Modernity and Ethnic Processes in India

Modernity, backed by tremendous political and intellectual support, has spread across the globe in a relatively 'unproblematic' manner. There is hardly any society which has remained immune to the influence of modernity, and the degree to which it has impacted different societies is quite profound. Modernity has come in contact with different socio-economic and political realities prevalent in different societies, such as that of ethnicity and ethnic consciousness. Both Marxists and liberals have argued that ethnic consciousness would decline in the context of growth of capitalism and the deepening of the process of modernization. But, this argument seems misplaced in the face of spectacular manifestations of ethnicity in the contemporary world. One can rationalize this in terms of inadequate modernization in the case of traditional societies. But, how one would explain them in cases of even the 'modern' and advanced societies is the question that has not been satisfactorily addressed. This book examines concrete empirical situations within India and, in the process, interrogates the various theoretical formulations which are currently available.