts and levels.