Can There be Reflexivity in Times of Crisis?

As members of the social scientific community, we would like to problematise the approach of our own fraternity, with regard to the changing structures of pedagogy, wherein online classes have become the new normal. We have been perplexed to witness how the rigour of the social sciences has come to be reduced to a one-dimensional, increasingly calculative and utilitarian exercise. Is it possible that the theories that have been instituted as tools to identify the multitude of social realities have become apathetic to the very “human experience” they seek to unpack?

This transformation in the social sciences is not instant and the context within which this change operates is a market-driven, competitive society, where time is considered to be of utmost importance and our work cultures are oriented to fit in this perfectly “rational” system of operation. But the irony runs deep to see an arena like social sciences—which, through their critical engagement with the market, claim to work towards unravelling the growing inequalities and discrimination caused by it—stepping into these very shoes. Have we, the practitioners, been evading this seemingly paradoxical reality, which the social sciences have got themselves entangled in? Or are we blinded by our quest to be in a rat race as “skilled” and “qualified” that we have stopped asking some pertinent questions about our disciplines and our practice?