Document Information: Technical/Scientific/Academic/Applied Paper. Extract from Working Document of the same title.  First Publication.

Author: Peisha Bryan

Date of Draft Paper: November 2021^[1]; published on June 29, 2022

“Sociological reasoning requires empathy – deliberate and purposeful effort to understand from another’s perspective, and respect what is understood regardless of one’s understanding of how the world works or how it should be”.  PB

Dedicated to Cush and Elaine

Mr P, Ralph, Lorna, Michael, Day-Dawn, Albert, Delli, Leo and Joelle^[2]

and to every Jamaican – we are a people who strive to demonstrate that “wi likkle but wi tallawah.”^[3]

ABSTRACT

The paper comprises an extract taken from a working document that examines the practical applications of sociology in advancing an explanatory and methodological framework for national development planning. The working document forms part of a project geared towards strengthening the “Means of Implementation” of Vision 2030 Jamaica and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It identifies and treats national development planning as a sub-disciplinary area within the sociology of development with a focus on expanding the mechanisms for applied conceptual reasoning and the basket of multi-disciplinary cross-sectoral tools available in development planning. It engages scientific and academic discourse in explaining and creating strategies for addressing development challenges, particularly those relevant to the Jamaican context. These challenges include inequitable and unsustainable micro and macro development results. They also consist of gaps in extending development gains – in critical areas of investment – from individual to systemic and structural outcomes.

The approach to developing the working document involves the utilization of theoretical engagement, and integrated, comparative, and thematic analyses. It also includes adaptation of the conceptual reasoning underpinning meta analysis to identify trends across a range of types and sources of data and infomation. This has allowed for the integration of ideas and applying those ideas within broad frameworks that build on their fundamental concepts and logic. Therefore, the methodology focuses on the integration of compatible and conflicting ideas and frameworks, and the interweaving of the results of this integration with lessons learned, good practice, and emerging trends in national development planning towards the development of an explanatory and methodological framework.

The paper demonstrates that sociology provides a framework for advancing national development planning as a central tenet of the development process. Sociology’s applicability has been identified in creating frameworks for change processes, including the development of Theories of Change (ToCs) and advancing theory- and methodologically- based strategic planning and programming. Sociology has also been shown to be applicable in advancing the development of knowledge structures and evidence- and results-based management. The paper also invites interrogation of the methods and tools available within sociology as part of the range of disciplines that inform development through and practice towards a strengthened framework for development planning and the “Means of Implementation”.

There are recognized limitations to the analysis and propositions presented in the paper, largely owing to the incomplete project from which it has been extracted. Accordingly, the paper also demonstrates that further work is required to develop an implementable framework that can be applied as part of the process of national development planning. The paper ends with a discussion on areas for consideration in advancing study and framework building regarding the application of sociology in national development planning and the way forward, including advancing the engagement of academia, broadly.  The sharing of this paper is intended to generate peer-based dialogue and feedback towards strengthening the broader project/working document.

See link for full paper: Draft Paper_The Application of Sociology towards an Explanatory and Methodological Framework for National Development Planning_June 29, 2022

[1] The first draft was completed, including reviews, in March 2021.  However, there were some revisions and information added up to November 2021.  Subsequent to November 2021, the paper has been further reviewed with minor revisions up to June 2022. 

[2] (in the order presented) Silbert Nelson, Elaine Miller, Vivian Parboosingh, Ralph Satchell, Lorna Murray, Michael Black, Day-Dawn Simon, Albert Bryan, Norma O’Hara-Nelson, Leo N and Joelle W.

[3] Small in size but great and formidable in force

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