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This book examines the future of the social sciences and the reconstruction of society in contemporary times. Drawing on the lead piece For a New Classic Sociology, it calls for a new theoretical synthesis that overcomes the fragmentation, specialization and professionalization within the social sciences. The position paper and the responses by a team of world-class social theorists provide an alternative to utilitarianism and the colonization of the social sciences by rational choice models, propose a new articulation of social theory, and moral, social and political philosophy. It recommends a return to classical social theory and explores articulations between theories of reciprocity, care and recognition.A radical intervention in the study of the social sciences, the volume will be indispensable to scholars and researchers across the social sciences, especially social theory and sociology and social anthropology.Contributions by Frank Adloff, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Francis Chateauraynaud, Raewyn Connell, François Dubet, Philip Gorski, Nathalie Heinich, Qu Jingdong, Mike Savage, Michael Singleton and Philippe Steiner.

This book delves deep into the lived experiences of the Tibetan diaspora, offering an insightful exploration through the intersecting lenses of politics, psychology, and culture. Drawing from the expertise of scholars in fields such as political science, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies, the book provides a rich, multidisciplinary analysis that reveals the complexities of Tibetan life in exile. It meticulously examines the delicate diplomacy between the Tibetan government-in-exile and host nations, unraveling the intricate political dynamics that shape the aspirations and challenges faced by Tibetans abroad. In addition to political analysis, the book sheds light on the psychological resilience and cultural innovation within the Tibetan community. Through an exploration of art, music, literature, and religious practices, it uncovers how Tibetans have creatively reimagined and redefined their cultural identity in the face of displacement and adversity. This volume is an essential resource for students, researchers, and educators in anthropology, political science, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies. It also serves as a valuable tool for policymakers, advocates, and activists engaged in issues of diaspora, migration, human rights, and social justice. For anyone seeking to understand the profound impact of exile, the endurance of cultural identity, and the strength of community, this book is a must-read. This version aims to be more engaging while clearly defining the book's scope, relevance, and target audience.

This book examines the effects of the pattern of growing integration between the rural and urban economies in India. Drawing on in-depth surveys conducted in villages in north India, it examines the rural agricultural economy's transformation, productivity, technology deployment, and social relations over a period of seven years. The book focuses on the socially embedded nature of the dynamics of transformation, weaving analysis around the axis of land, caste, and gender. It also identifies policy gaps and recommends steps for a sustainable and inclusive rural transformation in the Global South.An important contribution to the study of India's economic and social landscape, this book will be useful for scholars of agriculture, sociology, economics, political science, development studies, and South Asian studies. It will also be of interest to policymakers and journalists interested in rural development, migration, employment, agriculture, and demography.

This book studies how transnational migrants create a sense of home in their host countries. It draws on case studies of Sri Lankan migrants living in Australia to argue that'home'is an existential experience rather than a fixed entity. The author looks at how the sense of home arises as a fresh category which is critical in defining one's existentiality in the host society.Going beyond the conventional methodological approach of an ethnographer objectivizing other's sense of home into fixed categories, the book attempts to foreground the immigrant's articulation of home which evolves parallel to their being. It reveals how three important aspects of our lives – time, space and memory – intersect with the trajectories of migration. The author also delves into the ways in which migrants engage in building a home as a way of creating materiality in their dwelling practice.Unique and compelling, the book will be highly useful in studies of diaspora, globalisation and transnational migration. It will be of interest to students, researchers and scholars of anthropology, migration and transnational studies, as well as sociology and other related disciplines.

This book looks at the question of the Tibetan nation from the perspective of Tibetan women in exile. It situates Tibetan women within the debate of Tibetan nation-building and nationalism in exile. In doing so, the book explores Tibetan women's construction of the idea of the Tibetan nation, their contributions to Tibetan nationalism, their position in Tibetan society, and the nuances of identity. The author captures the experiences, views, and realities of Tibetan women in exile, drawing from interviews conducted with participants in three Tibetan settlements in India.This book is an important contribution to feminist discourse on gender, nation, and nationalism in the context of the Tibetans in exile. It will appeal to readers and scholars interested in Tibetan studies, nationalism, feminism, women's studies, and Asian studies.

This interdisciplinary volume attempts to gauge the individual and social issues related to memory, with an understanding of memory studies as an independent body of scholarship. It draws on multiple fields of knowledge, like popular culture, history, literature, oral cultures, and storytelling, which facilitates a panoramic view of memory studies.This book investigates the intersection between memory studies, partition, oral literature, and digital technology. It is also informed by the consciousness of memory in the digital age, which plays an integral role in what is remembered/forgotten, the form in which such memories are stored, and how they might be retrieved in future.This book will be an invaluable resource for those involved in research from undergraduate to post-doctoral level. This includes sociologists, psychologists, historians, artists, academicians, as well as research scholars from other disciplines.

