Social Structures of Indian Villages: A Study of Rural Bihar

Invaluable and informative, this study incorporates ingenious sampling procedures and presents a fresh theoretical perspective drawn from role analysis, class analysis, and phenomenology to examine social structures of Indian villages. More specifically, it presents several pertinent features of rural Bihar′s social structure for the first time in its history. Jha explores and analyzes rural Bihar through a critical and interdisciplinary approach that can also be applied to societies on a broader scale. This study is uniquely based on historical records prepared at the beginning of the century, as well as on traditional survey data. These historical records enabled Jha to classify the villages into categories on a simple-complex continuum, which assisted in preparing the sample of the villages and providing empirical grounds for the concept of a rural-urban continuum. This pioneering volume will be of interest to sociologists, anthropologists, and those engaged in rural development. "This book deals with very important areas of contemporary sociological studies." --Contributions to Indian Sociology "In the novelty of its comparative perspective, in its methodological thoroughness (117 tables are included), and in the clarity and freedom from error of its prose, this study ranks very high. . . . Clearly, comparative studies such as this one are uniquely capable of revealing the distinctive features of the phenomena being compared. The study also illuminates significant intra-regional social differences in a region generally considered homogeneous." --The Journal of Asian Studies "In the novelty of its comparative perspective, in its methodological thoroughness, and in its clarity and freedom from error of its prose, this study ranks very high. . . . Comparative studies such as this one are uniquely capable of revealing the distinctive features of the phenomena being compared." --The Journal of Asian Studies

`The book is rich with first hand information painstakingly collected from the field and full of analytical views based upon scholarly research leading to a fresh new approach in the field of sociology and social anthropology. This book comes to the use not only of the people of specialised category but also of those who work with the problems of rural development in one of the most antiquated states of the country.′ - Frontier

`This empirically sound work locates social structures in the everyday life of the villages in the Mithila and the Bhojpuri region, and is based on as many as 5,475 village notes.′ - Social Scientist

`The book presents a vivid picture of social relations in the rural areas of Bihar with special reference to the functioning (roles) of traditional social institutions which have existed there with little change. It provides the reader with a quick grasp of the situation in rural Bihar which can be summarised in a single sentence - coercion and exploitation are a function of patronage which in turn is the function of orthodox (Brahmin) culture.′ - The Eastern Anthropologist