Author: Manoranjan Mohanty
Editor(s): Manoranjan Mohanty
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 439
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761996443
Description
Contemporary India's political landscape is characterized by a great deal of social upheaval. This is the result of growing democratic consciousness which is increasingly conflicting with the forces of domination, authoritarianism and hegemony.
Against this backdrop, this volume, which is the fifth in the series entitled Readings in Indian Government and Politics, provides an understanding of these forces in both historical and analytical terms. In particular, the seminal essays gathered here explore the specificities of the crucial social categories of class, caste and gender, while simultaneously drawing attention to the arenas in which they intersect.
The contributors treat the centrality of power as the organizing theme. They then discuss ideas, institutions and practices as arenas of contestation both in themselves and in relation to one another. Hence, they study the state, social processes and political movements in relation to the struggles for transformation being waged by women, disadvantaged castes and oppressed classes.
The contributors also analyze basic conceptual issues and place them in the context of social ferment and recent political developments. They take care to provide as comprehensive a framework as possible. Accordingly, they tackle both rural and urban power structures, dominant and oppressed social forces, and institutional and cultural processes, and provide both macro and micro perspectives.
This volume brings together the writings of some of the most distinguished and influential scholars who have contributed significantly to the social and political discourse on contemporary India. The many unique insights that they provide make this book of considerable interest to those in the fields of politics, sociology, economics, social movements and women's studies. It will also serve as essential reading for both undergraduate an postgraduate students of political science.
Contents
List of Tables and Figures
Preface by the Series Editors
Preface
Introduction: Dimensions of Power and Social Transformation
PART I: CLASS STRUCTURE AND THE STATE
Caste and Agrarian Class: A View from Bihar
The Political Economy of the Economic Reform Strategy: The Role of the Indian Capitalist Class
The Working Class Movement in India: Trade Unions and the State
PART II CASTE DOMINATION AND POLITICAL POWER
Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development
Caste in Modern India
Caste in Indian Politics
Reservations Policy Revisited
Caste or Class or Caste-Class: A Study in Dalitbahujan Consciousness and Struggles in Andhra Pradesh in 1980s
The Language of Dalitbahujan Political discourse
PART III: GENDER INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Conceptualizing Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India: Gender, Caste, Class and State
An Overview of the Status of Women in India
Women and People's Movement: A Space within the Struggle
Gender Inequality and Women's Agency
Conclusion: Social Movements in a Creative society
Appendix
Select Readings
About the Editor and Contributors
Index