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Principles for Social Transformation Research Stephen Castles

Social transformation studies: The analysis of transnational connectedness Effects on national societies, local communities and individuals

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Why does it matter?Example: Migration in Asia

Economic and bureaucratic models lead to false understanding and negative consequences

APMRN: transnational network of academics, policy-makers and NGOS

Aim: analysing long-term consequences for society, culture and politics

Questioning national stereotypes and conventional wisdom

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The disconnection of North and South

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Why understanding social transformation is important to UNESCO-SHS

Development approaches often one-sided Have sometimes led to greater inequality and

impoverishment Economic and political change always brings

social and cultural transformation Unplanned social transformation can be

devastating Basing policy on understanding of social

transformation can lead to fairer outcomes

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Global change and the social sciences

Challenges Transnational

processes Social transformations

in all regions Collapse of old

dichotomies (modern/ traditional; East/West; highly-developed/less-developed)

Erosion of nation-state autonomy

Traditional responses Assumptions based on

western experience of industrialization and nation-state formation

National specificity in intellectual frameworks, organization, theory, methods, findings.

National linkages between policy, funding and research

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Social transformation studies

Key themes• Social and cultural

dynamics of globalisation• The impact of global

forces at the regional, national and local levels

• How local histories and cultures influence global processes

• Processes of mediation between the levels

Key Approaches• Analysis of transnational

processes• Local research using

participatory methods• Network research• Research as a tool for

change: work with policy-makers and stake-holders

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Modernity, progress and development

Belief in progress

Expansion of western nation-state:

Industrialization and colonization

Development as emulation of the western model

Development as part of the Cold War

End of modernity No new space to

colonize Global environmental

effects Threat of global

destruction Global economy Global reflexivity New forms of

resistance to western values

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Crisis of development studies

Causes End of Cold War, Info-tech revolution Accelerated

globalization Rise of tiger

economies Dominance of neo-

classical model

Consequences Economic and social

exclusion in all regions

End of Third World as political and economic concept

Debate on role of state in development

Questioning of economic growth as main goal

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Is DEVELOPMENT still the main goal?

Critique: emphasis on economic growth leads to inequality, impoverishment, environmental degradation.

Sustainable development: not just economic growth but also health, education, political participation, civil society, good governance

Human development: ‘the process of enlarging people’s choices... by expanding human capabilities’ (Paul Streeten, UNDP)

Development as freedom (Amartya Sen) Development as social transformation of whole

society (Stiglitz)

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A warning: the ambivalence of social transformation

Underdevelopment as a threat Globalisation as Northern dominance Cross-border networks as resistance Transnationalism from below Global governance requires economic

and political control of the South Top-down social transformation as a

new ‘civilising mission’ of the North

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Studying transnational processes

Themes Cross-border flows Transnational

networks Poverty and rural-

urban migration Exploitative work and

child labour Ethnic and religious

conflicts

Examples International migration Transnat. corporations International

agribusiness as factor in displacement

Off-shore production and sub-contracting

Asserting identity in face of threatening cultural change

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Understanding the local: participatory research

Top-down approaches Experts as agents of

modernization Methods: economic

data, statistics and surveys

Local people as ‘obstacles to progress’

Re-education or public order strategies

Bottom-up approaches Development as

collective learning Including all

stakeholders in planning and study

Participatory research approaches

Valuing indigenous knowledge

‘Squatter citizens’

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Network research

Overcoming the control function of First World research on ‘backward peoples’

Transnational research networks as equal partnerships between scholars

Western values and methods cease to be the norm

Interdisciplinarity and methodological pluralism Culture, ethnicity and gender as explicit themes Links between research and policy Working with research users

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Principles for social transformation research - 1

1. Researchers should adopt a holistic approach: ST concerns all aspects of social life at all spatial levels.

2. Interdisciplinarity essential in all ST research.3. But interdisciplinarity has to be grounded in thorough

knowledge of the theory and methods of specific social sciences.

4. Analysis of knowledge systems should be be included in research frameworks.

5. Historical analysis should be part of every study.6. Comparative analysis of countries and communities

helps understand relationship between the global and the local.

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Principles for ST research - 2

7. Need for detailed knowledge about specific cultures, communities and societies.

8. Participatory methods to include disempowered groups: the poor, ethnic minorities, women.

9. Culture and identity play a vital role in shaping responses to ST and globalization.

10. Appropriate organisation for ST research is the international, interdisciplinary research network.

11. Researchers should define their values: knowledge should be used to improve social conditions and achieve sustainable livelihoods.

12. Researchers should make their work accessible to society.