Over one-third of the Indian population is made up of young people aged between 15 and 34 years. Such a large, young population is an asset to any nation, but today, young Indians are grappling with multifarious challenges hindering their growth. This book analyses factors that influence the youth's decision-making processes, their navigation of societal norms, education choices, identity formation, and the evolving perceptions of tradition and modernity. It focuses on the changing patterns of marriage among the Indian youth, the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing changes in youth transitions and social reproduction in a modern society. The findings presented in the book provide crucial insights into how young Indians perceive their roles within their families, communities, and the broader society. The volume also offers valuable guidance on how to support and empower the next generation to build a resilient and prosperous future.Lucid, accessible, and empirically grounded, the book is indicative of the momentum and direction of change in the country. It will be useful to scholars and researchers of sociology, political sociology, political studies, youth psychology and anthropology. It will also be of interest to policymakers, journalists, and the interested general reader.

This volume provides a multi-nuanced analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on various aspects of human existence, encompassing societal, economic, and inter-relational dimensions. It highlights a broad range of artistic and literary experiences that unfolded as a consequence of the pandemic or speak to that time.The book revisits pandemic-induced shifts, phenomenologically, including the digitization of art and representations of creativity, “performance” anxiety, socio-political climate determined by “racial algorithms,” gaming surges, employment insecurities, mental health issues from a pedagogical materiality, and the nature of apocalypse through literary reimaginations. It also delves into the global food crisis, reframing of family structures, and local subjectivities as lived experiences.A unique contribution, the book will be useful for students and researchers of cultural studies, digital humanities, mass media, sociology, mental health, psychology, medical anthropology, public health, literature, history of pandemics and epidemics, and South Asian studies.

This book is a critical comparative study of Jotirao Phule and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, modern India's two most prominent dalit leaders. Although they were not close contemporaries, they came to construct a firm structure of not only dalit ideology, but also dalit methodology to emancipate the oppressed and depressed sections of society. The book deals with their ideas in a new light highlighting aspects of convergence and contrast in their respective approach to philosophy, religion, society, and culture. It argues that deep down in his philosophic orientation, Phule was quintessentially closer to Gandhi than to Ambedkar. The author also contends that the usage of the term dalit exclusively in the caste-communitarian sense is essentially a product of post-independence political appropriation rather than social evolution. The book specifically brings to light the dynamics of humanism and nationalism on the one hand and that of communitarianism on the other in the context of twentieth-century colonial India. Notably, Gandhi is brought in the narrative to complete the triumvirate.Comprehensive and deeply grounded in primary research, this thought-provoking book will be indispensable for students and researchers of modern Indian history, sociology, political science, political thought, exclusion studies, dalit and subaltern studies, and South Asian studies. It will also appeal to those interested in the writings of Ambedkar and Phule.

This book deconstructs the quintessential Indian woman that the advertising industry portrays across the spectrum by looking at Indian advertisements across multiple brands with a gender lens based on societal and sociological perspectives. It delves into various critical issues like the differences between culture-defined gender roles/expectations and women's portrayal in the ad narrative, and which product category has consistently portrayed women as sex objects.Drawing insights from a seminal research study and Erving Goffman's classic book ‘Gender Advertisements', it traces the journey of three decades, beginning the 1990s – the era of liberalization in India, to map trends and patterns in Indian advertising and presents the perspectives of the creative teams and top managements across Indian and global advertising agencies. It discusses the application of a Gender Sensitivity Barometer (GSB) which the creative teams can use to find out how sensitive or insensitive the ad has been based on pre-determined indicators suggested by the GSB.This book will be useful to students, researchers and faculty working in the field of management, advertising, mass communication, psychology, gender studies and sociology. It will also be an indispensable companion to professionals from the field of advertising and related areas.

This book examines, for perhaps the first time, singlehood at the intersections of race, media, language, culture, literature, space, health, and life satisfaction. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach, borrowing from sociology, literary studies, medical humanities, race studies, linguistics, demographic studies, and critical geography to understand singlehood in the world today.This collection of essays aims to establish the discipline of Singles Studies, finding new ways of examining it from various disciplinary and cultural perspectives. It begins with laying the field and then moves on to critically look at how race has shaped the way we understand singlehood in the West and how class, age, gender, privilege, and the media play a role in shaping singlehood. It argues for a need for increased interdisciplinarity within the field, for example, analyzing singlehood from the perspective of medical humanities. The volume also explores the role workplace, living arrangements, financial status, and gender play in single people's life satisfaction. With an interdisciplinary and transnational approach, this interdisciplinary volume seeks to establish Singles Studies as a truly global discipline.This pathbreaking volume would be of interest to students and researchers of sociology, literature, linguistics, media studies, and psychology.

This book examines the concept of neighbourhood over space and time and understands how neighbourhoods can impact human health and well-being. It discusses the identification of neighbourhood boundaries, features of individual neighbourhoods, and the concept of neighbourhood in some major world as well as Indian cities. Based on extensive research, this study refers to both primary as well as secondary sources of data using various statistical and geo-spatial techniques. The first section of the book focuses on the concept of neighbourhood, concept of neighbourhood unit, methods used in the identification of neighbourhood boundaries and theories related to neighbourhood effects on health. The subsequent section of the book deals with a case study on neighbourhood effects on health in an Indian city. The case study is followed by a comparison of its results with other global studies.This book will be useful to the departments of Geography, Public Health, Sociology and Social Work. It will also be of use to professionals and practitioners like city planners, architects, NGOs, Environmentalists, and urban policy makers.

