From Academic Dependency to Self-ostracism of Intellectual Labor

Abstract

The role and nature of intellectual labor in the knowledge production process in today’s globalized world is frequently studied and discussed with reference to national divisions of scientific labor. However, unequal patterns of such labor divisions among the countries of South and North urge us to look critically at this process. In this article we will explore the case of Sociology in Pakistan which may be characterized by quasi-isolation and outdated knowledge, and as cognitively and institutionally static. Our findings from Science Citation Index (SCI) suggest that Pakistani sociology as compared to other developed countries has nourished in no significant manner the concert of international division of labor in scientific research, and except for a brief period at the discipline’s birth, the international division of scientific labor has failed to interact with Pakistan either through extracting little of interest from Pakistani sociologists or from their social and historical experience. Reasons for the dismal state of Sociology in Pakistan are traced back to its colonial and post-colonial history.

Keywords

• Academic dependency
• Division of intellectual labor
• Sociology
• Pakistan
• Colonialism
• Science Citation Index