THEMES AND PRESPECTIVES IN INDIAN SOCIOLOGY

The essays in this volume critically review the development of sociology in India which has established itself in the world of scholarship. Taking the position of an “outsider within” the author has surveyed the themes and perspectives that dominated sociological concerns reflected in the literature produced by Indian sociologists from 1950s to late 1980s. Without concealing his own value preferences, the author has offered a critique of the prevailing theoretical and methodological orientations, the cognitive structures in which they are embedded as well as the shifting research interests within the sociology scholarship in India. The most striking feature of the essays is that these are written in a style that blends objectivity with empathy and intellectual sensitivity.

Throughout these essays the author stresses the need to preserve scientific outlook in sociological task and still synthesize it with value commitments of sociologists.

Those interested in the sociology of Indian sociology would find these essays very perceptive and penetrating.

D.N. Dhanagare, who studied at the University of Nagpur, University of Massachusetts (U.S.A.) and University of Sussex (U.K.), has taught sociology at Agra University’s Institute of Technology and University of Poona. He has also served as Member-Secretary of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and Vice Chancellor, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. His other published works are: “Agrarian Movements and Gandhian Politics” (1975), and “Peasant Movements in India” (1983).