Doing Sociology in India

This important volume on the history of sociology in India locates scholars, scholarship, theories, perspectives, and practices of the discipline in different cities and regions of the country over a century. It argues that this history is enmeshed in political projects of constructing a society, which took place as a result of colonialism and dominant nationalism. Doing Sociology in India affirms the existence of both strong and weak traditions of scholarship in India, and underscores three processes that have aided this development at various points of time: reflexive interrogation of received scholarship; probing ideal types of theories within the classroom; and questioning existing debates on society and its language by publics. It suggests that processes outside academia in social movements and associational groups have interrogated mainstream sociology to make it diverse and multiple. The book has a pan-Indian perspective; it brings together practitioners and interlocutors from various cities and regions to discuss the many traditions of the discipline. Their arguments are structured around the interplay of three themes including, time, space, and power.