Trajectory of Sociology: Paradigms, Discourses and Methodology for Social Inquiry

The volume provides a comprehensive review of theoretical perspectives and discourses in research methodology in social sciences related to sociology of knowledge, hermeneutics (phenomenology and ethnomethodology), neo- Marxism, structuralism, critical school, post-structuralism, post-modernism and critics of positivism. Ranging from the philosophical to the practical, it explains critical theory and cultural differences. It provides perspectives on current research practices to strengthen sociological and other types of social reasoning. It also presents new methods for gathering and analyzing data. It represents an invaluable resource for the researchers and students at graduate and post-graduate levels in all social science disciplines, particularly those studying sociology, anthropology, political science, economics and history.

Ajit Kumar Pandey served as a Professor of Sociology at Banaras Hindu University. I am the founding and former Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, BHU, Varanasi (2008-2012) and the former chair of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, BHU. I was the visiting faculty at many universities, including JNU, New Delhi; Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow; and Rajasthan University, Jaipur. I am presently associated with the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. Of late, I have published on the dynamics of the relationship between Subalternity, exclusion, and social change in India with Cambridge University Press and Routledge, London. I have remained busy throughout my academic career in expounding and examining theories and ideologies, problems and problematics, conflicts and contradictions, norms, values, and institutions of modern societies. My recent articles: i) in Sociological Bulletin, published by Sage in 2021 under the title, AK Saran’s Sociology: Towards a Critique of Modernist Mode in Social Sciences, ii) A. K. Saran on Modernity, Indian Tradition and Sociology in India in Nagla and Choudhary (eds.), 2023, Indian Sociology: Theories, Domains and Emerging Concerns, published by Springer iii) Weber’s Theory of Rationality: A Critical Reading in S. Patra and T. Paltasingh (eds.), 2025. Sociology of Rationality: Critiques and Creative Conversations, published by Routledge, London, is a critical and constructive response to the crises of modernity.