The book explores the varying experiences and engagement of youth with smartphones and digital technologies in India and South Africa. It examines the process of meaning-making (identity construction) garnered through smartphone technology — specifically relating to notions of love, sex, and sexuality.A keen reappraisal of the smartphone revolution, the essays underline the constant negotiations between technology and social institutions such as, family, schools, colleges\universities, religious groups, traditional community leaders, media, police, law, and governments. The volume looks at new forms of digital-based surveillance on girls, women and gender minorities and maps the responses of state, civil society and women's movements in tackling the divergent narratives of freedom versus control; empowerment versus violence. It specifically looks at how concepts of ‘privacy', ‘agency', ‘autonomy'and ‘consent'are being framed in the legal arena regarding young women, which may or may not be empowering of their agency and choices.Challenging notions about gender, technology and society, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology and social anthropology, politics, gender studies, and Global South studies.

Ever since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent, Mumbai-based Hindi cinema has been returning compulsively to the idea of Pakistan, sometimes as the desirable other, sometimes as the horrifying antagonist. Hindi Cinema and Pakistan traces the genesis and development of this theme in Hindi cinema in the 1950s, showcasing its relevance as a tool that both reflects and shapes how India sees its neighbour, the India–Pakistan relationship, and itself.The book is a serious, multi-platform, multi-pronged exploration of the appearances, invocations, representations and treatment of Pakistan and Pakistanis in Hindi cinema. It follows Hindi cinema's efforts to come to terms with the ‘idea'and ‘reality'of Pakistan. Through in-depth analyses of the enmity and rivalry between the two subcontinental nations in Partition films, thrillers, epic war films and sports films, to screen depictions of the shared cultural past and similarities in films on cross-border love or in films that show a reaching out through humour, this book investigates the visualization of Pakistan and contextualizes these representations within the broader frameworks of India's political, socio-cultural and popular discourse.The extensive reach of the in-depth textual analyses of Hindi cinema will make this volume interesting and valuable both to the lay reader and to researchers and academics of cultural studies, media and film studies, and the study of socio-psychological violence in media and culture.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the discourse on health in India, examining governance, policies, programmes, and the involvement of the state and civil society in ensuring health for all and especially for people living with HIV/AIDS.The book critically examines government measures to improve healthcare services in India, specifically for disadvantaged groups like the poor and women who face several obstacles in accessing healthcare. It explores various aspects of healthcare accessibility, gender equity measures and strategies implemented by the state and highlights the significant contributions of civil society organizations and activists in shaping healthcare provisions, as well as their influence on the discourse surrounding health and HIV/AIDS. With a special study based on the author's research on HIV-positive women in Karnataka (a high-prevalence state) and West Bengal (a low-prevalence state), and an examination of government policies, financial allocations, and relevant reports, this book fills a crucial gap in academic literature by offering a comprehensive analysis of health and governance in relation to HIV-positive women, in India.The book will be a valuable resource for students and researchers in public health, policy studies, community health, gender studies, sociology of health and illness, and Indian government and politics. It will also be useful for policymakers in the development of more effective and inclusive healthcare policies.

This book reconsiders media studies from different philosophical and theoretical perspectives from around the world. It brings together diverse views and visions from thinkers such as Sr Aubrobindo, Jurgen Habermas, Paul Ricoeur, Pope Francis, and Satyajit Ray, among others. The authors focus on the issues of ethics, aesthetics, meditation, and communication in relation to media studies and explore the links between media and mindfulness. The volume includes case studies from India, United States, Switzerland, and Denmark and presents empirical works on new horizons of critical media studies in different fields such as American news media and creative media lab. A unique contribution, this book will be indispensable for students and researchers of journalism, communication studies, social media, behavioural sciences, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, and development studies.

This volume considers spirit possession in the Himalayas and the various ways in which invisible powers are made present. It does so by examining material representations of these powers through artefacts, animals, plants and natural substances, while also focusing on narratives of people's encounters with the invisible that may help them to reconfigure reality. Through these two approaches, the contributions examine new phenomena associated with the concepts of'possession'and'shamanism', which otherwise tend to lead research into well-worn furrows. The book addresses a range of themes, including the gods of the Western Himalayas, death and ritual dissolution among Hyolmo Buddhists in Nepal, gods and rivers as legal persons in India, and the problem of conversion disorder in Nepal.Rich in ethnography, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of anthropology, religion, spiritualism, sociology of religion, Himalayan studies, sociology and South Asia.

This book examines the epistemological, social and political dimensions of practising interdisciplinary approaches to enhance knowledge, pedagogy, and methodological aspects of research in the South Asian context. The volume sets the context by bringing together a range of ideas, questions and reflections on the concept of interdisciplinarity, the numerous waves of interdisciplinarity in contemporary history of knowledge, which were radically different from each other in their epistemological and political orientations. The book revisits the concept of interdisciplinarity and takes into cognizance the importance of the mutual shaping of knowledge and politics in our search for inclusive and sustainable future(s).The book offers a blend of both conceptual and institutional discourses on interdisciplinarity and the personal experiences of leading practitioners, bringing together critical engagements from different vantage points on practising it. It will be of interest to researchers, scholars and practitioners of social sciences and humanities disciplines as well as interdisciplinary fields such as educational studies, development studies, women's studies, media studies, cultural studies, urban studies, labour studies, legal studies, public health, disability studies, global/international studies and performing arts. It will also be useful for policy planners, development practitioners, activists and social organizers working in related fields.

