Imran Sabir

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 In this article we will explore the case of Sociology in Pakistan which may be characterized by quasi-isolation and outdated knowledge, and as cognitively and institutionally static.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 his...

Pakistan has been facing a high level of violence over the decades. Although a paucity of knowledge on this issue in Pakistan is observed, this essay nonetheless outlines the documented patterns of street-youth violence: its causes, perpetrators and the socio-cultural and political constructs of the phenomenon. The wide gap in both the empirical and theoretical knowledge of the ‘North and South ’ of the intellectual global world impedes the researchers of the indigenous social problems to construct a comprehensive sociological perspective on the street-youth violence that exists in this region.

This dissertation is a historical account of origin and development of Sociology inPakistan from a critical perspective of sociology of sociology. It explores the factors behind the construction of sociology as an academic discipline by going deep into the historical traditions of diverse education systems in subcontinent, which were ruptured by a sudden introduction of colonial education system during 19th and 20th centuries. It draws especially on the ideological frames masked as scientificknowledge employed by political powers to advance their political interests in thepost-colonial Pakistan. Using historical archives, interviews with Pakistanisociologists, and dissertations of master students from two oldest and the largestinstitutions of sociology in Pakistan, this study reveals how sociology in Pakistanwas introduced, institutionalized, practiced, and produced within socio-historical and political context. The study also explores linkages of the production of sociological know...

Pakistan has been facing a high level of violence over the decades. Although a paucity of knowledge on this issue in Pakistan is observed, this essay nonetheless outlines the documented patterns of street-youth violence: its causes, perpetrators and the socio-cultural and political constructs of the phenomenon. The wide gap in both the empirical and theoretical knowledge of the ‘North and South’ of the intellectual global world impedes the researchers of the indigenous social problems to construct a comprehensive sociological perspective on the street-youth violence that exists in this region.

Modern world is irrevocably represented by the implicit role of media in our lives. Although scholars are enthusiastically and obdurately busy in producing huge variety of literature, its gigantic impact on our collective and individual behavior is yet to be fully known. Present research was conducted to find out the portrayal of the extent and varieties of extravagant content in Pakistani Television Dramas by employing content analysis. Extravagance was operationalized for physical appearances, diet patterns (the amount and variety of food on the dining table), marriage rituals, and ways of celebrations of lead actors in popular Pakistani dramas of the 1990s (between 1991 and 2000) and 2010s (between 2011 and 2019). The findings of the study suggest that popular entertainment media have been invariably promoting consumerism through the extravagant, flamboyant, and sybaritic representation of our living. Conclusively, extravagance has always been portrayed as a norm, rather than an ...

The current study aimed at exploring the attitude and risk perception of the students towards drug abuse. It was conducted through a quantitative survey technique in the educational institutions (Schools, Colleges and Universities) of four metropolitan cities of Pakistan. The sample size for the survey was 4997 students, using a multistage cluster sampling technique. The study found that although a majority (79%) of the students has a negative attitude towards the use of drugs, and consider its consumption as risky (poor health, lack of sleep, physical weakness, low academic performance, family conflicts and involvement in crimes), yet every fifth of the students is vulnerable to become a drug addict, as 21 percent of the respondent’s regard drug consumption as a risk-free activity. Conclusively, findings of the study, even though limited in the scope, are important to understand adolescent behaviour to ascertain the direction of future public policy on drug abuse in Pakistan.

Social Science disciplines have always been considered the second choice as compared to the hard sciences in the academic institutions of Pakistan. Does this apply to the national education policy as well, where the state intervention is catalytic in setting up the academic choices of the people? This study, by critically reviewing the national education policies and plans, endeavors to address this important question to understand the role of education planning in promoting/demoting social science academic disciplines in Pakistan. Education policy in Pakistan has been predominantly proposed through eight national five-year plans between 1955 and 1998, to primarily focus on increasing the national literacy rate, and promoting hard science education and vocational training. After the creation of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in 2002, the policy significantly shifted to Higher Education, yet to focus (natural/computer) science, and technology. Social science is at the periph...

In this paper, we will explore the case of Social Sciences in Pakistan which may be characterized by quasi-isolation, outdated knowledge, and as cognitively and institutionally static. In the passage of over half a century, how is it possible that Pakistani social scientists have merely published less than 200 articles in Science Citation Index (SCI) journals. What does this activity in the name of knowledge production reveal about subtle, often ignored issues of international division of intellectual labour, especially in third world? What does it tell us about how relationships between first world and third world should be viewed and assessed when former is perceived as knowledge producer and the later as the dependent player in the age of knowledge economy? Our thesis is twofold – first, that Pakistani Social Sciences has nourished in no significant manner the concert of international division of labour in scientific research, and second, that the international division of scientific labour has failed to interact with Pakistan either through extracting little of interest from Pakistani Social Scientists or from Pakistani social experience. Pakistan thus stands outside the dynamics of cognitive labour differentiation. Such an initially structurally imposed academic dependency on the North of the South and subsequent isolation from its knowledge production process may help us understand the nature of the division of scientific labour in other Third world countries. In fact, if the same pattern is predominantly adopted by other Third world countries in a national science system, it may well prove fatal to their integration on a global level.

... 10 Anne Marcovich for her valuable commenrs on an earlier version ofrhis paper, and ro my friend Kashif Sherwani and my wife Abida for helping ... 1 Dossier Imran SABIR published a mere 20 articles in Science Citation Index (seI) journals, and that, there has never existed an ...