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The pandemic has wiped out over 4 million human lives and caused huge economic loss. As poverty forecasts famine, the super-rich became richer. The consequence of the pandemic has also shrunk the democratic space. In selected cases, the growing perception of social inequality matched the number of caseloads of infections and deaths. The response to the pandemic varied depending not only on the effectiveness of the responses by the respective governments but also by the presence of scientific thinking in society. The pandemic and the distribution of vaccine highlighted the need for interdependence and cooperation between the nations. It has also created a need for renewing global justice based on humanity and rationality in the post-pandemic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Tiger economies, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, this article examines the advantages and limitations of the statist command and control approaches to crisis management. Local, regional, and global politics as well as global political economy impinge and influence the state response. The article argues that a combination of factors – the institutional memory, overall state capacity and efficacy rooted in the preexisting institutional nexus, performance legitimacy, trust, reliance on scientific rationality, and integration with global scientific networks – stood in good stead in dealing with the crisis. Yet, as the crisis rolled on, some of the stellar performers showed considerable gaps in planning and politics trumped sensible policies. Despite the commonality, the article shows that there were important differences in the responses of the three Tiger economies, especially in rolling out the vaccines, which can be explained not only by the state capacity but also the larger global politico-economic contexts. The article argues that the state capacity is affected by the global dynamics, the specificity of geopolitical and historical contexts, which must be factored in in explaining successes and failures of state responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to examine Eurasian globalization historically, this paper outlines three phases of globalization starting from 200 BCE to 1492 CE as Phase 1 and 1500 CE to 1999 CE as Phase 2 and from 2000 CE Phase 3. By historicizing the concept and the process of globalization, the paper attempts to provide a more global rather than a Europe-centred history of globalization and modernization. The paper builds on the idea of Eurasia and offers a new perspective of Eurasian globalization by pivoting on China's role in both Phase 1 and Phase 3 of globalization. The paper uses historical literature that has been not only critical of the Eurocentric view of the world but also provides a more connected view of global history. Concurring with Steger and James [2019. Globalization matters. Cambridge University Press] that globalization has not outlived its utility, the paper seeks to historicize and globalize the discussion of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With India's robust, neo-liberal economic growth and the growing buying power of the Indian consumers, cricket, a popular sport in India, too, has been transformed. Indian Premier League is a short-format, high-value cricket league that features major international cricket stars who come to India to join one of the eight franchised teams that take part in this competitive tournament. Using the sociological framework of glocalization, this article argues that the intersection of the global economic forces and the local culture that celebrates cricket has created a glocal space for its performance, and with the mediation of communication technology, it has widened the viewership globally. Infused with Indian money, motifs, and meanings, a new spectacle of consumption is on offer. The emergent consumer culture has transformed the game itself, adding a showbiz quality to it. Through the analysis of Indian Premier League cricket, this article sheds light on the consequences of cultural globalization, at once homogenizing and heterogenizing, an essential characteristic of glocalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main task of this article is to link the issue of the identity of migrants to the human security of migrants with temporary labor status. This article explores not only the politico-economic circumstances of temporary labor migration amid conditions of insecurity, vulnerability, and precarity, and its social and cultural underpinnings, which are mediated by migrants’ class position, but also the consequences on temporary migrants’ identities. The temporary migrant workers from Bangladesh in the Gulf Coordinating Council (GCC) countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) belong to multiple spaces yet their families and homes are foremost anchors in their narratives of belonging. The space most temporary migrant workers occupy is glocal with a specific focus on geography as well as the community. The article addresses the class-based identity and human security of the temporary Bangladeshi migrants in the UAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the history of environmental movement and the growing awareness of sustainable living in the past half a century. Taking The Silent Spring of Rachel Spring (published in 1962) as a point of departure, this paper navigates through the interplay of awareness and consciousness raising, knowledge production, institution building, environmental movement and its globalization. The paper examines the lack of development of a holistic understating of environmental challenges of the world in the face of issue-based social movements. The paper presents the transformation of the conceptualization of development from a narrow "economic development" as measured in income growth to a more inclusive sustainable development where the focus is on quality of life, wellbeing and happiness. The paper provides a brief history of the environmental activism prompted by the growing awareness about environmental and ecological sustainability to the globalization of the environmental movement. In this process environmental activism launched by the civil society, the state and inter-state institutions played an important role. Movements for political rights and economic entitlements need to include environmental rights as an integral part of social movements. In many parts of the Global South such an integrated, thus holistic, movement is still wanting or remains at a rudimentary stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the concept of state autonomy in the context of globalization. Earlier literature either considered state autonomy from the social forces in broad institutional and cultural terms or from the dominant classes in a restrictive sense. However, in either case the focus remained on domestic/national society, not the global society. The discussion of relative autonomy of the state began among the Marxists in the 1970s and then graduated into the mainstream social sciences in the 1980s and 1990s. In the upshot, the notions of developmental state and the embedded autonomy have significantly added to our knowledge of the role of the state. This paper broadens the idea of embedded autonomy by locating the sources of embeddedness in both local as well global institutions and norms. The paper uses the Singapore case to illustrate some of the possibilities and limitations of the reconfigured role of the state in the face of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines corruption as a social problem and a phenomenon that illustrates certain problems in agenda-setting in sociology. Understanding such questions as why corruption remains largely outside the purview of sociology, and how sociological agendas are set can be found in the works of SyedHussein Alatas, who wrote about corruption as far back as the 1950s. Sociology of corruption as a subfield failed to take off despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon. In recent years, new books have been published, including an updated version of Professor Alatas's work. Studies of corruption remain a prerogative of the political scientists and public policy experts. Economists see corruption as a market-distorting externality and treat it as a peripheral subject. Gunnar Myrdal, who was an exception, in his Asian Drama, identified corruption as a serious bottleneck for Asian development. The problem persists 40 years on from Myrdal's analysis. In many countries in the developing world, corruption has become part of the fabric of society. Yet, sociological theorization and empirical studies are lacking. This article examines corruption both as a social problem and an indicator of the, corruption of sociology', drawing on the writings of Alatas, especially his notion of,captive mind' or the absence of intellectual autonomy on the part of the Third World sociologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socio-cultural changes in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore, can be beneficially examined in terms of the concepts of globalisation and glocalisation. The two concepts are related and their evolution and transformation highlight the tangled relationship between the discipline of sociology and globalisation. Although the sociological concepts and theories in the Western sociological discourses have a general import, there are problems in the application of these in the local contexts of Malaysia and Singapore. This calls for a critical and creative refinement of the concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the issues of globalization, civil society and a heightened concern for environment have simultaneously made inroads in serious intellectual as well as public discussions. Although these movements had a global dimension, they started at local, at best, national movements. Civil society is defined as a social space beyond the realm of the state, it is neither government nor private market. Michael Walzer has defined civil society as the space of unconcerned human associations as well as the set of relational networks. The main function of civil society is to challenge and thus to prevent the establishment of monopoly of power and truth. Discourses of globalization have grown manifold over the last decade. Globalization has become a contested conceptual terrain. Organised groups and coalitions of groups engaged in a common struggle to prevent environmental destruction are confronting the corporations or the states representing the other facets of globalization. Globalization is the concept appeared in sociological literature towards the end of 1980s.