This volume brings together new research on the developing and transforming literary scape in South Asia in the aftermath of the partitions of 1947 and 1971. It thematically explores the transformations that have taken place in the literary spheres of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, since violence and irresolvable conflicts wreaked the subcontinent, through the narratives of loss and longing.The volume deals with key themes such as feminism, minorities and marginality, vernacular history, Bengali literary representations, and post-Partition artistic and literary representations. It contributes towards fostering a network for academic exchange across the borders thereby presenting diverse and in-depth studies on a plethora of subjects within the larger framework of literary landscapes.Narratives of Loss and Longing will be of interest to scholars of literary studies, postcolonial and decolonial studies, partition studies, minority studies, refugee studies, gender and women's studies and those interested in South Asia, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

This book delves into the concept and definition of social movements from different perspectives with relevance to India. It offers critical insight into the fundamental and ongoing debates and treatises around the struggle for rights and welfare.The book covers discussions on a wide range of movements varying in locus and spatial spread – from movements that highlight environmental issues to those that articulate the voices of women, Dalits, the queer community, persons with disabilities, and farmers. It explores the origins of people's movements, what a collective is and how communities mobilize and organize. The authors also provide a history of the key social movements in India, examining the social, political, and cultural contexts in which they were born and continue being relevant in contemporary India.This revised and updated edition is an essential volume for students and researchers of social movement studies, sociology, political science and history, protest movements, sociological theory, the history of sociological thought, contemporary social theory, social policy, and international and globalization studies.

This volume discusses the various challenges faced by children in India from different perspectives such as education, psychology, and sociology during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the nature of undocumented struggles of refugees, children with special needs, girl children/ girl child, child labourers, children from SC/ST and other disadvantaged communities and migrant children in India. The book examines the lack of a social justice framework to cater to children's needs and wellbeing. It discusses how intersectional location of these children in caste, class, gender, ethnicity, and religious locations shape their ability to access welfare and rights across sectors such as health, education, nutrition, and security. The book puts forth recommendations to ensure better intervention mechanisms to address issues faced by children from all sections of society and paves the way to counter the emerging challenges in future.This book will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers of education, psychology, sociology, social work, childhood studies, and development studies. It will also be useful for educationalists, sociologists, social psychologists, lay public and those interested in exploring the condition of various marginalized children in India.

This book studies the different dimensions of culture change in India. It covers important strands of the ancient and modern intellectual traditions of India and the socio-cultural changes that the country underwent during the colonial, post-independence modernization, and globalization periods in the country. In this context, the authors examine some of the major aspects of culture change observed at the institutional level across the country. They also touch upon cultural diversity and multiculturalism in India and Europe, as well as the dilemmas faced by diasporic Indians in North America.Lucid and topical, this book will be an essential read for students and scholars of sociology, sociology of culture, history, political science, cultural anthropology, Indian sociology, social anthropology, cultural studies, and South Asian studies.

This book explores the critical linkages between indigeneity, marginality, and the state in Bangladesh. Indigeneity is progressively gaining currency in politics and thereby becoming an active force in the larger context of national activism with transnational patronage and international support. Drawing on comprehensive and solid ethnographic accounts, the book offers a broader understanding of the process of marginalisation and the emergence of new leadership among the Khumi, an indigenous group of Bangladesh. It illuminates how the Khumi have realised their position on the margin of the state within the socio-economic, political, and ethnic history of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It also looks at how kin-based social organisations and non-kin-based social relations become bases of power and authority as well as cooperation and reciprocity in Khumi society.Lucid and topical, the book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of indigenous studies, anthropology, ethnic studies, sociology, political sciences, international relations, border studies, and South Asian studies, especially those concerned with Bangladesh.

This volume brings together scholarship on indigenous forms of travel to decolonize travel theory. It looks at certain minoritarian-vernacular traveling cults – very rarely examined – that compel us to rethink, on the one hand, the conventional tropes of and rationales for travel; and, on the other hand, notions of (post)coloniality, nationalism and modernity in the context of India. The book illustrates the enduring problematic of the ‘colonial episteme': how it deploys pervasive categories through which travel practices are sought to be understood, and why such categories are inadequate in accounting for the vernacular traveling cults in question. In studying the vernacular world-making in and through these cults, this book offers critical insights on how they defy the log(ist)ics of the ‘imperial categories'and why they must be read as expressions of decoloniality. An important contribution to travel studies, the book will be an indispensable resource for students and researchers of South Asian studies, travel theory, Indian literary and cultural studies, cultural history and anthropology, sociology, and decoloniality.

This volume traces India's developmental strategies and governance systems from state-led to market-driven models over seven decades, highlighting the disconnect between the values enshrined in the Constitution and the governance of policies. It examines a broad spectrum of development approaches addressing deeply entrenched socio-economic issues including poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, inequalities, agriculture, technology, pandemics, marginalized communities, people's participation, decentralized governance, and the challenges in socio-economic program implementation.Underscoring that policies require a clear purpose and trustworthy governance systems for empowering the marginalized, it points out that failures are primarily at the policy level due to a lack of ideological clarity, spurred by growth and welfare dilemmas. The volume further provides insights into India's development and social transformation and serves as a resource for those engaged in the study or practice of policy-making.This book is particularly valuable for students and researchers of development studies, economics, political economy, public policy, political studies, sociology, governance, and South Asian studies.

