The Sociology Book

150

N O S O C I A L J U S T I C E

W I T H O U T G L O B A L

C O G N I T I V E J U S T I C E

BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS (1940– )

T

he notion that knowledge

and culture are inseparable

was proposed by French

sociologist Émile Durkheim. He

claimed that the culture of a

group—its collectively produced

ideas and ways of thinking about

situations and events—shapes the

ways in which its members

accumulate socially specific

knowledge about the world.

Portuguese sociologist

Boaventura de Sousa Santos

accepts that this link exists

and, building upon Immanuel

Wallerstein’s concept of the world

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Epistemologies

of the South

KEY DATES

1976 G-7 is formed by the

world’s seven wealthiest and

most influential nation-states

to discuss global affairs.

1997 Indian scholar Shiv

Visvanathan coins the term

“cognitive justice,” in his book

A Carnival for Science: Essays

on Science, Technology,

and Development.

2001 The World Social Forum

is founded in Brazil by anti-

globalization activists to

discuss alternative pathways

to sustainable development

and economic justice.

2014 British sociologist David

Inglis uses de Sousa Santos’s

ideas about the plurality

of knowledge to critically

consider the development

of cosmopolitan society.

A Western capitalist world order has taken root, stratifying

nations not only along economic and political lines but also by

forms of knowledge.

This has resulted in a cultural battle in which the global North,

with its culture rooted in science, regards the global South

as culturally inferior.

Global equality can only be achieved when cultures

enter into a dialogue based on mutual respect and

acknowledgment of different forms of knowledge.

There can be no social justice without

global cognitive justice.