Social Anthropology

Book Details

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: S. L. Doshi

• Language: English

• ISBN: 9788170336471

• Publication Year: 2001

• Release Date: 31 January 2001

• Pages: 392

• Binding: Paperback

• Package Dimensions: 8.3 × 5.4 × 0.6 inches

• Sale Territory: India

About the Book

Social Anthropology: In the Indian Context offers a comprehensive examination of India’s distinct anthropological approach—a blend of British social anthropology and Indian sociology. In recent decades, this synthesis has influenced methodology, challenging traditional approaches and prompting a rethinking of the discipline to suit contemporary realities.

Drawing on empirical evidence, the author demonstrates that Indian tribal societies represent a distinct social type—neither Hindu nor Christian—marked by unique ethnic, historical, and cultural identities. The book critically evaluates:

• Official tribal policy and its implications

• Social movements among Indian tribes

• Primitive social, political, and economic systems

• Religion, rituals, and magic in tribal life

• Kinship, family, marriage, and clan systems

• Gender roles in tribal society

• The ongoing transformation of Tribal India

Concise yet rich in conceptual and fieldwork insights, this volume serves as an essential text for students and scholars 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 has 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, is a prolific author and experienced anthropological fieldworker.