This book studies the social formation of India through the lens of religion, state, ethnicity, and governance. It provides a nuanced understanding of the structural as well as the processual aspects of the Indian social sphere. The volume studies diverse themes, such as the impact of religiosity on religious consciousness, the primacy of tribal identity in colonial India, political inclusion of marginalised communities, the emerging subaltern activism, among others.An important contribution, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of sociology, political sociology, South Asian studies, Affirmative action, and political science.

The book builds an understanding on the issue of girls'education and empowerment in the backdrop of a broad geographic canvas of countries in South Asia. Using select education and gender-related indicators and qualitative data, it presents the status of girls'education across these countries. It proceeds to explore the dominant structural, systemic, situational, and macro- and micro-level inter-related barriers to girls'education. Country-specific situational issues like economic crises, political instability, natural disasters, and conflict that impact girls'lives and education are underscored for contextual understanding. Within this landscape, the impact of COVID-19 on girls'education has also been discussed. The book's uniqueness lies in its approach to linking praxis with theory by distilling the fundamental principles and assumptions underlying the strategies, using these for theorizing and generating discourse in the field. The attempts to theorize are multidisciplinary in nature as they draw from the disciplines of Sociology, Psychology, Education, Development Studies, Conflict Studies, and Gender Studies.This book would be useful to the students, researchers, and teachers working in the fields of Education, Development Studies, Gender Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and Psychology. It would also be an invaluable companion to policymakers and professionals from government and non-government organizations working in the fields of Education, Social Development, and Gender.

In the annals of India's history, a monumental uprising unfolded in 2020, echoing the resilience and coming together of large sections of its agrarian base. Instigated by the contentious farm laws of 2020, the Farmers'Movement burgeoned into a year-long saga of protest and perseverance, ending only in December 2021 after the passing of the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 by the Indian Parliament. From the initial demand for law repeal to the multifaceted growth of the movement, the book traces the journey of the Farmers'Movement, as each essay dissects the socio-political dynamics, cultural nuances, and mass solidarity that underpinned the protests, including focused analyses from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom. This anthology chronicles the ebb and flow of a nation's spirit, encapsulating the symbiotic relationship between theory and praxis, between change and continuity. It serves as a testament to the power of collective resistance and a roadmap for future struggles, ensuring that the legacy of the Farmers'Movement endures beyond the pages of history.This volume is an interdisciplinary project and will be of interest to scholars from diverse fields such as economics, sociology, public policy, political science, history, political geography, gender studies, cultural studies, international studies, architecture, media studies, psychology, and ethnomusicology.

This volume presents a multidimensional analysis of the current operational law – both constitutional and customary – in Northeast India. It looks at how colonialism redesigned and redefined extant customary practices, leaving a permanent legacy on the legal governance and societal structure of the post-colonial Indian state.The book interrogates “law” through a broad spectrum of issues including gender, partition, the legacy of colonial structures, and religion as a form of resistance against land grabbing and censorship. It delineates a distinct historical process of the evolution of law and custom and focuses on the intimate links between law and the dynamics of state, ethnicity, and governance.As a unique contribution, the book offers new insights into how and why the continuity of colonial law within a democratic framework perpetuates deep-rooted problems in governance and the psyche of the people. It will be indispensable for students and researchers of history, law, anthropology, legal anthropology, sociology, Indian politics, and South Asian studies.

This book studies the various narrative shades of love in twentieth-century Latin American fiction. It examines writings by Isabel Allende, Roberto Arlt, García Márquez, and Mario Vargas Llosa. The author provides a close textual reading of each novel and discusses how humans make sense of their lives through love. He shifts the focus of these writings from political violence and historical disillusionment to the illusion of love.An important contribution to Latin American literary criticism, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of literature, history, Latin American literature, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, comparative literature, and sociology.

This volume discusses the current state of knowledge on the conceptual understanding of inequality. The book poses a range of empirical puzzles in the Indian context and examines inequalities across categories of the region of residence, caste, and sex, using a fascinating range of outcome indicators, comprising education, health, earnings, self-employment, and crime.The empirical chapters of this volume use various large-scale secondary data sources to expose the deep-rooted, structural inequalities in the Indian society. It answers some of the pertinent questions around inequality such as why do the backward regions of India continue to remain backward, both in terms of economic and human development indicators? Why do enterprises owned by backward caste individuals have systematically lower business earnings? Are backward castes and women more likely to face crime when their relative status improves? How do the circumstances that children find given at birth influence their learning outcomes? etc.The book will be of interest to teachers, students, and researchers of economics of education, development studies, development economics, and Indian economics. It will also be useful for policymakers, academicians, and anyone curious to learn about inequality.

