Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne (Polish Sociological Association)

Sociology of India, Sociology in India, Indian Sociology

Author(s): JANUSZ MUCHA
Source: Polish Sociological Review, No. 178 (2012), pp. 145-150
Published by: Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne (Polish Sociological Association)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41969437
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 polish 2(i78)'i2
sociological
review
ISSN 1231-1413

JANUSZ MUCHA
AGH University in Kraków

Sociology of India, Sociology in India, Indian Sociology

Abstract : As a scholarly discipline, Indian sociology draws upon British and American soc
and sociology but analyses and interprets a completely different than Western type of c
structure. Colonial past and post-colonial development remain very significant points of re
social sciences. Polish scholars are also interested in Indian social structure and culture.

Keywords: "colonial" social anthropology and sociology, sociology in sovereign India, Indian Sociological
Society, main topics of Indian sociology.

Indian natural and social scientists play an increasingly significant role in the field
of research and education. Bearing in mind the traditional Western visions of the
world, we must be aware of the global transformations. It is true that modern uni-
versities emerged as the Western-style research and education institutions; science,
in the contemporary sense of the term, is a relatively recent enterprise originating
in the Western world; sociology and social anthropology (the latter is very relevant
here) emerged in Western Europe. All the universities, modern science and sociology
and social anthropology, under the influence of colonialism, imperialism and global-
ization, have since expanded and become a significant part of the global culture. Not
only are economic and political processes and institutions constantly shifting, but also
cultural and scholarly centers. What was believed to belong to the peripheries and/or
semi-peripheries is no longer at the "margins." Moreover, with the increase in do-
mestic and international migrations, many people raised and educated in one culture,
work (not necessarily permanently) in another and thus contribute to the "universal"
culture. The "margins" have ceased to be only the mines of interesting (sometimes
"exotic") empirical data elaborated by social scientists in the metropolitan areas. The
interest in the non-Western, non-metropolitan social sciences and their achievements
seems to be growing in today's sociological community (see, e.g., Connell 2007; Bura-
woy et al., [eds.] 2010; Patel [ed.] 2010). Our engagement is not only with the Western
style "sociology of India," but also with "sociology as such" being developed in India
and with the attempts to build "Indian sociology," in the sense of systematic research
of structural and cultural issues based on conceptual models of society closer to Indian

1 I appreciate the helpful comments by Duru Arun Kumar from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology
in New Delhi.

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146 JANUSZ MUCHA

than to Western experiences and ph

spectives (see, e.g., Mukhaijee 1989;
in India is very important for intern
dian sub-continent, but also learn fro
is not necessarily the discovering of
sciences but rather the fact that "p
about the modern world which has as
thought, and more political relevan
The teaching of "sociology" (actually
in India in 1919, at the University
by systematic empirical research dev
to classify, categorize and documen
pre-independence period3, the mos
caste system, tribal communities, fam
munities. The colonial administrati
inaccurate commonsense understan
ments about different institutiona
based at that time on Western valu
ideologically biased and according t
tary cleavages in Indian society. In
taught at three universities: Bombay,
leges in Poona, Mysore and Hyderabad
social anthropology were located with
Indian social anthropology and sociolo
universities and colleges offered M
was taught in almost one hundred
of higher education. More than ten
all levels of education (including hi
2010: 316-318). The Jawaharlal Nehru
of sociological research and teachin
from this institution.

According to Suj ata Patel, sociology

two distinct challenges. The first rel

2 Contribution of Indian scholars, living i

disciplines like today's modern and postmo
1996, 2006), feminist studies or subaltern a
will not be directly addressed here (see also C
3 The British Raj, or the British rule in the
In 1947, the British Indian Empire was part
Union of India (since 1950 - the constitutio
as much smaller Burma). According to the
people. Indian Constitution recognizes 212 tri
population (I will return to the issue of triba
Hindi is the official language of the governm
the "subsidiary official language." Hinduism,
in India. The country is divided into 28 states

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 SOCIOLOGY OF INDIA, SOCIOLOGY IN INDIA, INDIAN SOCIOLOGY 147

and the demands of the regional (in states and territories) elites to establish local
colleges and universities. In these institutions instruction is provided in local lan-
guages, but very often without the support of textbooks published in these languages.
Infrastructure is usually poor in these institutions. Moreover, sociology practice often
represents regional interests, mostly those of local elites. New generations of stu-
dents, coming from previously excluded and uneducated communities are faced with
sociology teachers unprepared for new students' needs. According to Patel, sociology
came about in these local colleges to acquire the status of a non-professional and
commonsensical subject of low prestige. The second challenge is actually a variation
or consequence of the former. Social movements of different kinds, representing ex-
cluded and discriminated against groups (landless people, peasants, working class,
slum dwellers, middle and lower castes, tribal communities, religious groups and
women being examples) emerged and became strong. Social inequalities have grown
in the country. The poverty level reached 40% of the total population and the number
of urban poor is increasing rapidly due to migration form villages. Since the 1980s,
some sociologists have made efforts to integrate the formerly unheard voices into the
discipline, often engaging with other intellectual currents such as subaltern studies,
postcolonial studies, and feminist studies. Simultaneously, older areas of mainstream
sociology have become reconstituted and new specializations have developed (Patel
2010: 288-289; Modi 2010: 319-321).
In December of 1951, with the initiative of G.S. Ghurye, head of the Department
of Sociology in Bombay, the Indian Sociological Society (ISS) was formally registered.
Ghurye served as its President until 1966. In 1952, the Society started its biannual pe-
riodical, Sociological Bulletin (since 2004 - three issues a year). It publishes a biannual
Newsletter as well. Regional sociological associations publish their own periodicals.
Since 1955, the All India Sociological Conference (AISC) was established, concentrat-
ing on workshops and seminars, which were organized in various parts of the country.
In 1967, AISC merged with the ISS. M. N. Srinivas was elected the new President. To-
day, Ishwar Modi from the India International Institute of Social Sciences (in Jaipur)
is the President of the ISS. When we look at the titles of the research committees
of the ISS, we could put the topics of articles in this issue of the Polish Sociological
Review (PSR) into a perspective of current interests of Indian sociologists, as well as in
the ways of Indian categorization of the social: 1. Theory, concepts and methodology;
2. Family, kinship and marriage; 3. Economy, polity and society; 4. Migration and
diasporic studies; 5. Education and society; 6. Religion and religious communities;
7. Rural, peasant and tribal communities; 8. Social stratification, professions and so-
cial mobility; 9. Dalits and backward classes; 10. Gender studies; 11. Sociology and
environment; 12. Population, health and society; 13. Science, technology and society;
14. Culture and communication; 15. Social change and development; 16. Urban and
industrial studies; 17. Social movements; 18. Sociology of crime and deviance; 19. Age
and social structure; 20. Leisure and tourism; 21. Social problems and marginalised
groups; 22. Military sociology, armed forces and conflict resolution (see: Indian Soci-
ological Society). Ishwar Modi is of the opinion that, comparing the structure of the
ISS with the structure of the International Sociological Association (ISA), some of

