349.1
Comparative Sociology As an Inquiry and As a Teaching Discipline: An Attempt of Comparative Analysis
Chair, Comparative Sociology Department,
St. Petersburg State University,
Comparative Sociology as an Inquiry and as a Teaching Discipline:
An Attempt of Comparative Analysis
Paper to be presented at the XVIII ISA World Congress, Research Committee on Comparative Sociology, RC 20
Session: Comparative Sociology: Present Status and Future Directions
The exponential growth in affirmation of or claims to comparative research have given rise to multiple discussions in recent years. The paper is an opportunity to analyze a very old yet really stimulating topic in scholarly production.
It explores into understanding the ‘similarities’ and ‘differences’ between “comparative analysis”, “comparative method” in social sciences, “comparative sociological studies”, “comparative sociology”. It tries to show the real novelty of a ‘comparative sociology’ in a nowadays sociological business.
The paper examines the reality of comparative sociology in the classroom as a teaching discipline and its specifics as a scholarly enterprise.
The paper argues that a broad discourse on the role of comparative sociology for the intellectual life has not yet occurred in academia, despite many valiant efforts to help it take place.
The paper has two foci: the first is theoretical and methodological; it tries to depict general theoretical frames, methodological orientations for the current debates on “comparative analysis/method/sociology” issues in nowadays sociology.
The second aims to reposition comparative studies’ production within policy practices. The output of academia is no longer confined to a pure intellectual/theoretical debate but is increasingly part of a current policy activity, a part of a broader public domain.
The specific data and field research materials come from the longitudinal researches developed by the research teams and teaching instructors during last seven years (2006 -2013) at the International Center for Comparative and Institutional Research (InterComCenter) and Comparative Sociology Department of St. Petersburg State University, Russia.