This volume is about economists, economics, and issues of concern to Indian society. Some essays are expository, and some satirical. Together, they offer a commentary on the state of the discipline of economics today and on aspects of contemporary India's society and polity. The volume affords insights into, among other things, - the pervasive influence of economists such as Kenneth Arrow and Anthony Atkinson, and thinkers such as Tom Paine, Jonathan Swift, and Dadabhai Naoroji; - the place of markets and game theory (and even crime fiction!) in present-day economics; - the affectations and convoluted mathematisation of a good deal of 'mainstream' economics; and - India's recent political climate, and the conduct of various arms of the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary in the country. Engaging and lucidly written, this volume should be of interest to scholars of economics, political science, development studies, South Asian studies, and, above all, the general reader.

These essays explore the blending of structural and historical approaches to American Indian anthropology that characterizes the perspective developed by the late Fred Eggan and his students at the University of Chicago. They include studies of kinship and social organization, politics, religion, law, ethnicity, and art. Many reflect Eggan's method of controlled comparison, a tool for reconstructing social and cultural change over time. Together these essays make substantial descriptive contributions to American Indian anthropology, presenting contemporary interpretations of diverse groups from the Hudson Bay Inuit in the north to the Highland Maya of Chiapas in the south. The collection will serve as an introduction to Native American social and cultural anthropology for readers interested in the dynamics of Indian social life.

By drawing on her extensive fieldwork in India and on the adjacent theoretical literature, Barbara Harriss-White describes the working of the Indian economy through its most important social structures of accumulation. Successive chapters explore a range of topics including labour, capital, the state, gender, religious plurality, caste and space. Despite the complexity of the subject, the book is vivid and compelling. The author's intimate knowledge of the country enables the reader to experience the Indian local scene and to engage with the precariousness of daily life. Her conclusion challenges the prevailing notion that liberalisation releases the economy from political interference and leads to a postscript on the economic base for fascism in India. This is an intelligent book, first published in 2002, by a distinguished scholar, for students of economics, as well as for those studying the region.

Contents: Culture and Society, Our Social Dilemma, Social Life, South India, Origins of the Indian Village System, The Ideal Social Order, The Religion and Social Organisation of the Sikhs, Prospects of an Integrated Approach to Social Reality, Religion and its Impact on Indian Society, Besant on Social Reform, The Theosophical Society and its Contribution to Tamil Society in the 19th Century, Theosophy and Social Change in India, Nationalism and Social Change, Social History of Modern India: A Trend Report, New Social Patterns: Voluntary Community Action.

This book is a collection of 12 essays on three interrelated themes of Nation, Civil Society and Social Movements organized in three parts each having four chapters.

In this illuminating collection of esays, Ainslie Embree examines the complex interplay of indigenous Indian culture with Islamic and western civilizations. He argues that civilization is not a fixed residue handed down from the past, but rather an enduring structure with adaptive mechanisms that permit it to be both a historically determined and continuously creative force.