Indian Society: Structure & Processes

Unit I — Understanding Indian Society

1. Basic Concepts to Understand Indian Society · Great Tradition and Little Tradition · Universalization and Parochialisation · Sacred Complex · Nature-Man-Spirit Complex · Sanskritization · Westernization · Dominant Caste · Tribe-Caste Continuum · Pseudo-Tribalism

Unit 2 — Cultural Evolution of Indian Society

Hindu Philosophy, The Purusartha (Dharma, Artha,Kamaand Moksha) · The Ashrama Dharma, Importance of Ashrama system, Varna Dharma & its importance, Salient features of Indian Society & Culture, The Philosophical Literature of the Hindus, Emergence of the Traditional Pattern of Social Stratification, The Samskaras · Jainism Central Doctrine, Growth and Development, Religious Practices · Buddhism Central Doctrine, Buddhist Social Order, Relationship between Buddhist Philosophy & Society of that Age, Growth, Development & Decline of Buddhism

Unit 3 — The Caste System and Structure

The Caste System and its Structure · Perspectives on Caste, Caste and Varna, Theories of Caste (Traditional, Brahmanical, Racial, Occupational, Ketkar’s, Hutton), Varana – Jati Theory · Characteristics of Caste, Merits and Demerits of Caste System, Causes for the changes in Caste System, Ideology of Purity and Impurity · Vedic Period, Brahmanical Period, Maurya Period, HarshVardhan Period, Rajput Period, Muslim Period, Pre- industrial British Period, Factors Moulding the Caste system, Pre independence Industrial Period, Urbanization, Post- independence Period · Caste Identity: Attributional & Interactional Approaches · Jajmani System, its Relations, functions, Roles & Change · Scheduled Caste as a Community—their Strength and the Background, Constitution and the Scheduled Castes, Social Mobility during Pre-Independence Period, Social Mobility during the British Rule, Scheduled Castes in Post-Independent India Unit Sanskritization, Factors and Changes, Dominant Caste VIII · Dr. Ambedkar Philosophy on: Dalit, Dalit Liberation, Religion, Caste, Untouchability, Identity, Emancipation of Untouchables

• Social Stratification — caste, class, sex and gender, race and ethnicity

Unit 4 — Tribal Life in India- 1

Who are the Tribals, Factors that constitute Tribal Identity, Crisis of Identity, Solution · Characteristics of Tribe, Tribal Zones (B.K. Roy Burman’s and Elwin’s classification), Tribal Pancha Sheela · Dormitories in Tribal Societies, Customary Laws and Legal Institutions · Religious Beliefs of Tribal Community in India

Unit 5 — Tribal Development in India - 2

Forest Policy and Tribal Rights (PESA ACT & Forest Right Act) · Tribal Problems, Land Alienation, Debt-Bondage, Education, Health, Displacement, Rehabilitation · Tribal Resistance, Protest and Ethno-political movements

Unit 6 — Understanding Gender

Contextualizing Sex and Gender · Theoretical Framework for thinking about Gender · What is Masculinity · Masculinity and the notion of Crisis in India · Relationship, Intimacies and Sexualities · Patterns of Gender related violence