Doing Sociology In India

This important volume on the history of sociology in India locates scholars, scholarship, theories, perspectives, and practices of the discipline in different cities and regions of the country over a century. It argues that this history is enmeshed in political projects of constructing a ‘society’, which took place as a result of colonialism and dominant nationalism. The book affirms the existence of both strong and weak traditions of scholarship in India and underscores three processes that have aided this development at various points of time: reflexive interrogation of received scholarship; probing ideal types of theories within classrooms; and questioning existing debates on society and its language by the public.

This book maps the intersections between sociology and feminism in the Indian context. It retrieves the lives and work of women pioneers of and in sociology, asking crucial questions of their feminisms and their sociologies. The chapters address the experiential realities of women in the field, pedagogical issues, methodological frameworks, mentoring processes and artistic engagements with academic work. The volume’s strength lies in bringing together Indian scholars from diverse social backgrounds and regions, reflecting on the specificity of the Indian social sciences. The chapters cover a range of key areas, including sexuality, law, environment, science and medicine. This volume will greatly interest students, teachers, researchers and practitioners of sociology, women’s studies, gender studies and feminism, politics and postcolonial studies.

This successor to the well-known Using Sociology covers standard topics found in any sociology textbook. Doing Sociology walks lay readers through the steps of doing real-life sociological practices as conducted by experts in the field. The contributors to this volume range from university and college faculty, government sociologists, and practitioners from the private sector. Each of the chapters is by intention and design a personal statement, a case study illustrating how the authors practice sociology in their own words and style, giving readers a clearer understanding of what sociologists do outside of teaching in universities. And most importantly, an understanding of what they could do with sociology. Readable, relevant, and accessible, Doing Sociology is an invaluable resource as a stand-alone course reader or as a supplement to a traditional textbook.

This collection captures some of the ongoing intellectual and institutional practices in sociological teaching and research in India. In the current context of globalization, it documents and theorizes about the ongoing changes. An earlier nationalist vision of education that informed much of social science practice in independent India is challenged from two very different sources: radical and local social movements on the one hand; and the imperatives of global capital on the other hand. The book further argues that sociology in India needs to engage at once with its routine everyday practices, and its unique theoretical possibilities, which allow for an active involvement in broader questions about the role of social sciences. The volume is divided into five parts: Sociology and Society: Different Takes * Sociology in the Margins: The Local and the Banal * Sociology in Professional Institutions: Global Brands and Disciplinary Marginality * New Sites and Modes of Doing Sociology * Tracking Concepts: Of Intellectual Journeys.

This book grew out of a need to examine the practice the teaching and research of sociology in India. This need was, in turn, prompted by the experience of the contributors as students and teachers, of the problems of understanding/communicating the connections between sociology and the society in which one lives, and between sociological theory and empirical studies.

This book presents a critical and reflective view of fundamental theoretical orientations, thematic domains, and current debates in Indian sociology. It covers the growth of sociology as an academic and pedagogical subject, with four main parts. Part I discusses important theoretical orientations in Indian sociology, including Indological and civilizational approaches, as well as the contributions of an eminent sociologist and pioneer in Indian sociology, Professor Yogendra Singh, concerning the sociology of knowledge, liberal democracy, and the relevance of his concept of Islamization in the study of Indian society. Part II examines substantive areas of study such as caste, class, and tribe. Part III reflects on specific topics of current concern in Indian sociology, such as emerging vistas and futures, globalization, and rethinking area studies for planetary conversations. This book is highly relevant for postgraduate students and researchers in sociology, social anthropology, and social sciences.

Study with reference to the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India.

What explains the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe? While most scholars have pointed to the impact of military or capitalist revolutions, Philip S. Gorski argues instead for the importance of a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation. By refining and diffusing a variety of disciplinary techniques and strategies, such as communal surveillance, control through incarceration, and bureaucratic office-holding, Calvin and his followers created an infrastructure of religious governance and social control that served as a model for the rest of Europe—and the world.

This book is a comprehensive study of historical sociology and its development, especially in the Indian context. It looks at the works of Indian sociologists and analyses their approaches in terms of book-view (normative) and field-view (descriptive) history. The volume: critically appraises reports of empirical surveys conducted during early colonial rule including those by H. T. Colebrooke, Francis Buchanan, William Adam; engages with the works of sociologists such as M. N. Srinivas, Ramkrishna Mukherjee, Louis Dumont, Nicholas Dirks, Bernard Cohn, Yogendra Singh, D. N. Dhanagare, A. M Shah, T. K. Oommen, among others; and shows how historical perspective has been adopted in understanding aspects of Indian society villages, castes, traditions, socio-cultural change, education, peasants and their movements, etc.Presenting an alternative idea of social reality, this book will deeply interest students and scholars of sociology, social theory, and social history.