Academic Dependency and the Global Division of Labour in the Social Sciences

2003/11/01 by Syed Farid Alatas · 645 citations
Social Sciences · #Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice #Dependency (UML) #Dependency theory (database theory) #Division of labour #Economics #Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism #Higher Education Governance and Development #Law #Political science #Politics #Positive economics #Social order #Social science #Sociology #State (computer science)

paper · doi:10.1177/00113921030516003

published in Current Sociology 51(6), 599-613 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2003/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

This article attempts a political economy of the social sciences in order to assess the state of the social sciences at the global level. The focus is on the relations between the social sciences in the First and Third Worlds. The political economy approach that is utilized for this purpose is academic dependency theory. The condition of academic dependency is related to the global division of labour in the social sciences, which, I argue, plays a significant role in maintaining the structures of academic dependency.

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