Which sociology? Exploring “non-western” interferences

New critical contributions addressing Eurocentric assumptions of sociology are mostly confined at epistemological level. Therefore these contributions, no matter how radical this criticism is, are actually classified as a mere current within a sociological sub-discipline, the Sociology of knowledge.

In this paper, I state that critical assessments coming from decolonial, postcolonial and Southern theories may have consequences for sociology as a whole. But that will only happen if contributions go far beyond the deconstruction of the colonial division of labour between disciplines or the denunciation of unjust geopolitics of knowledge within social sciences. These critical contributions must namely provide analytical tools in order to enable sociologists to produce non Eurocentric sociological knowledge. 

I develop my argument in three steps. The first step is a general description of some dilemmas observed in sociology today. In the second section, I present a tentative typology of existing forms of interaction between “non-Western” critical scholars and sociology: rejection, nostalgia, interference. Finally, I give some examples how “now-Western interferences” can contribute to overcome analytical and theoretical bottlenecks of contemporary sociology.