This book assists in understanding the various perspectives of Indian society, which has passed through a long evolutionary process, from monarchy to feudalism, colonialism, and democracy. Officially, India is now a plural, democratic, technological, industrial, and capitalistic society. Numerous sociological thinkers from India are discussed in the book, as well as a few Western sociologists who have done research in India and have developed their own perspectives on Indian society. The main perspectives are structural-functional, dialectical-historical, cultural, and subaltern. This second edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to include extended discussions on Irawati Karve and Andr Bteille, in indological and social stratification perspectives, respectively.

With reference to India.

Introduces readers to the key figures and founders of sociological theory, including Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Martineau - locating each thinker within their own social, political and historical context and helping readers use these ideas to understand the contemporary world.

"During the colonial period, Indian intellectuals--philologists, lawyers, scientists and literary figures--all sought to hold a mirror to their country. Whether they wrote novels, polemics, or scientific treatises, all sought a better understanding of society in general and their society in particular. Curiously, female sexuality and sexual behavior play an outside role in their writing. The figure of the prostitute is ubiquitous in everything from medical texts and treatises on racial evolution to anti-Muslim polemic and studies of ancient India. In this book, Durba Mitra argues that between the 1840s and the 1940s, the new science of sexuality became foundational to the scientific study of Indian social progress. The colonial state and an emerging set of Bengali male intellectuals extended the regulation of sexuality to far-reaching projects that sought to define what society should look like and how modern citizens should behave. An exploration of this history of social scientific thought offers new perspectives to understand the power of paternalistic and deeply violent claims about sexual norms in the postcolonial world today. These histories reveal the enduring authority of scientific claims to a tradition that equates social good with the control of women's free will and desire. Thus, they managed to dramatically reorganize their society around upper-caste Hindu ideals of strict monogamy"--

This handbook makes available to students a comprehensive resource reference in the field of sociology and social anthropology.

This Second Edition is a thoroughly revised, expanded version of the bestselling student text in classical social theory. Author Kenneth Morrison provides an authoritative, accessible undergraduate guide to the three pivotal figures in the classical tradition. Readable and stimulating, the Second Edition of Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social Thought explains the key ideas of these thinkers and situates them in their historical and philosophical contexts.

This Is A Collection Of Essays Which Offers Insight Into The Normative And Ideological Underpinnings Of Indian Sociology In The Context Of Its Growth And The Challenges That It Has Encountered In The Realms Of Theory And Methodology. These Issues Have Been Analyzed In The Perspective Of Western Sociology And Its Own Theoretical And Methodological Evolution.