The Socioeconomic Milieu of Scholarship: A Comparative Analysis of Family Sociologists in Indonesia,Malaysia,Philippines,Singapore and Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to focus on the work of sociologists and the development of sociology in Southeast Asia. As indicated in Chapter 1, it is important to set some subject and geographical boundaries that will facilitate the inquiry. Geographically, the discussion will involve five Southeast Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In terms of subject, four main questions will be explored concerning research and teaching on the sociology of the family in these countries. These questions are: what are the dominant themes or subjects of research in family sociology? What are the theoretical perspectives most commonly applied? What are the most common methodological approaches used? And what avenues are most utilized to disseminate research findings? These questions will be discussed in separate sections, after describing the setting of the study and the sources of information.