On Improving Social Science Education in Pakistan

Zaman, Asad (2008): On Improving Social Science Education in Pakistan. Published in: Lahore Journal of Policy Studies , Vol. 2, No. 1 (September 2008): pp. 125-134.

Abstract

How do we arrest the decline of the social sciences in Pakistan? Is it a matter of money or one of sending more students to the West who might then return to teaching at the local universities? In this article I argue that the solution lies elsewhere. Borrowing frames, concepts, and analytical techniques based on the concept of universalism runs a serious risk of imposing alien views on local problems. Moreover, attempts to become ‘scientific’ requires side stepping value judgments of good and bad. The current Western domination of the intellectual scene favours a single route for social science development, and kills all diversity. However, whilst we may borrow as much as we choose, we need to build our own frames that would underpin the social sciences, and this is possible only by reconnecting with our own past.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Eurocentricism; Western Universalism; Positive Science; History of Social Science; Western Social Science
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B29 - Other; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B59 - Other

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