Sociology - Indian Society Continuity and Change
Semester 2 · 16 topics in 5 units
Unit I 3 topics
- Indian society: nature, importance of study, geography and evolutionThe nine factors that shape the nature of Indian society, why it is worth studying, the six physical regions and the historical stages from the Vedic age to modernity.5 min
- Unity in diversityMeaning of unity in diversity, and the geographical, religious, cultural, linguistic, racial, rural and political forms of diversity and the bonds of unity in each.4 min
- Threats and challenges to unity: regionalism, casteism, communalism, terrorism, linguismMeaning, causes, effects and remedies for the five syllabus threats to Indian unity, with the constitutional and legal responses.4 min
Unit II 4 topics
- Structural-functional perspective: M.N. Srinivas, S.C. Dube, McKim MarriottWhat structural-functionalism means, and the field-view studies of Srinivas (Rampura, dominant caste), Dube (Shamirpet) and Marriott (Kishan Garhi, universalisation and parochialisation).4 min
- Indological or textual perspective: G.S. Ghurye, Radhakamal Mukerjee, Louis DumontThe book-view of Indian society: Ghurye's six features of caste and his work on tribes and sadhus, Radhakamal Mukerjee's social ecology and values, and Dumont's Homo Hierarchicus.4 min
- Marxist perspective: D.P. Mukerji, A.R. Desai, Ramkrishna MukherjeeThe dialectical approach to Indian society: D.P. Mukerji on tradition and modernity, A.R. Desai on nationalism and the post-colonial state, and Ramkrishna Mukherjee on the East India Company and rural class structure.4 min
- Subaltern perspective: B.R. Ambedkar, Ranajit Guha, David HardimanHistory and society seen from below: Ambedkar on the origin of caste and the disabilities of Scheduled Castes, Guha's Subaltern Studies, and Hardiman on Adivasi assertion.4 min
Unit III 4 topics
- Hindu marriage: aims, forms, rites and changesHindu marriage as a sacrament: the three aims (dharma, praja, rati), the eight traditional forms, the main rites, and how law and social change have altered it.4 min
- Family and the Hindu joint family: features, merits, disintegration and changeDefinition and characteristics of the joint family, its advantages and disadvantages, the causes of its disintegration and the changes in the Indian family.4 min
- Muslim marriage (nikah, mehr, talaq) and Christian marriageNikah as a contract, its types, mehr and the forms of talaq including the end of triple talaq; and Christian marriage, its aims, values, rites and governing law.4 min
- Kinship: basic concepts and regional variation (Iravati Karve)Types, degrees, terms, usages and functions of kinship, and Karve's four kinship zones of India: northern, central, southern and eastern.4 min
Unit IV 3 topics
- Caste: evolution through history and theories of originMeaning of caste and varna, the development of caste from the Vedic period to independent India, and the traditional, racial, occupational, political and other theories of its origin.4 min
- Caste among non-Hindus: Muslims, Christians and SikhsHow caste persists among religions that reject it in doctrine: Ashraf, Ajlaf and Arzal among Muslims, caste among Syrian and Dalit Christians, and caste among Sikhs, with the legal position on Scheduled Caste status.4 min
- Caste and class: differences, dominant caste and changing relationsWhether caste is the opposite of class, the differences between them, the dominant caste, the influence of legislation on caste, and the changes in caste and class relations in modern India.4 min
Unit V 2 topics
- Contemporary discourses: contextualisation, indigenisation, native categories, sociology for and of IndiaThe debate over whether Western concepts fit Indian society: contextualisation, indigenisation, the use of native categories such as dharma, jati and purity, and the Dumont-Pocock call for a sociology of India against a sociology for India.4 min
- Sanskritisation and Westernisation (M.N. Srinivas)Srinivas's two concepts of social change: the meaning, features, models, examples and criticism of Sanskritisation, and the meaning, features and effects of Westernisation, with the relation between them.4 min