International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2022

New directions or new changes: the re-start of Development Sociology

(Abstract)

Jian He and Ke Li

In the 1980s, the position of sociology in development studies gradually declined. This decline was consistent with the significant changes in the global economic environment. The Washington Consensus marked a sharp shift from earlier scholarship on development in at least three ways. Currently, pandemics like Covid-19 exacerbate inequality and injustice around the world, and this has led to the recognition that either viral or financial crises, or both, can have impacts on all areas of social life. For sociological research to continue to be an important voice in the future, sociology must be transformed through engagement with other ways of thinking, learning, and knowing.