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148 JANUSZ MUCHA

the specialized research areas missi

and society, sociology of sports, soci
arts, biography and society, sociology
global-local relations, and sociology o
scholar, areas such as backward and
face the problems of poverty, inequa
India. He believes that the fast growt
development of applied and action
When looking at the history of soc
in India, Suj ata Patel discusses two
first phase was the role played by th
disciplines' identities and the propaga
and methods to reproduce the uppe
During this stage, we can observe th
emerging indigenous sociology rooted
time anybody who studied the "Ea
while those studying the "West" wer
the Ghuriye's Bombay-based practi
reflecting concepts and categories ha
"genuine" sociological perspective, or
past. Lucknow's sociology was to be
social policy, or political intervention
poverty and backwardness and that o
by colonial exploitation. What I woul
issue of the PSR, is the difference
by the Ghuriye's school.

Castes were defined in the context of Hindui

a high civilization attribute, while tribes were
technology, lived in inferior jungles and we
tribe were hierarchically placed and made ou
than ever before and defined in terms of re
consolidated and hegemonised an upper cast

The second phase, according to Pa

later by A. R. Desai. Srinivas based
anthropology. In his opinion, the d
system. Focusing first on the villages
he moved to the analysis of the ge
adaptation of the caste system to the
of the homogenised Indian nation.
a topic of his analysis. He also neg
process of societal and cultural destr
Indians with concepts and hypothe
of contemporary processes of change
sociology came from a Marxist, A. R

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 SOCIOLOGY OF INDIA, SOCIOLOGY IN INDIA, INDIAN SOCIOLOGY 149

Indian nation but its inequalities, power and property relations and the perspective
of the excluded, who engaged in new social movements (Patel 2010: 283-287). The
more contemporary challenges to sociology in India were already discussed in this
text.

Indian scholars are very active in the international arena. T. K. Oommen served
as the President of the ISA during the 1990-1994 term, and D. P. Mukerji and Sujata
Patel served as Vice-Presidents in 1959-1962 and 2002-2006 respectively; nine Indian
scholars were members of the ISA's Executive Committee until 1997 (see Piatt 1998).
With regards to its own annual conferences, the ISS regularly organizes a North-
South dialogue between Indian and foreign sociologists. Particularly close relations
link Indian with Brazilian and South African social scientists (Modi 2010: 323).
At the end of this introduction, I would like to address some of the themes
elaborated in this issue of the Polish Sociological Review. Naturally, this collection of
Indian contributions is a very small and therefore limited sample of short texts on
selected aspects of modernizing Indian society. In my opinion, however, this selection
addresses the crucial issues. Two Polish articles were authored by well-known scholars
in the field of orientalism (not necessarily in the Edward Said [1978] sense of the term)
who also had served as Polish ambassadors to India. Self-reflection of modernizing
Indian society during and after the painful colonial period is a topic in one and the
concept of the Yati , as a very problematic equivalent of the modern Western concept
of nation, is an issue debated in the second. India consists of numerous castes, tribes,
ethnic and religious groups, and an umbrella concept helping to understand what
keeps this variety together seems to be of the utmost importance. The Indian-authored
articles deal with what have been the crucial problems of the authors' highly diversified
society. I would divide these eight articles into the following categories. One is the
colonial legacy and decolonisation in the field of broadly understood culture. The
second is modernization of the country, including various contradictions and aspects
of the complicated and painful process. The third is the modern public domain,
including the state organisation, democratic process as well as the civil society. The
fourth is the problem of ethnic, in a very broad sense, composition of India - in
particular the transformations of the Indian caste system.
There are topics which could not have been covered in this issue of the PSR and
are in my opinion very important for our understanding of today's Indian society. One
of them is the fast growing, probably the largest in the world, educated and modern
middle class (see, e.g., Fernandes 2006; Sen 2005, 2006).

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Biographical Note: Janusz Mucha is Professor of Sociology. He heads the Department of Sociology a
Social Anthropology at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Poland. His interest cov
minority studies, social theory, Central and Eastern Europe, social aspects of technology and intergener
tional relations. Author of many books and articles on these subjects.

Address: E-mail: [email protected]

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