Society and Politics in India

This volume brings together some of the lost important essays written over the last two decades by one of India's most distinguished social scientists. They focus upon the relationship between various forms of inequality and distinction (race, caste, tribe, ethnicity and gender) and on concepts of the person; on the relationship between the values of equality and individualism; and on the ambivalent role of the modern Indian state as the guuarantor of these values.

One of the pioneers of sociological studies in India, Professor Andre Beteille has, over the past four decades, contributed a series of topical and stimulating articles to various newspapers. Some of these articles were collected in the book "Chronicles of Our Time", published a few years ago. "Ideology and Social Science" is a new and riveting collection of Professor Beteille's writings on Indian society, politics and culture. The fifty articles in this book cover a very wide range of subjects: from the practice of sociology to the prospects of political liberalism, from contemporary debates about caste and caste quotas to old and still persisting myths about what is said to constitute the essence of Indian culture. Beteille's ambit includes the relevant and important themes of secularism, diversity and unity in cultures, the culture of tolerance, discrimination at work, value systems in the changing Indian family, and caste practices in village communities. Steering clear of passing intellectual trends as well as partisan politics, Beteille reaches his conclusions based on a careful examination of the evidence, not on a search for facts that fit a preconceived theory. Through his writings, he makes a cogent and passionate appeal to separate sociological theory from the frameworks of social activism.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.