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M.N. Srinivas: Indian Sociologist, Leadership, Scholarly Legacy

December 11, 2023 1351 0

Sociological Icon: M.N. Srinivas and His Intellectual Legacy:

M.N. Srinivas, a distinguished sociologist of the post-independence era, garnered his academic grounding with doctoral degrees from Bombay University and Oxford. 

His intellectual evolution was significantly influenced during his tenure at Oxford, immersed in the thriving realm of British social anthropology.

Legacy of M.N. Srinivas: Shaping Indian Sociology through Scholarly Pursuits and Institutional Leadership

  • Academic Emergence: M.N. Srinivas’ Impact on Global Sociology through Coorgs’ Religion and Society Study: His doctoral dissertation, “Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India,” placed Srinivas on the global academic map, showcasing an adept application of the structural-functional perspective prevalent in British social anthropology.
  • Architect of Sociological Excellence: M.N. Srinivas’ Leadership legacy in Indian Academia: His academic journey saw him founding the sociology department at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, before moving to Delhi to establish another thriving center for sociology at the Delhi School of Economics.
  • M.N. Srinivas: Impactful Scholar of Indian Society: Despite institutional responsibilities consuming much of his time, Srinivas’ scholarly endeavours delved into themes like caste dynamics, modernization, social change, and village society, significantly impacting Indian sociology.

Legacy of M.N. Srinivas:

Understanding Indian Village Dynamics: M.N. Srinivas and his Sociological Insights 

  • M.N. Srinivas and his Chronicles of Fieldwork: A life-long interest in Indian village society steered Srinivas towards extensive fieldwork, most notably in a village near Mysore, enriching his firsthand understanding of village dynamics.
  • Village Dynamics: Collaborative Studies in 1950s and 1960s India: His collaborative efforts alongside scholars like S.C. Dube and D.N. Majumdar during the 1950s and 1960s propelled village studies to the forefront of Indian sociology.
  • Srinivas’s Village Studies and Academic Discourse: Through his extensive writings, Srinivas explored both ethnographic and conceptual dimensions of village society, engaging in a rigorous academic debate regarding the village as a pertinent unit of social analysis.
  • Srinivas’ Paradigm Shift in Sociological Perspective: Contrary to Louis Dumont’s emphasis on overarching social institutions like caste, Srinivas posited the village as a significant social entity.
    • Challenging the Idea of Unchanging Villages, Srinivas showed that villages aren’t isolated ‘little republics’ but instead change over time, connecting with each other in terms of socio-economics and politics at a larger regional level.”

Sociology’s Modern shift: M.N. Srinivas’ impact on rural dynamics in India

  • Ethnographic Insights and Social Transformations: Village studies, as propelled by Srinivas, showcased the merits of ethnographic research, providing nuanced insights into the social transformations unfolding in rural India during a pivotal phase of national development.
  • Sociology’s Evolution: Bridging rural-urban dynamics in Independent India: This focus repositioned sociology from merely studying ‘primitive’ societies to a discipline intricately engaged with the modernising milieu.
    • This offers urban Indians and policymakers a window into the socio-cultural dynamics of rural India, thus enriching the broader understanding and relevance of sociology in a newly independent and evolving nation.

Conclusion

  • The inception of sociology, rooted in Western revolutionary epochs, found a nuanced expression in the Indian socio-cultural milieu. 
  • The seminal Western theorists like Marx, Durkheim, and Weber laid the groundwork, which was navigated and built upon by Indian sociologists like G.S. Ghurye, D.P. Mukerji, A.R. Desai, and M.N. Srinivas. 
  • These Indian scholars, while delving into indigenous social structures, also engaged in a dialogue with modern sociological thought, thereby enriching the global sociological narrative. 
  • This exploration underscores sociology’s essence as a dynamic discipline continually enriched by cross-cultural interactions and contextual adaptations, echoing the complex and ever-evolving nature of human societies.

Glossary

  • Serfs: They were a class of people who were forced to work on a landowner’s land and could not leave without permission. Serfs were a common practice during the medieval period in Europe when feudalism was practiced.
  • Diffusionism: It is an anthropological theory that cultural change occurs when societies borrow cultural traits from one another.
  • Orientalist: It is someone who studies the language, culture, history, or customs of countries in eastern Asia.
  • Alienation: A process in capitalist society by which human beings are separated and distanced from (or made strangers to) nature, other human beings, their work and its product, and their own nature or self.
  • Enlightenment: A period in 18th century Europe when philosophers rejected the supremacy of religious doctrines, established reason as the means to truth, and the human being as the sole bearer of reason.
  • Mode of Production: It is a system of material production which persists over a long period of time. Each mode of production is distinguished by its means of production (eg: technology and forms of production organisation) and the relations of production (eg: slavery, serfdom, wage labour).
  • Office: In the context of bureaucracy a public post or position of impersonal and formal authority with specified powers and responsibilities; the office has a separate existence independent of the person appointed to it. (This is different from another meaning of the same word which refers to an actual bureaucratic institution or to its physical location: e.g. post office, panchayat office, Prime Minister’s office, my mother’s or father’s office, etc.)
  • Endogamy: A social institution that defines the boundary of a social or kin group within which marriage relations are permissible; marriage outside these defined groups are prohibited. The most common example is caste endogamy, where marriage may only take place with a member of the same caste.
  • Exogamy: A social institution that defines the boundary of a social or kin group with which or within which marriage relations are prohibited; marriages must be contracted outside these prohibited groups. Common examples include prohibition of marriage with blood relatives (sapind exogamy), members of the same lineage (sagotra exogamy), or residents of the same village or region (village/region exogamy).
  • Laissez-faire: A French phrase (literally ‘let be’ or ‘leave alone’) that stands for a political and economic doctrine that advocates minimum state intervention in the economy and economic relations; usually associated with belief in the regulative powers and efficiency of the free market.

 

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 Final Result – CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION, 2023.   Udaan-Prelims Wallah ( Static ) booklets 2024 released both in english and hindi : Download from Here!     Download UPSC Mains 2023 Question Papers PDF  Free Initiative links -1) Download Prahaar 3.0 for Mains Current Affairs PDF both in English and Hindi 2) Daily Main Answer Writing  , 3) Daily Current Affairs , Editorial Analysis and quiz ,  4) PDF Downloads  UPSC Prelims 2023 Trend Analysis cut-off and answer key

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 Final Result – CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION, 2023.   Udaan-Prelims Wallah ( Static ) booklets 2024 released both in english and hindi : Download from Here!     Download UPSC Mains 2023 Question Papers PDF  Free Initiative links -1) Download Prahaar 3.0 for Mains Current Affairs PDF both in English and Hindi 2) Daily Main Answer Writing  , 3) Daily Current Affairs , Editorial Analysis and quiz ,  4) PDF Downloads  UPSC Prelims 2023 Trend Analysis cut-off and answer key

Quick Revise Now !
AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD SOON
UDAAN PRELIMS WALLAH
Comprehensive coverage with a concise format
Integration of PYQ within the booklet
Designed as per recent trends of Prelims questions
हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध
Quick Revise Now !
UDAAN PRELIMS WALLAH
Comprehensive coverage with a concise format
Integration of PYQ within the booklet
Designed as per recent trends of Prelims questions
हिंदी में भी उपलब्ध

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