This book reiterates pluralism as the basic feature of the Indian social sphere. It highlights challenges to the continuity of the plural fabric of India's society and culture. Acknowledging that socio-political concerns on women's issues do not always find adequate representation in social science texts, the book explores issues and policies related to gender. It locates the roots of feminist fundamentalism, studies the reactions to it, and brings forth the demands relating to new agendas and strategies for feminism. The authors also present empirical studies on issues faced by minority communities in India.An important contribution, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of sociology, political sociology, gender studies, exclusion studies, South Asian studies, Affirmative action, and political science.

This volume captures the social, political, psychological, administrative, and policy dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indian context. The book is divided into four parts. Part I highlights social narratives from underprivileged workers, ASHA workers, the LGBTIQ+ community, and sanitary workers. It documents their struggles to develop mitigation, adaptation, and resilience strategies. Part II includes case studies and stories of self-management, the mental health of students from rural and urban Maharashtra, and of caregivers. It unveils the path of transformation of self to deal with the issues of anxiety and emotional turmoil caused during and due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Part III consists of resilience, philosophical hope, and solidarity, which reflect the contribution of seva by the Sikh community. It also highlights the contribution of government organizations like Indian Railways, Air India, and the Employee Provident Fund Organization to provide relief to both the people of India and Indians residing abroad to bring people back to the country during the unprecedented times. Part IV discusses the responses of various states of India to the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of policies by the government of India during those times.Based on empirical research work, this book will be useful for students, teachers, researchers, behavioral scientists, and practitioners of psychology, sociology, human geography, mental health, political science, public health, and public policy. This book will also be of interest to policymakers and the general public to understand the intricacies involved and the essential propositions with regard to pandemics.

The book unravels the politics of representation and the process of exoticising women's bodies through the prism of external gaze and knowledge production. It brings out the intricacies of representational discourses around cultural practices of female circumcision (FC)/female genital cutting (FGC) and Islamic veiling. Focusing on crucial international legal texts and national legislation, the book gives an overview of the cultural nuances in FC/FGC and juxtaposes it with the Indian variation, khafz. The author studies the international veiling narratives that conjure up a fractured discourse containing aspects of colonialism, Islamophobia, and Islamic fashion and maps them with the regional variations of Islamic purdah in India. The volume explores the cultural practice of khafz and purdah through narratives in India, portraying how representational factors from international discourses reflect on the Indian context and vice versa.Amid the world of binaries and polarised opinions, the book offers a nuanced analysis of the space in-between, characterised by narratives from women. By situating women's narratives in relation to family, community, state, and international politics, the book explores the global-Indian interplay of discourses on FC/FGC and Islamic veiling. This volume will be of interest to scholars, students, and readers of gender studies, feminism, cultural and religious studies, sociology, South Asian studies, and International Relations.

This book explores the intimate relationship of the people of North East India with the environment as evinced from their traditional beliefs, cultural practices, and livelihood. It offers insights into the challenges and adaptability of communities through actions ensuring conservation of the environment yet sustaining their livelihood.The book encompasses movement toward responsible actions and the engagement of communities in pro-environmental behavior. It showcases the various practices, knowledge, and debates on the environment-behavior relationship of the people of North East India. It brings into focus some of the daunting environmental issues and the endeavors for sustenance that is true to a region which is rich in ecological diversity and touches the spirit and psyche of its people.This volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of psychology, anthropology, sociology, environmental sciences, development studies, law and governance, environmental administration, and South Asia studies.

This book analyses India's response to COVID-19, using an intersectional framework that highlights the roles of the central government, regional governments, and community organisations, both formal and informal. The volume brings forward the immense potential embedded within collective communitarian formations by exploring themes such as disaster capitalism, municipal socialism, civic capitalism, apocalypse or disaster communism, and Marxist humanism in relation to the management strategies exhibited by the Indian government towards the COVID-19 pandemic. It underscores the necessity for imagining a scenario where egalitarian and socially just policies replace the dominance of capitalism.Part of the Academics, Politics and Society in the Post-COVID World series, the book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of sociology, political studies, cultural studies, social anthropology, South Asia studies, pandemic studies, and postcolonial studies.

This book introduces the readers to the dynamics of various kinds of social movements. It examines how social movements have become an instrument of social change including assertion of identity and protest against marginalisation. This book describes three major domains – conceptual, experiential, and the impact of globalisation on social movements. The volume begins by locating social movements within broad and contemporary social processes and explores the intrinsic and complex patterns of dynamics among state, market, and social movements from a critical sociological perspective. It explains the meaning, basic features, origins and types, leadership and ideology, and perspectives of social movements and probes into major experiences of eight social movements in India, namely, peasant and farmers, tribal, Naxalite and Maoist, Dalit, working class, women, ethnic, and environmental movements. This book also analyses the role of information technology, media, and civil society in the spread and continuation of such movements. The experiences of queer, new religious, anti-systemic, and anti-displacement movements would also help readers understand how globalisation has offered new avenues of protest to diverse sections of the population. Lessons of anti-globalisation movements across the world provide a futuristic perspective in assessing the strength of social movements in a global society.This book will be useful to the students, researchers, and faculty working in the field of political science, sociology, gender studies, and post-colonial contemporary Indian politics in particular. It will also be an invaluable and interesting reading for those interested in South Asian studies.

