Keynote address

at the National Conference on

Social Problems of Pakistan

Organized by Department of Sociology, University of Balochistan Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan

Muhammad Hafeez, PhD

Professor & Director Institute of Social and Cultural Studies University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

September 8, 2007

Keynote Address
Professor Dr Muhammad Hafeez
Director, Institute of Social & Cultural Studies (ISCS), University of the Punjab, Lahore

First of all, I like to express my hearty gratitude to Mrs Nargis, Chairperson, Department of Sociology, University of Balochistan, the Department of Sociology itself and the University of Balochistan for their honour to ask me for a keynote address at this conference. I am thankful to all of you and feel honoured. I understand that the worthy Vice Chancellor could not make it to this august conference. We will miss his gracious honour here. But special thanks to him for encouraging the sociology department to organize the conference. When I was invited to give a keynote address, I started thinking about several social problems that could be talked about in relation to the topic of this conference. Poverty, population issues, unemployment, inequality, insecurity, illiteracy, extremism, and terrorism are among the many social problems this country has been facing. Political confusion, social chaos, and uncertainty prevail in the country. This uncertainty and chaos create apathy and helplessness among general population. People get discouraged from taking interest in national affairs. These are some of the topics of interest for this conference. My presentation has a fragmented format but I will try to bring the strings together and find a message for ourselves. A Word about the Discipline of Sociology Sociology discipline provides holistic approach to social issues. This discipline understands the process of change much more comprehensively than any other discipline. It has the ability to untangle complex issues meaningfully and could prepare the right policy for appropriate actions to resolve them. This country continues to face many social problems, and ignoring the role of sociology (as a progressive force) is probably one of the major reasons for that. However, this situation is likely to change and this conference in Quetta could be taken as an indicator towards that. At this juncture, we appreciate the Department of Sociology and the Balochistan University for their contribution to promote the discipline of sociology. Poverty vs Inequality Social inequalities had been historically an important area of research. Sociologists and Economists had been particularly interested in social inequalities. However, during the recent past, the intellectual interest in inequalities has waned and people apparently preferred to work on other issues. It is amazing that intellectual interest in investigating structured social inequality has declined during the same recent past within which inequalities had been growing rapidly. It is perhaps due to the collapse of Marxism as a political and intellectual project, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Gradational or statistical inequality is not important and categorical inequalities are becoming significant and

damaging. Actually gradational inequalities have increased to so high levels and have become so pervasive that they have turned into categorical inequalities (powerful and powerless, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, etc.). In other words, societies have become victims of extreme polarization. The political connotation of extreme polarization may be called extremism. However, as sociologists, we must underline that the these extreme inequalities are being used as an agent of change. An Indian young boy aged 27 years was awarded with 400 Million US dollars for his hotmail program many years ago. This huge price of his effort was instrumental towards bring millions of young people around the world towards the IT sector. On the other hand, somewhat natural categorizations like men and women, black and white people, Asians and Europeans, etc have become more discerned and discriminate. Tilly (1998) argues that gradational understanding of inequality (as explained by economists in terms of curves and statistics) is not very useful. Averages and curves hide more than they reveal. For example, income distribution curves (statistics) do not reveal abrupt social differences (especially the subjective differences). Accordingly, categorical social inequalities are becoming dangerously important. Rather, the emerging inequalities can rightly be labeled as dangerous inequalities. For example, it does not bother a person if his/her neighbour has more money but both are in the same social category (either rich or poor). On the other hand when one feels poor and the other feels rich, social categorization emerges. It happens because people draw boundaries between themselves and others and develop animosities against each other. The institutionalization (acceptance) and crystallization into paired categories generate dangerous inequalities. These dangerous inequalities emerge through socioeconomic and political processes. Exploitation linked to the extraction of surplus is the most important one. Controlling opportunities by the insiders preserve their own advantages by being better informed. These concepts are drawn from Karl Marx and are structural in nature. Emulation and adaptation of these macro-structural concepts are internalized by people in such a way that they have become micro-level phenomena and people feel justified in adapting these socio-economic attitudes. In other words, the diffusion and institutionalization of social inequality takes place as modes of exploitation and control over opportunities are extended at all levels of society without feelings of guilt by individuals. Moreover, dangerous inequalities should not be taken as a macrostructural phenomenon, rather as one located in small scale (local level) structures or institutions. The dynamic relationships between macro and micro structures (i.e. between local level institutions and macro structures of societies linked to globalized super structure) have contributed towards justifying the dangerous inequalities. Structures do not allow you to do many things. I understand that. If you ask me an alternative and practical model for desirable change, I may not present any thing very useful but understanding the intricacies of development and change may result in good policies for general public and the society as a whole.

