Transcript Studying Social Transformation

Principles for Social
Transformation Research
Stephen Castles
Social transformation studies:
 The analysis of transnational
connectedness
 Effects on national societies, local
communities and individuals
1
Why does it matter?
Example: Migration in Asia




Economic and bureaucratic models lead to
false understanding and negative
consequences
APMRN: transnational network of academics,
policy-makers and NGOS
Aim: analysing long-term consequences for
society, culture and politics
Questioning national stereotypes and
conventional wisdom
2
3
The disconnection of North and South
4
Why understanding social
transformation is important to
UNESCO-SHS





Development approaches often one-sided
Have sometimes led to greater inequality and
impoverishment
Economic and political change always brings
social and cultural transformation
Unplanned social transformation can be
devastating
Basing policy on understanding of social
transformation can lead to fairer outcomes
5
Global change and the social sciences
Challenges

Transnational
processes

Social transformations
in all regions

Collapse of old
dichotomies (modern/
traditional; East/West;
highly-developed/lessdeveloped)

Erosion of nation-state
autonomy
Traditional responses

Assumptions based on
western experience of
industrialization and
nation-state formation

National specificity in
intellectual frameworks,
organization, theory,
methods, findings.

National linkages
between policy, funding
and research
6
Social transformation studies
Key themes
• Social and cultural
dynamics of globalisation
• The impact of global
forces at the regional,
national and local levels
• How local histories and
cultures influence global
processes
• Processes of mediation
between the levels
Key Approaches
• Analysis of transnational
processes
• Local research using
participatory methods
• Network research
• Research as a tool for
change: work with policymakers and stakeholders
7
Modernity, progress and development
Belief in progress
 Expansion of western
nation-state:
 Industrialization and
colonization
 Development as
emulation of the
western model
 Development as part
of the Cold War
End of modernity

No new space to
colonize

Global environmental
effects

Threat of global
destruction

Global economy

Global reflexivity

New forms of
resistance to western
values
8
Crisis of development studies
Causes

End of Cold War,

Info-tech revolution

Accelerated
globalization

Rise of tiger
economies

Dominance of neoclassical model
Consequences

Economic and social
exclusion in all
regions

End of Third World
as political and
economic concept

Debate on role of
state in development
 Questioning of
economic growth as
main goal
9
Is DEVELOPMENT still the main goal?





Critique: emphasis on economic growth leads to
inequality, impoverishment, environmental
degradation.
Sustainable development: not just economic growth
but also health, education, political participation, civil
society, good governance
Human development: ‘the process of enlarging
people’s choices... by expanding human capabilities’
(Paul Streeten, UNDP)
Development as freedom (Amartya Sen)
Development as social transformation of whole
society (Stiglitz)
10
A warning: the ambivalence of
social transformation






Underdevelopment as a threat
Globalisation as Northern dominance
Cross-border networks as resistance
Transnationalism from below
Global governance requires economic
and political control of the South
Top-down social transformation as a new
‘civilising mission’ of the North
11
Studying transnational processes
Themes

Cross-border flows

Transnational
networks

Poverty and ruralurban migration

Exploitative work and
child labour

Ethnic and religious
conflicts
Examples

International migration

Transnat. corporations

International
agribusiness as factor
in displacement

Off-shore production
and sub-contracting
 Asserting identity in
face of threatening
cultural change
12
Understanding the local: participatory
research
Top-down approaches

Experts as agents of
modernization

Methods: economic
data, statistics and
surveys

Local people as
‘obstacles to progress’

Re-education or public
order strategies
Bottom-up approaches

Development as
collective learning

Including all
stakeholders in planning
and study

Participatory research
approaches

Valuing indigenous
knowledge

‘Squatter citizens’
13
Network research







Overcoming the control function of First World
research on ‘backward peoples’
Transnational research networks as equal
partnerships between scholars
Western values and methods cease to be the
norm
Interdisciplinarity and methodological pluralism
Culture, ethnicity and gender as explicit
themes
Links between research and policy
Working with research users
14
Principles for social transformation
research - 1
1. Researchers should adopt a holistic approach: ST
concerns all aspects of social life at all spatial levels.
2. Interdisciplinarity essential in all ST research.
3. But interdisciplinarity has to be grounded in thorough
knowledge of the theory and methods of specific
social sciences.
4. Analysis of knowledge systems should be be
included in research frameworks.
5. Historical analysis should be part of every study.
6. Comparative analysis of countries and communities
helps understand relationship between the global and
the local.
15
Principles for ST research - 2
7. Need for detailed knowledge about specific cultures,
communities and societies.
8. Participatory methods to include disempowered
groups: the poor, ethnic minorities, women.
9. Culture and identity play a vital role in shaping
responses to ST and globalization.
10. Appropriate organisation for ST research is the
international, interdisciplinary research network.
11. Researchers should define their values: knowledge
should be used to improve social conditions and
achieve sustainable livelihoods.
12. Researchers should make their work accessible to
society.
16