Reflections on Arabs and sociology: insights into sociological schools of thought in the Arab World – challenges and issues

Abstract

This article has two sections. The first elaborates on a new Arab proposal that is gaining prominence in the realm of sociological research, which calls for a new sociological classification based on the concept of balance/conflict. The second section explores the work of the Iraqi scholar and sociologist Ali Al-Wardi and describes how he adapted the sociological concepts useful in analysing Western societies and combined them with the work of the forerunner of Arab sociology, Ibn Khaldoun, in applying them to the Arab world. The article explores the problems that have arisen for sociology in the region, and it attempts to classify the schools of sociological thought in the areas of epistemology and ideology, characteristics and seclusion, synthesis and openness. It describes the process of how these schools of sociological thought have evolved, and how they can be simplified and rendered useful for Arab sociologists to study their societies.