The Sociological Consciousness, Democracy and Development: A Necessary Revisit in ‘Our Times’

This article is a revised version of my presidential address delivered on 22 December 2024 at the Forty-Ninth All India Sociological Conference held at BML Munjal University, Gurugram. In this article, I explore the historical and conceptual interconnections between democracy, development and the making of sociological consciousness. In the contemporary context marked by demands for instant deliverables and managerialism, we must resist the easy option to stay ‘relevant’ by merging sociology with social work or adding courses for ‘skill enhancement’ in qualitative and quantitative techniques. Both statistical and qualitative data are important, but they have to be put within a theoretical frame of reference. While being wary of scientism, sociologists must accept that our statements have to be arrived at through the observation of certain rules of evidence that allow others to both question and develop our findings further. The urgency of this, at a time when fake news has a greater impact than research-based analysis, cannot be overstated. To make sociology relevant, we do not need to morph into some other being. Instead, we need to go back to the nature of sociology and its serious engagement with questions of theory, methodology, democracy and development.