Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

126 P. F. Lazarsfeld
how the respondent would spend a sum of Rs. 20,000 on different items like purchase of
land, livestock, gold, construction of residential houses, establishment or expansion of
business, depositing in post offices, etc., assuming that the money was obtained by
winning the first prize of the prize bonds introduced by Government of Pakistan. Great
difficulty had to be faced in getting an answer to the question and some of the respon-
dents refused to think in terms of a hypothetical situation like getting money in prize
bonds.IM
In the developing societies, unfamiliarity with survey research may pose
problems. In East Pakistan during the course of a study,
... the appearance of the investigators in the rural areas led to speculation, rumours and
interpretation by different people in different ways, with different intentions ... [for
example] interrogation by the investigators was looked down upon in fear of a new tax
measure and a lot of trouble had to be taken to convince them that the survey was
being conducted by the University and was not in any way connected with the Govern-
ment.I45
These obstacles, as well as the importance of sociography hoted above, may
explain the emphasis in certain developing countries on participant observation
methods. The distinction between anthropology and sociology in fact sometimes
becomes a bit blurred. Indeed there exists in India a trend in sociology which
is called 'social anthropologi~al',~46 and the pervasive influence of anthropology
is apparent in the content of present curricula in sociology offered in Indian
universities.147
It has also been noted that in Africa 'sociology is having difficulty in freeing
itself of ethnology .'.148 But, in addition, it
is forced to be most cautious should it turn to the methodology and concepts of a
strictly defined sociology. Institutions, structures and traditional behaviour, which are
not at the center of its approach, continue to influence the social reality which it is ex-
ploring. Their latent or obvious influence leads the sociologists to multiply their
variables, to express reserves as to their own results and to limit the scope of their
conclusions. The precariousness and the rapid obsolescence of statistical information
must make them proceed with caution.149
Thus, because its conceptual tools are not always appropriate and as it supposes
stable relations between groups and individuals, and between norms and respon-
ses to norms, sociology is not particularly well adapted to investigation of con-
temporary African society, and the authors go on to argue that for several
easons social p sychology is better fitted to this task than the parent disciplines
sociology, ethnology and psychology.
C. Accidental factors
Sometimes the character of sociology in a country is molded by an immediate
personality, like D. Gusti in Roumania,Iso R. S. Steinmetz in the Netherlands,'s
or F. Znaniecki in Poland.152 Probably nowhere else in the world has factor
analysis known such popularity among sociologists as in Finland, and this is
mainly due to the influence of Y. Ahma~aara.~53 The same is apparently also
true of the impact of Renato Treves on juridical sociology in Italy.Is4 The
emergence of special institutions, like the Escuela de Sociologia de la Facultad