Culture, Stratification and Development

Book Details

• Author: K. L. Sharma

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Language: English

• Edition: 2011

• ISBN: 9788131604007

• Pages: 296

• Cover: Hardcover

• Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches

About the Book

This insightful volume by renowned sociologist K.L. Sharma presents a compelling analysis of the complex interplay between culture, social stratification, and development in India during the first decade of the 21st century. The book foregrounds “social difference” and “power” as key pillars of stratification, while offering a nuanced critique of the evolving caste dynamics in the contemporary socio-political landscape.

While caste as a rigid system is losing its institutional hold, its presence has become more pronounced in identity politics, electoral mobilizations, and even informal socio-legal practices. The author argues that caste today functions more as a psychological and identity-driven phenomenon than a structural determinant of social relations. The rising influence of globalization and liberalization has reshaped societal values around individuality, freedom, development, market forces, and competition—pushing traditional caste-based hierarchies further into the background, especially within family and social spheres.

In addition to examining caste in the context of modern socio-economic forces, the book delves into critical themes such as gender, diaspora, cultural spaces, status, opportunity, and social mobility. Sharma integrates the perspectives of leading thinkers including D.P. Mukerji, Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, Charles Bettelheim, Gunnar Myrdal, John Stuart Mill, Amartya Sen, Pierre Bourdieu, and Ramachandra Guha to build a multidimensional framework for understanding how culture and stratification are interlinked with India's developmental trajectory.

Lucidly written and theoretically rich, this book serves as an essential resource not only for students and scholars of Sociology and Social Sciences but also for a broader audience interested in contemporary Indian society and its evolving structures of power and identity.

About the Author / Editor

K.L. Sharma is currently the Vice-Chancellor of Jaipur National University, Jaipur. Formerly, he served as Professor of Sociology and Rector (Pro-Vice-Chancellor) at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and was Vice-Chancellor of Rajasthan University from 2003 to 2005. He has held Visiting Professorships at the prestigious Collège de France, Paris, five times between 1991 and 2006. With over 20 books and 70 research papers to his credit, Sharma’s work is widely read and respected in academic and intellectual circles in India and abroad.