Recent theoretical and methodological innovations in the
anthropological analysis of South Asian societies have introduced
distinctive modifications in the study of Indian social structure
and social change. This book, reporting on twenty empirical studies
of Indian society conducted by outstanding scholars, reflects these
trends not only with reference to Indian society itself, but also
in terms of the relevance of such trends to an understanding of
social change more generally.
The contributors demonstrate the adaptive changes experienced by
the studied groups in particular villages, towns, cities, and
regions. The authors view the basic social units of joint family,
caste, and village not as structural isolates, but as intimately
connected with one another and with other social units through
social and cultural networks of various kinds that incorporate the
social units into the complex structure of Indian civilization.
Within this broadened conception of social structure, these studies
trace the changing relations of politics, economics, law, and
language to the caste system.
Showing that the caste system is dynamic, with upward and
downward mobility characterizing it from pre-British times to the
present, the studies suggest that the modernizing forces which
entered the system since independence--parliamentary democracy,
universal suffrage, land reforms, modern education, urbanization,
and industrial technology--provided new opportunities and paths to
upward mobility, but did not radically alter the system. The
chapters in this book show that the study of Indian society reveals
novel forms of social structure change. They introduce methods and
theories that may well encourage social scientists to extend the
study of change in Indian society to the study of change in other
areas.
"Milton Singer" (1912-1994) was Paul Klapper Professor of Social
Sciences and professor of anthropology at the University of
Chicago. He was a fellow of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. He
was also chosen as a distinguished lecturer by the American
Anthropological Association and was the recipient of the
Distinguished Scholar Award of the Association for Asian
Studies.
"Bernard S. Cohn" (1918-2003) was Professor Emeritus of
Anthropology at the University of Chicago. He was widely known for
his work on India during the British colonial period and wrote many
books on the subject of India including "India: The Social
Anthropology of a Civilization" (1971), "An Anthropologist among
the Historians and Other Essays" (1987), and "Colonialism and its
Forms of Knowledge" (1996).
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