Unitary social science: An idea and its prospects

Abstract

In the era of proliferation, fragmentation and compartmentalisation of disciplines, to argue the case for ‘unitary social science’ may appear to be either a cry of desperation or a pipedream. In contemporary India, among the very few advocates of this lost cause was the late Professor Ramkrishna Mukherjee (1917–2015). His last major book, suggestively entitled Why Unitary Social Science? (2009), was devoted to elucidate the idea and explain the need for ‘unitary social science’. In this chapter, we focus on this idea from the vantage point of sociology. We trace the origin and development of this idea in both Europe and India as well as examine the prospects and problems of realising it.