This paper examines the role of civil society in environmental movements in the context of globalization. Exploring the various meanings of civil society, it argues that to understand civil society as a politically meaningful concept, due consideration should be given to social movements, which recharge civil society. At the same time, the efficacy of social movements rests on the vibrancy of civil society. In the present day world, civil society has become quite active in a large number of public interest issues of which environment has become quite central. This paper explores the conditions of the environmental movements as a truly global phenomenon and its role in the rise of a global civil society. The paper also reflects on the implication of the emergence of a global civil society for the protection of the environment. Drawing upon the cases of the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Narmada Dam in India the paper examines the role of an incipient global civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the development trajectory of sociology as a discipline and its practice in Singapore. Evolution of sociology in Singapore; Phases in the development of sociology; Agenda for sociological research in Singapore.

Presents a critical analysis of two books on social development. 'Society and State Market,' by John Martinussen; 'The Post-Development Reader,' by M. Rahnema, edited by Victoria Bawtree.

Broadly defined, political sociology is about providing a social context for the political processes in a given society. If political science deals with the text, sociologists are interested more in the context as well as the subtext. Thus, the separation of the fields only has analytical value; and it is within the framework of this cross-disciplinary objective that we want to approach the subject of political sociology in Southeast Asia. In providing a sociology of political sociology we necessarily take into account writings of sociologists as well as political scientists and other social scientists, both in and outside the region. In a way, the kernel of "pancasila ideology," unity in diversity, has become the leitmotif of the entire region, which incorporates multiple cultures, histories, collective memories, and religious traditions. Forging a sense of unity and a common purpose is a challenge. The common ground has, however, been provided by the focus on economic development. Southeast Asia has been the fastest growing region in the world, and much of the credit for this rapid and equitable economic growth goes to the political stability and cooperation among the countries.

Argues the presence of a gender gap concerning sustainable interest in science in Singapore. Survey finding on the issue from junior college and polytechnic students in the country; Exploration of the disadvantages set by the classroom background.