Poverty is of two types, absolute and relative. Absolute poverty represents denial of basic human needs and rights. Depriving people from food, health, education, shelter, good environment, opportunities, and freedom are some of the examples. On the other hand, relative poverty means mal-distribution of resources or simply be called inequality. It is interesting to note that absolute poverty hurts only the poor whereas relative poverty or inequality hurts everyone, both poor and rich. The poor are exploited by the rich; and the rich and powerful are scared by the possible wrath of the poor. That is why insecurity and social exclusion occurs. Accordingly, inequality is more dangerous for humans, communities, societies and countries. Poverty usually hurts physically but inequality hurts both physically and mentally. The high frequency and intensity of psychological problems can be taken as an important outcome of growing gap between rich and poor, the powerful and powerless, and the religious and non-religious, etc. In other words, polarization is rampant. It is clear that inequality is worse than poverty. It hurts the very nature of social fabric. Inequality is difficult to address than poverty; it demands sustained and structural measures. In the given world system, it is a challenge and the sociologists should play their vital role to address this very important issue. I like to emphasize that inequality is worse than poverty. Socio-psychological pressure is pervasive in our society. People, in general, feel insecure. Social, economic, political, and physical insecurities at personal and societal levels are the hallmark of present day life in Pakistan. On top of that, the pervasive lack of mutual trust mars interpersonal relations and produces perpetual personal discomfort for about all the citizens of this country. Such degraded social milieu coupled with extreme poverty and growing inequality create grossly unfriendly atmosphere. To transform such social conditions, we need to understand this situation as a major social problem and accordingly should modify our social, economic, and governance systems. Humans live in communities and societies and they compare themselves with each other. This nature of humans makes human relations complex and demand appropriate scrutiny and action. Equity and equality are increasingly more important concepts for making societies more comfortable for humans. People become unhappy and at times they become radical when they see affluence around but they themselves are poor powerless. As a result, at times many people either become victims themselves or they are used as ammunition for others. Suicide bombers are an example. Poverty is a buzzword. Poverty remains a political slogan. Poverty was there and will not go away in future. Poverty and inequality is considered functional and makes the labour cheap. Poverty is created systematically and the programs to address it are superficial and symptomatic at best. Capitalistic form of world organization has lust for cheap labour and accordingly conditions are created to generate poverty; inflation or decreasing value of money is the main instrument of creating poverty. Persistent poverty and inequality creates apathy. It is a kind of helplessness, insensitivity, and unconcern to collective life. The extreme form of apathy may lead to self-victimization and even suicide. It is highly injurious for individuals and societies. Apathy is a disease at personal level and a social evil at societal level. It is a part of conspiracy to create poverty and inequality for the benefit of the rich and powerful. And we sociologists should keep making efforts to address this issue persistently. The

Western world has created inequalities but they are addressing this issue in their own countries very well. It does not hurt their societies as it hurts our developing society. The question arises, if inequality is that bad, why is it created and why we can not do anything about it? It is created for the functioning of the present world system on dialectics and capitalistic forces. We always talk about it but do not address it. For capitalists and political leaders, in general, the people are a form of input. It is a commodity for sale and purchase. There is a Chinese proverb, if you want prosperity for one year, grow wheat; if you want prosperity for ten years, grow trees; and if you want prosperity for 100 years, grow people. This wisdom from Chinese culture suggests that people are just like a crop and they are cut (exploited) as and when needed. Remedies To find the solution of the problem, its appropriate diagnosis is needed. The true or rightful diagnosis will suggest the right remedy or solution of the problem. It has been identified that inequality is the creation of world system. But it does not mean that we can not do anything about it. Let us now find out what we can do about it. Islamabad did not have control in the past. We could not look after this issue. Now we can. Recommendations We can not change the world system but we can look after our own house (country) to mitigate the effects of capitalistic form of relationships. 1. Invest more towards the development of infrastructure in poor parts of the whole Pakistan, particularly the disadvantaged province of Balochistan. 2. Invest in human development all across Pakistan, and particularly in disadvantaged areas of Pakistan, particularly in the province of Balochistan. 3. Generate opportunities for local people in local areas. They should not be pushed for migration to cities or other countries. 4. Produce and use indigenous knowledge. We should not depend on foreign knowledge as it is many a times irrelevant to our own needs.