This book is about various perspectives which help us to understand the Indian society, that has passed through a long evolutionary process beginning from monarchy to feudalism, colonialism and democracy. Officially, it is now a plural, democratic, technological, industrial and capitalistic society. Indian sociological thinkers, such as D.D. Kosambi, Romila Thapar, Radhakamal Mukerjee, G.S. Ghurye, Irawati Karve, M.N. Srinivas, S.C. Dube, D.P. Mukerji, A.R. Desai, Ramkrishna Mukherjee, André Beteille, D.N. Dhanagare, Yogendra Singh, N.K. Bose, Surajit Sinha, B.R. Ambedkar and Ranajit Guha have been included in this book. A few western sociologists, including Louis Dumont, McKim Marriot and David Hardiman, who have done research in India and also developed their own perspectives on Indian society, are discussed in it. In a nutshell, the main perspectives that this book discuss are historical, indological, structural-functional, dialectical-historical, cultural, civilizational and subaltern. This edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to include a new chapter on D.N. Dhanagare in the section on ‘Marxist Perspective’ and two new chapters ‘Globalization: Indian Perspective’ and ‘Privatization of Education: Challenges Ahead’ in the section on ‘Contemporary Discourses’. The book will continue to interest students, teachers and researchers alike.

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