Sociological Practice in Brics Countries

Sociological practice, and related sub-disciplines, doing sociology; everyday sociology; clinical sociology; pragmatic sociology, and so on, are focused at the experiential realm. Sociological practice may be viewed independently from sociological theory and sociological research (methods). However, sociological practice is best known for drawing from theory and research methods to propose real, everyday solutions to social problems; propose social policy; and develop social programmes.

Given that sociology originated and developed differently across the world, the same is true for sociological practice in the BRICS countries. The BRICS countries are cooperating economically and politically, providing the international sociological community with wide-ranging opportunities for studying similar and divergent concepts, phenomena and social issues.

Sociological practice is therefore located within different experiences and stages of development in the respective countries: China and Russia have moved away from communist to post-communist economies; Brazil has experienced regime change from dictatorship to democracy; India is balancing rapid growth and acute poverty; and South Africa is building a developmental state. Accordingly, the goal of the paper is to chart sociological practice in BRICS towards identifying best practices.