This book studies the impact of COVID-19 in South Asia. With case studies from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, the volume assesses the long-term effects of COVID on the countries'political economy, public health, education, and society and offers recommendations for creating a more robust and resilient society for South Asian countries in response to the threat of future pandemics. The authors also make suggestions for shared policy goals, identifying smart strategies, and aligning policy instruments into short and long-term policy decisions to address wider societal issues of economy, migration, refugees, and averting the threats of extremism.Topical and comprehensive, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of sociology, medical sociology, political sociology, social anthropology, South Asian studies, public policy, political economy, and political studies.

This book presents a sociological interpretation of the emergence of modernity in India via the colonial encounter, and its ramifications for Indian society, economy, and polity. It outlines the main features of modernity and the Western context in which it was defined, both in classical and later sociological works, as well as the Western roots of India's development project after independence. The Eurocentric origins of modernity in India are summarised, along with the challenges it has posed in the political realm in the building of a pan-Indian or national consciousness, and in the emergence of dominant caste politics and regional and regionalistic parties to counter what was perceived to be an elite and marginalising project to modernise the Indian nation. It describes the trajectory that the Indian economy has undertaken from state-supported capitalism at the time of independence to market-centric neoliberalism by the 1990s, and the effects of this trajectory on both rural and urban India. The dominating role of both the ‘old'and the ‘new'middle classes as formidable cultural forces and the heterogeneous character of the latter, as a result of the upward mobility that has been underway since independence, are also summarised, as are the debates around the ever-imminent breakup of the Indian family and its implications for women and the elderly. It ends by outlining the history and persistence of various economic and cultural forms of social exclusion in contemporary India. This book would be useful for students, researchers, and teachers of sociology, history, political science, and interdisciplinary courses in the social sciences, such as modern Indian studies.

This book probes into the marginalized communities of the Indian society through historical and contemporary societal perspectives. It discusses socio-cultural aspects of the experiences of Scheduled Castes, Dalits, Scheduled Tribes/tribal communities, Other Backward Classes, linguistic minorities, religious minorities and the queer/LGBT as sexual minorities.Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach, it looks at all these segments of Indian society through historical and societal perspectives. Divided into three broad sections – Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and minorities, this book provides historical perspective backed by the contemporary situation and emerging social changes among these communities. Written in a lucid manner, the book aims to reach and impact readers without having any prior academic exposure to this subject area.This book would be useful to the students, researchers and teachers of sociology, social work, history, economics, political science, and other interdisciplinary courses in social sciences. The book will also be valuable reading for those interested in South Asian studies, especially contemporary Indian society.

This book examines the phenomenon of colorism in India and the Global South and critically analyses the obsession with fair skin and its association with social capital or mobility.Exploring the prevalence of colorism in India, China, Japan, Vietnam, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya and Australia, it traces its roots in history, scriptures, travel narratives, contemporary media and popular culture. How much did colonialism and European imperialism contribute to the desire to be white? How have globalization and the spread of consumer culture and Western ideals of beauty helped exacerbate these issues? The author discusses these questions while looking at the aspirations for beauty and modernity among these societies and the growing popularity of the use of creams, lotions and other methods to whiten the skin as a means to assimilate, emulate the West and gain better prospects and life.Lucid and topical, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of race and colorism, sociology, social history, social anthropology, cultural studies, consumer economics, Asian studies and South Asian studies.

This book focuses on the historical and sociological dimensions of scientists working in laboratories in India, offering insights into the historical, sociological and policy factors that shape scientific pursuits. It illuminates the challenges, accomplishments and the evolving role of science in societal development.The author initiates a broader discourse on the interplay between scientific advancements, societal contexts and policy frameworks. The book fosters a deeper understanding of science's role in shaping India's social fabric and contributing to the global scientific dialogue. It also explores issues such as brain drain, science activism and the conflict between university- and government-run models of science.Lucid and topical, the book will be of considerable interest to both social and natural scientists, as well as the general academic community, including research students in science, technology, history, social history of science, science and technology studies and innovation policies.

This book is an anthology of the collected essays of Sharmila Rege (1964 – 2013) that addresses themes to do with pedagogy and culture. Rege makes a compelling argument for rethinking the content of sociological knowledge and invokes in this context, Anticaste radical philosophies, associated with Mahatma Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar as well as the writings of Dalit women. Equally, she seeks to rethink and engender the domain of Cultural Studies. She calls attention to'Dalit counter-publics', comprising performance and commemorative traditions that are committed to ending the caste order and argues for a critical rethinking of the relationship between caste, sexuality, and popular culture.Framed and annotated by an introduction that places Sharmila's work in the intellectual and historical contexts that shaped it, the volume also features short prefatory notes by her colleagues on the various themes taken up for discussion. Addressing, as it does, the researcher, the activist and the teacher, the book is indispensable for students and researchers of Women's Studies, feminism, gender studies, Dalit Studies, minority studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, as well as studies in language and rhetoric.

