Author: T K Oommen
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 264
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761998284
Description
Among the issues being extensively debated throughout the world today are the relevance of the nation-state, the role of civil society in good governance, and the relationship between social movements and social policy. Professor Oommen analyses these issues and simultaneously contests several of the prevailing conceptualisations, both Indian and Western, while invoking South Asian/Indian empirical reality to interrogate, modify and reformulate western theory.
Following an over-arching Introduction, the three interrelated themes are discussed in separate sections, each containing four chapters. The three sections examine contentious notions of nation and nationality in twentieth-century South Asia; the relationship between civil society, state and market; and, social movements and their relationship with social policy.
REVIEWS
Professor Oommen has shown a great concern for pluralism, the disadvantaged and democracy, His book is a significant contribution to the growing literature on civil society and social movements which no student of social and political reality can afford to ignore.
-The Pioneer
The author presents a comparative analysis of social movements with special reference to France, India and Poland and in the process, recognises the new wave of social movements in the form of student, women and anti-nuclear movements transcending its traditional class-based articulations alone, Students of sociology and researchers will find that the book offers trademark intellectual and theoretical rigour with a rich haul of references and an exhaustive bibliography generally associated with Oommen’s writings.
-The Tribune
The book is an important contribution to the literature on ethnicity, identity and accommodation, It has specific relevance in formulating public policy which aims at social inclusion and political accommodation in democracies. It will prove to be worthy for libraries, social scientists and researchers, people involved in policymaking and students of society and polity in India.
-Indian Journal of Federal Studies
Contents
Introduction: The Themes
I NATION, RELIGION AND LANGUAGE: Conceptualising Nation and Nationality in South Asia
New Nationalisms and Collective Rights: The Case of South Asia
Religious Nationalism and Democratic Polity in India: An Untenable Linkage
Language and Nation: For a Cultural Renewal of India
II CIVIL SOCIETY, STATE AND GOVERNANCE: State, Civil Society and Market in India: Gradual Autonomisation
Civil Society: Religion, Caste and Language in India
Civil Society and Good Governance in India: Pre-Requisites and Goals
Civil Society and the Deprived: The Relevance of Perspective from Below
III MOVEMENTS, POLICIES AND MODERNITIES: Movements and Policies: A Misplaced Polarity in Social Research
Social Movements in the Three Worlds: A Comparative Perspective
Social Movements in the Third World: Some Specificities
Multiple Modernities and the Rise of New Social Movements: The Case of India
REFERENCES
INDEX