Theory and Society in India (Paperback)

Sheena Jain

ISBN 10: 0198062788 / ISBN 13: 9780198062783

Published by OUP India, New Delhi, 2009

About this Item

Paperback. This book examines the key debates, both theorertical and empirical, in the fields of urbanization, industrilaization and stratification in India. The essays in the volume engage with the problems of typologies - tribal, peasant and industrial - in order to rethink the issues of modernity and tradition.The authors problematize a vast array of literature on tribal, peasant and industrial sociology, grappling with conceptual problems caused by the uncritical application of theories germinated in the West to the Indian context. The primary assumption of all the essays is that the conventional binary opposition between primitive and modern, and the evolutionary schema of viewing the world in terms of First, Second and Third Worlds is redundant to our times. keeping this in mind, the book provides an essential framework for understanding globalization.The contributors to the volume attempt to engage with the discursive and volatile aspects of the discipline of sociology, enlivening and re-invigourating old debates through an understanding of questions teachers and students put to each other in classroom situations, thus enabling students to read sociology in a new and refreshing way. In a new Preface, the editor contextualizes the issues of tribe, caste, gender and work in tribal, peasant and industrial societies in the current scenario.It is essential reading for students and teachers of sociology and anthropology, bureaucrats, administrators, social workers, journalists and the interested lay reader. This book examines some of the key theoretical and empirical debates in the fields of urbanization, industrialization and stratification in India. It also engages with the problems of typologies - tribal, peasant and industrial- to understand modernity and tradition in India. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780198062783

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Theory and Society in India (Paperback)
• Publisher: OUP India, New Delhi
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198062788
• ISBN 13: 9780198062783
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This book examines the key debates, both theoretical and empirical, in the fields of urbanization, industrialization and stratification in India. The essays in the volume engage with the problems of typologies--tribal, peasant and industrial--in order to rethink the issues of modernity and tradition. The authors problematize a vast array of literature on tribal, peasant and industrial sociology, grappling with conceptual problems caused by the uncritical application of theories germinated in the West to the Indian context. The primary assumption of all the essays is that the conventional binary opposition between primitive and modern, and the evolutionary schema of viewing the world in terms of First, Second and Third Worlds is redundant to our times. Keeping this in mind, the book provides an essential framework for understanding globalization.
The contributors to the volume attempt to engage with the discursive and volatile aspects of the discipline of sociology, enlivening and re-invigorating old debates through an understanding of questions teachers and students put to each other in classroom situations, thus enabling students to read sociology in a new and refreshing way. In a new Preface, the editor contextualizes the issues of tribe, caste, gender and work in tribal, peasant and industrial societies in the current scenario.
It is essential reading for students and teachers of sociology and anthropology, bureaucrats, administrators, social workers, journalists and the interested lay reader.

About the Author

Susan Visvanathan is Professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.