This book comprises the collected essays of Sharmila Rege (1964 – 2013), which span a range of themes, including critical perspectives on women's movements, Dalit standpoint feminism, and the relationship between Women's Studies and other disciplines. Written over two decades and more (from the 1990s to 2010), these pioneering essays draw from the struggles and writings of Dalit women, the long history of anticaste thought in Maharashtra and global feminist debates. Equally, they address enduring concerns to do with caste and gender, and call attention to the inseparability of struggles against caste and patriarchy.Framed and annotated by an introduction that places Sharmila's work in the intellectual and historical contexts that shaped it, the volume also features short prefatory notes by her colleagues on the various themes taken up for discussion. Addressing, as it does, the researcher, the activist and the teacher, the book is indispensable for students and researchers of women's studies, feminism, gender studies, Dalit studies, minority studies, Sociology, as well as studies in language and rhetoric.

Eating together unites people and has a significant impact on their physical, social, and emotional development. This book looks at practices and traditions of sharing food prevalent among major religious communities in India, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity, and Islam.Food insecurity is one of the major problems every country in the world is facing today because of increasing population, climate change, agrarian distress, wars and conflicts, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Including case studies from across India, this book examines the necessity and effectiveness of food-sharing practices in temples, mosques, and gurudwaras, among others. Emphasising the importance of these practices for the social and physical well-being of the most vulnerable sections of society, it showcases how traditional religious practices of food sharing have contributed to tackling hunger, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The volume also offers long-term solutions to address underlying issues which cause hunger and food insecurity.One of the first to study food sharing and alms-giving practices in India, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of sociology, anthropology, food studies, religion, security studies, political economy, public policy, and South Asian history and culture.

The book explores the stakes for the social sciences around four central problems: the challenges of context; modes of intervention; involvement; and the ethical dilemmas for the scholar in a democratic space. The first, challenges of the context, examines the variety of situations confronted by scholars since the beginning of the 20th century. These include their interventions in key judicial affairs, the impact of technological developments like the introduction of big data, or even the positionality of the scholar. Second, the book investigates the modalities according to which social scientists may intervene in the civic space: in particular as specialists, as experts, or in the media. A third problem brings together some cases illustrative of researchers'involvement in critical issues, such as food policies, major social reforms, or gender-related questions. Finally, the book concludes with a reflection on the modes of exercising critique or dissent in democratic societies and on the ethical dimensions of involvement in the civic space.A searing examination of the role of social scientists, as they are called upon to address the multiple critical issues faced by contemporary societies, from pandemics to climatic change, sustainable development, migration, ethnicity, or the place of religion. This volume will be of great interest not just to scholars, students, and researchers of the social sciences but to the general reader as a concerned citizen.

This book examines how the progress of digital technology is transforming the world of work, skill demand, labour market institutions, and regulations in countries like India. It studies the challenges, opportunities, and current and future contributions of digital technologies. The volume poses salient questions regarding the ICT sector, I4.0 technologies, the gig economy, remote work, and the regulatory environment, and interrogates the policy and regulatory measures needed to promote more inclusive and decent work in the future.Part of the Towards Sustainable Futures series, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of economics, sustainable development, sociology of work, labour economics, Indian economy, public policy, and human resource management. It will also be extremely useful to policymakers, government organisations, civil society organisations, and those in the corporate sector.

This book explores the discourse on urban and regional inequality within the framework of neoliberalism. It analyzes the widespread application of neoliberal policies in Asian city regions and identifies their influence on rising inequality. The book captures inequality through spatial and non-spatial policy narratives with empirical evidence from India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The book uses analytics, narratives and simulation to unfold the opportunities and threats to urban regions that bear the impacts of globalization and neoliberal policies.Lucid and topical, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of urban economics, urban and regional planning, urban studies, urban sociology, political economy, public policy, governance, development studies and Asian economy.

This book examines the discourses on ageing and ageism in Indian culture, politics, art and society. It explores its representations and the anxieties, fears and vulnerabilities associated with ageing.The volume looks at ageing within the contexts of the larger discourses of gender, sexuality, nation, health and the performance and politics of ageing. The chapters grapple with diverse issues around ageing and elder care in contemporary India, shifts in socio-economic conditions and the breakdown of the heteropatriarchal family. The book includes personal accounts and narratives that detail the daily experiences of ageing and living with disease, anxiety, loneliness and loss for both elders and their friends and families. The book also explores the models of alternative networks of kinship and care that queer elders in India create in India as well as examining narratives—in society, art, sports and popular culture that both critique and challenge stereotypical ideas about the desires, aspirations, and mental and physical capabilities of elders.Topical and comprehensive, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of gerontology, literature, cultural studies, popular culture, sociology, social psychology, queer studies, gender studies, social anthropology, and South Asian studies.

This book analyzes contemporary critiques of political economy and highlights the challenges to rethinking contemporary discourses and practices. It carries out a multipronged critical and transformative dialogue involving political economy, moral economy, moral sociology, moral anthropology, and spiritual ecology. The authors discuss diverse themes such as the relationship between consciousness and society, the dialogue between Karl Marx and Carl Gustav Jung, a critical sociology of morality and property relations, moral and political economy of the Indigenous peoples and a critique of modern civilization, economic evaluation, as well as alternative traditions of thinking in Marx, Thoreau, Gandhi, J.C. Kumarappa, Rammanohar Lohia, B.R. Ambedkar and Jayaprakash Narain. A unique transdisciplinary text, the book brings together authors and approaches from both the Global North and South. It will be indispensable to students, research scholars and teachers of humanities and social sciences in such fields as economics, sociology, philosophy, cultural studies and development studies.