As I rushed to attend my sociology class the other day in school, my friend — a student of pure sciences — stopped me in my tracks. “Bunk the class, man,” he urged. “Such a loser you are for attending classes of the easiest subjects.” I just laughed off his obnoxious comment because I was getting late, but more importantly because I knew better than to tell him that sociology is not such a piece of cake. I really didn’t want to hear him boasting about physics or biology.
But many other students have gotten annoyed with similar comments. When a classmate asked me which subjects I had selected for my A levels (which by the way are purely social sciences), my response made her blurt out, “Did you flunk your O levels?” The look of surprise and sympathy she gave me was infuriating and how she assumed that choosing social sciences had a relation with flunking O levels was beyond me.
I simply hate the generalisations associated with being a student of the social sciences. Yes, I have taken up social sciences in my A Levels and I’m absolutely delighted about it. Now I would very much appreciate it if you don’t quibble about how easy my life must be or come up with reckless theories of how I must have had horrible grades in O levels, to land with subjects which are “useless”.
No, I wasn’t forced to jump into the social sciences bandwagon because I was a poor student who failed to make it to the allegedly more difficult streams of commerce or applied sciences. I also didn’t choose to take these subjects because I want my life to be a breeze. The fact is that I happen to be genuinely interested in studying sociology, psychology and English literature. Physics and chemistry don’t fascinate me at all. Will I have to give up citizenship of the country for not pursuing a career in medicine or engineering? Will everyone now call me a “psycho” for studying psychology?
A deep-seated and narrow-minded notion in our society is that the social sciences don’t have ‘scope’ in our society. What on earth does “scope” mean? Abused and overused as this idea is, ironically many of us don’t know what it means. We are just used to repeating the clichéd dialogue we’ve heard over and over again from our parents, adults or friends.
We need to move beyond a society which only aims to produce doctors, engineers and accountants and realise that the social sciences are just as important. As a matter of fact, they are even more important, in many ways. I appreciate the value of natural sciences; they are an essential branch of education and are required because they state the laws of nature. Nevertheless, they are exact sciences. Anywhere in the world you go, it’s acknowledged that two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen make water. This formula will never change. Social sciences, on the other hand, are approximate sciences and they examine change in social interaction across time and space. The charm of social sciences comes from the uncertainty of things.
Studying about society, people and their interactions is no less helpful than healing patients. If we want to improve our lives, choices, and institutions do we not first need to learn about how they work, why they exist and their history?
Did materialism always play an important role in human societies? Why does military rule keeping recurring in Pakistan’s politics? Why did the Arab Spring happen so spontaneously in countries which had experienced decades of stable dictatorship? How should we interpret our dreams? Is our society traditional or modern?
All these are important questions and the social sciences give us answers for them. How else will we be able to explain social relations and change societies for the better without their knowledge? There is so much that social sciences have to offer and people just don’t realise that.
But luckily I do. I know that students of commerce and science will continue to give me looks of surprise, shower me with naïve criticism about lack of “scope” and pass sardonic comments about not carrying books half as heavy as theirs. But I’ll just excuse their ignorance and continue to study the subjects I love.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2011.
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Perhaps it is some reassurance that the most popular major at one of the top institutes for higher education in Pakistan, LUMS, is Economics, also known as the Imperial Social Science. Moreover, most of the the batch-toppers at LUMS in the past decade or so have also been Economics majors. If that is not enough, pick up any social science or humanities discipline and ask some academics about its state of research in Pakistan. You won't be surprised to hear that the state of research is dismal for ALL disciplines in social sciences & humanities in Pakistan. Hence there is plenty of room and need for social science research in Pakistan.
I was very much interested in pursuing political science, history and philosophy for my further studies, but i was stopped from all corners and the most amazing advice tht came my way and i quote, " In subjects mai degree lo ge to bhokey maro gey"
That's what you get for B.A lot too.
Sociology is Pure Science and it´s application is applied Science. The field and interest of Pure Science is to seek knowledge. Applied science uses the scientific knowledge to solve the practical problems of the society.
A sociologist can make a study of the subcultures of Ahmadis, Hindus, Sikhs etc. confined in their Ghettos, or the nature of Slums and the related delinquency. or the ever-growing phenomena of suicides and so on. This can be followed by a study, how to prevent criminality, suicides or a better integration of the subcultures.
I recommend the following books:
Invitation to Sociology: A humanistic perspective......Author: Peter L. Berger
Suicide:a study in Sociology ..............from Emile Durkheim........who is considered one of the founders of empirical Sociology..................taadi kheer howe
There's a bias in subcontinent towards sciences and mathematical professions. Everyone wants to become a engineer/scientist/doctor and sometimes even forced into these subjects by parents or society at large. One has to understand for a overall development of society, a good liberal arts studies are a must. Look at western societies, the importance that a liberal arts study gets is no less than any engineering/medical study gets. This helps in developing a balanced society one in which every profession has a role to play. By constantly deriding artsy classes as below par, we are forever ingraining inferiority complex into students who take up those classes. There should be a cultural change in our society where every one follows their passion.
Any kind of art is a gift, please don't make it a bane.
This same prejudice exists against F.A. students versus F.Sc. Pakistani education is massively screwed up, only gives respect to certain subjects while neglecting and mocking others. Society needs professionals from all fields not just science or medicine.
If you study sciences you can make roads, bridges, new machines and inventions, treat patients, etc. What can you do for society if you study sociology?
The charm of social sciences comes from the uncertainty of things.emphasized text <3 This kindly of attitude of our 'narrow minded' society towards the social sciences is the sole reason why we have failed to produce a revolutionary Philosopher, an unbiased Historian or an intelligent Diplomat in this part of the world.Maybe people here are too busy becoming doctors and engineers !
Worry not, Zoya. I took the same route in A-Levels a few years back, and now that I am done with college and am working, I can attest to the rapidly changing work environment in the world, including Pakistan, where concepts like 'respectable professions' and 'scope' hold no meaning. Hope you become a successful social scientist one day [although, just to be clear, while sociology and psychology are social science disciplines, literature falls under humanities. you will also find social scientist ridiculing people doing work in humanities for not being rigorous enough. even within the social sciences, there exist such arguments between the more quantitative and the less quantitative practitioners and disciplines.]
Wish I had the choice of taking subjects without any influence of my parents and relatives... wish you best of luck man!
This happens with me too. I agree with you a 100%. I switched from pure-science and maths to social sciences and a bit of commerce and everyone assumes my life must be so easy with these subjects. Sociology interests me. These people dont even know what the subject is and how vast it is. Auguste Comte termed it right, its the 'queen of all sciences'.
Wno says that social sience is an useless suject .Its importance for Pakistan is much more than any other subject . A society which is in conflict with traditional and mordern values and well sackeled with out dated religious believes needs a skilled sociolgist to help the policy planers in drafting a policy which can bring about required change in the collective thinking of the society well in advance . The present social senario of Pakistan is due to lack of such trained sociologist and this important work of sociogists are being performed by Mullas .