Social Inequality in India: Profiles of Caste, Class and Social Mobility

Book Details

• Author: K.L. Sharma

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Language: English

• Edition: 1999

• ISBN: 8170335132

• Publication Year: 1999

• Pages: 496

• Cover: Hardcover

• Sale Territory: India

About the Book

Shaping of Social Stratification in India by K.L. Sharma presents a critical analysis of the social hierarchies and inequalities that have shaped Indian society, particularly since independence. This volume delves into how the Indian state, through various policies and movements, has worked towards transforming the traditional social order into a more egalitarian system. It also addresses the key theories, structures, and processes that sustain caste, class, and social inequality in India.

This collection of essays by senior scholars focuses on the dialectics and layers of social relations, offering insights into caste, class, family, and individual as both units of social ranking and value frameworks for guiding social consciousness. The book also answers pivotal questions on caste-class interrelations, social mobility, the role of education, and the influence of the power elite.

Through its in-depth exploration of social stratification in India, the volume provides valuable perspectives on the intersection of caste, class, and social change, and is essential reading for students, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding the complexities of Indian society.

Contents

• Shaping of the Traditional Pattern of Stratification in India: An Analysis of Processes through the Ages – SHRIRAMA INDRADEVA

• Stratification in Rgvedic Society: Evidence and Paradigms – SUVIRA JAISWAL

• Sociologists and Inequality in India: The Historical Context – SATISH SABERWAL

• The Reproduction of Inequality: Occupation, Caste and Family – ANDRE BETEILLE

• Approaches to the Identification of Elites – SHEO KUMAR LAL

• From Varna to Jati: The Indian Caste System, from the Asiatic to the Feudal Mode of Production – DIPANKAR GUPTA

• Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat – A.M. SHAH

• Caste and Class: A Reinterpretation – VICTOR S. D’SOUZA

• Caste and Class in Assam – R.K. BHADRA

• Transformation of Class Structure in Contemporary Rural India – PRADIP KUMAR BOSE

• Nature of Class Conflict in Indian Society – V.M. DANDEKAR

• Green Revolution and Social Inequalities in Rural India – D.N. DHANAGARE

• Social Stratification in an Orissa Village – JAGANATH PATHY

• Power Elite in Rural India: Some Questions and Clarifications – K.L. SHARMA

• Occupational Mobility of Castes in a North Indian Village – K.N. SHARMA

• Stratification among Tribals in Gujarat – PRADIP KUMAR BOSE

• Struggle of the Chamar Peasants for the Removal of Social Disabilities in a Feudal Estate (Uniara Thikana) in Rajasthan, 1946-47 – VIJAY KUMAR VASHISHTHA

• Social Mobility and Status-Identification among the Scheduled Castes: A Synoptic View – NANDU RAM

• Open Education and Closed Society: A Study of Social and Educational Inequalities in Contemporary India – EHSANUL HAQ

• The Indian Institutes of Technology: Do they Contribute to Social Mobility? – C. RAJAGOPALAN AND JASPAL SINGH

About the Author / Editor

K.L. Sharma is the Vice-Chancellor of Jaipur National University, Jaipur. He previously 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 also been a Visiting Professor at College de France, Paris, multiple times between 1991 and 2006. An eminent scholar and author of over 20 books and 70 research papers, K.L. Sharma’s works are widely recognized and read by students and teachers of Sociology and related fields.