Tumultuous Society: The Call for Innovative Sociological Theory and Methodology

We write this editorial against the background of several things that are unfolding within our society. Judging by what we are beginning to see around the globe, the indication is that we are slowly entering what we would call a “post-pandemic” phase. Although not certain what the future looks like after emerging from one of the worst experiences that we have gone through for the past two years, it seems we are living in a tumultuous society. Locally, the deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal, the growing incidences of anti-immigrant vigilantism, and the constant loadshedding episodes are but a few indicators. Globally, the war in Ukraine serves to illustrate the same. Given all these, the scope of interrogation and analysis for our journal (SARS) remains wide but honing down to some of these issues that our society continues to grapple with. For this, we remain eternally grateful to our contributors and reviewers, who are not merely spectators of the many social, political and economic processes unfolding within our society. It is clear these processes resemble not only a “tumultuous society” but “a society in transition,”. And making sense of this “society” requires deep methodological and theoretical reflections. To decipher what these changes/processes mean, and their significance, innovative sociological theory and methodology are required. Our journal has over the years been instrumental in shaping public discourse on several issues in South Africa and beyond. With every issue that we publish, we seek to continue the tradition of sharing highly engaging (both theoretical and empirical) scholarship. For instance, in one of our last volumes (vol. 51, issue 3–4), we published detailed empirical work on homelessness in South Africa, and the Covid-19 pandemic. This was followed by our volume 52 (issue 1) which also contained fascinating articles.