Social Anthropology

Book Details

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: S. L. Doshi

• Language: English

• ISBN: 9788170336464

• Publication Year: 2001

• Pages: 392

• Binding: Hardback

• Release Date: 01 December 2001

• Sale Territory: India

• Package Dimensions: 8.7 × 5.8 × 0.9 inches

About the Book

Social Anthropology: In the Indian Context presents a comprehensive exploration of India’s unique anthropological tradition—a distinctive blend of British social anthropology and Indian sociology. In recent years, this combination has influenced both the scope and methodology of the field, prompting a rethinking of how social anthropology can address present-day realities.

For the first time, drawing on empirical evidence, the author establishes that Indian tribal societies form a distinct type of society—neither Hindu nor Christian—marked by their own ethnic, historical, and cultural identity.

This book critically examines:

• Official tribal policy and its implications

• Tribal movements and their socio-political significance

• Primitive social, economic, and political systems

• Religion, rituals, and magic in tribal life

• Gender roles and kinship structures

• The transformation of Tribal India in the modern era

By combining conceptual depth with fresh fieldwork insights, this concise yet comprehensive volume is an essential text for students of social and cultural anthropology.

Contents

1. The Culture of Anthropology

2. The Scope of Social Anthropology

3. Social Anthropology as a Social Science

4. Methods of Social Anthropology

5. Races of Man and Racism

6. The Nature of Culture

7. Cultural Processes and Theories of Cultural Growth

8. Social Structure and Structuralism

9. The Family

10. Marriage

11. Kinship

12. Clan

13. Gender Issues in Tribal Society

14. Religion, Rituals and Magic

15. Primitive Economic System

16. Primitive Political System

17. Social Movements among Indian Tribes

18. Tribals: Conceptual Clarification and Their Problems

19. The Changing Tribal India

About the Author

S. L. Doshi has taught sociology at M. L. Sukhadia University, Udaipur and South Gujarat University, Surat, and served as Visiting Professor at M. D. University, Rohtak. He has authored, co-authored, and edited more than two dozen books, including Postmodern Perspectives on Indian Society, Modernity, Postmodernity and Neo-sociological Theory, Rural Sociology, and Social Anthropology.

P. C. Jain, Associate Professor of Sociology at Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University, Udaipur, has authored numerous books and research papers and is a seasoned anthropological fieldworker.