HS Special Desk 
Introduction Among the classics of sociology, Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) stands as a landmark in understanding the relationship between religion, culture, and economic life. While Karl Marx emphasized material conditions and economic structures in shaping society, Weber took a different route: he sought to understand how ideas, beliefs, … Read more
Introduction on Social Action and Authority Max Weber, one of the founding fathers of sociology, occupies a distinct place in social thought for his systematic analysis of modern society. Unlike Karl Marx, who emphasized economic structures, or Émile Durkheim, who highlighted social facts, Weber placed individual meaning and action at the center of sociological inquiry. … Read more
Sociology, as a scientific discipline, seeks to understand the complexity of social reality. Yet, social reality is too vast, diverse, and dynamic to be captured directly in its totality. To make sense of it, sociologists require conceptual tools that can reduce complexity without distorting meaning. One such profound methodological tool is the “Ideal Type” introduced … Read more
Introduction The concept of the division of labour has been a subject of discussion in economics, philosophy, and sociology for centuries. While thinkers like Adam Smith examined it from an economic perspective, focusing on efficiency and productivity, Émile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of sociology, gave it a distinctly sociological interpretation. For Durkheim, the … Read more
Émile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of sociology, introduced the concept of social fact as the foundation of his sociological theory. In his seminal work The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Durkheim argued that sociology must study social facts as its subject matter, just as natural sciences study natural phenomena. By defining social facts, … Read more
Introduction The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was one of the most significant geopolitical and social transformations of the 20th century. Among the fifteen newly independent states that emerged from this dissolution, the five Central Asian republics—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan—underwent an especially complex post-Soviet transition. Their shift from being peripheral regions … Read more
Introduction Society and the individual are inseparably connected. No individual can exist in isolation, and no society can function without individuals who follow certain norms, values, and cultural practices. The link between the two is built through socialization, a fundamental sociological process that shapes human personality, integrates people into the social structure, and ensures cultural … Read more
Introduction Human society is a complex network of interactions, relationships, and institutions. At the heart of these interactions lie several fundamental social processes that shape individual behavior, group dynamics, and broader social structures. Among them, cooperation, competition, and conflict are particularly significant, as they govern how individuals and groups relate to one another in both … Read more
Youth in South Asia live at a complicated intersection: rapid social change, uneven economic growth, expanding education systems, and longstanding hierarchies of class, caste, gender and place. Their aspirations — what young people hope for, imagine as possible, and plan toward — are culturally shaped, historically situated, and structurally constrained. Understanding Youth aspirations sociologically reveals … Read more
Introduction Societies are dynamic entities, constantly shaped by innovations, interactions, and historical transformations. Yet, cultural change does not always proceed uniformly. In sociology, this discrepancy between different aspects of culture is explained through the concept of “Cultural Lag.” The term, coined by sociologist William Fielding Ogburn in the early 20th century, highlights how material and … Read more