Die noodsaaklikheid van ’n ander paradigma vir Suid-Afrikaanse sosiologie

Abstract

The necessity of another paradigm for South African sociology. Contemporary South Africa places the practice of sociology before unusual challenges on both theoretical and practical problem-solving levels. In order to meet these challenges we urgently need a paradigm in which the creational nature of reality is acknowledged. Accepting such a paradigm is in itself a challenge because of the foothold the existing paradigm has on western thought. Until sociologists accept this challenge they will continue to contend with existing paradigms which try to explain reality by approaching it in terms of its own existence. For this purpose one of the aspects of reality is absolutized time and again and made a principal of origin for the whole of reality. This means that the rest of reality is theoretically forced to function according to the mode of the absolutized aspect. This misconception leads to many problems on theoretical and practical levels. Scientists can be freed from this by accepting the creational nature of reality, which should lead to a better understanding of its problems. S. Afr. J. Sociol. 1986, 17(4): 143–147