Indian Village as a Unit of Study II Author(s): Satya Prakash Sharma Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 4, No.

34 (August 23, 1969), pp. 1381-1383, 13851387 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40739950 . Accessed: 17/03/2011 06:44
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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

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of and technicalpersons. Assam, total income, but about one-fifth work and do not feel it necessaryto scientific move to other States. Employment op- MP, Bihar, Orissa and Rajasthan hav technical persons were born in th>s for portunities scientific personsare, on low per capita income but they have zone. Its absorptionratio of technical scientific technical the otherhand,widelydispersed. Table attracted and persons persons is the highestcompared with 7 gives the percentages outflowand from other States. Besides, general mi- its population share. of of inflowof general as well as technical grantsmove mostlyto the neighbouring The Northzone consisting Madhya persons togetherwith other variables. States with the same or higher per Pradesh, Punjab, Jammuand Kashmir, Generalinter-State of movement peo- capita income.Distance is not a major Rajasthan and UP is the largest zone of to ple is more or less relatedto the index hindrance the movement scientific in respect of population(35 per cent) of per capita income: people have mig- and technical persons.They have moved and share of income(31 per cent), but persons rated out fromthe States whereindice to the States where they have found only one in everyfivescientific in for of pTcapita incomeare below the all- opportunities betteremployment. was born and enumerated this zone. India average,with the only exception The South zone constituted by UP, the largest State in the country, of Gujarat where both per capita in- Andhra, Madras, Mysore and Kerala having18 per cent of the total popula37 come and outflow generalpeople are has the highestpercentage, per cent, tion had only 11 per cent of technical of 35 persons born and its absorptioncapahigher. People from this State have of technicalpersonnel(enumeration of city was even lower. migratedin large numbersto nearby per cent) although only one-fourth In spite of West Bengal's advanced Maharashtrawhich has comparatively the total population resides in this is higherper capita income. States which zone (Table 8). This difference found position, the East zone as a whole for generalpeo- in all the SouthernStates, except which also comprises have a net attraction Assam, Bihar and is ple of other States have per capita Andhra. Kerala's contribution the Orissa lags behind the other zones. incomeabove all-Indiaaverage,withthe highest both in the zone and in the One-fourth of the total population of sharing one-fifth income resides in exception of two States, viz, MP and entire countryafter Delhi. The West zone comprising Maha- this zone but only about one-sixthof Mysore. Low per capita income is not, how- rashtraand Gujarat has 14 per cent of the total technical persons were born ever, the only factor in movementof total population,and 16 per cent of and enumeratedhere.

Indian Village as a Unit of Study II

Satya Prakash Sharma
to Recent debate betweenLouis Dumont and David Pocock (the editors of Contributions Indian and V of ConSociology) on the one hand, and F G Bailey, on the other,whichappeared in Nos I, ///, theoreticaland methodologicalquestions some interesting tributions Indian Sociology,has brought to forth with the study of Indian society. The main questions arising out of this debate are: (i) whether dealing i( or not a village in India has a sociological reality*', can such a village be satisfactorily comprehended (ii) to and (Hi) can understanding one such villagecontribute understandand conceivedas a whole in itself, of ing of the universeof Indian civilisation? have also been discussed in "Closed SysThere also arise some related issues (which incidentally tems and Open Minds: The Limits of Naivety in Social Anthropology")primarilymethodologicalin naand ture. These issues involve questions such as, how much knowledgeof the old Sanskriticliterature and Pocock call it "Indology") is needed by an anthropologist Indian civilisation the traditional (Dumont to studyan Indian village; can one studya village without any such knowledge, or must he possess all this knowledgeto be able to comprehendvillage society?It is obvious thattheselatterquestionsare closely threequestions. relatedto the former [The firstpart of this article appeared last week.] Ill region, we can comprehend it by HOW then are we to proceed in means of a single systemof relationand regard it as a single strucan studying Indian village? It has long ships is that the traditionalan- ture. This single structure an absbeen realised of kinds of actipri- tract all the different approach of studying thropological set of values mitive,isolatedtribalsocietiesmay not vities. A single coherent be applied to the studyof a peasant covers all the relevantfields of actiAll activities- ritual, political, village. As Gluckman and Eggan vity. have the same boundary have pointed out, ". . . kinship (1965:xviii) in the kinds of societies traditionally since, in a sense, they are one speciacan use a single studiedby social anthropologists, poli- lised activity. We and and social conceptualframework make a syntical, economic, religious chronieand structural study. are oftennot differentiatsystems ... But it is by no means the same piced." When we are dealingwith a tribal
ture when we come to deal with relawhichpass between one multitionships caste village and another. To quote Bailey (1962:259): if we consider the different "... formsof activity, ties whichlink the Bisipara economicallywith the outside world, do not coincide with ritual or political ties passing outside the village in the same neat way that theydo for a tribalvillage.For each activity a partially different universeof people is involved. The are not multiple but relationships there specialised and single-interest; is a low degree of summation of 1381

August23, 1969 roles. Finallywe cannotfitany single structureover this largerfield and pretend that it has an explanatory value." The more the villagersare involved with the world outside,the less comand therefore less satisthe prehensive will become a structural factory explanation,in termsof coherenceand equilibrium,of village life. Indian village societyis not a static, 'closed', and changeless society; it is a dynamicsoWe the ciety. may not comprehend comin plex natureof relationships the vilmodel. lage within a single structural We need a new approach which embodies a distinct body of techniquesand concepts. Any anthropologist, who studiesa village in India, findsthat it is a part of a much wider societyand culture,and that the whole has influenced the part, and vice versa. The even when most of them are villagers, illiterate, participatein the literary tradition of the larger society. As Srinivas (1957:v) has pointed out: has "... the field-anthropologist foundthatin studying microcosm the he is also studyingthe macrocosm and that some knowledge the latof ter is essential in order to understand the former. That his work sheds new lighton the macrocosmis not only a valuable by-product his of research,but it also opens up new avenues for social anthropology itself." New Avenues What are these new avenues? How do we conceptualisethe situation in contextof an Indian village? We have shown so far that a village has a "sociological reality",that it is and it is not an isolable unit for study dependingupon the problem one is exthat a village is a part of the ploring, and thatthe largersocietyand culture, whole has influenced part, and vice the verm. Then how do we go about in the village and how can its studying the study help us in understanding largersocietyand culture? Steward and Manners (1953:123), faced with the problemof characterisPuerto Rico, report ing contemporary that they find the traditionalholistic approach to communitystudy inadequate. Steward (1951) presentsan approach to sort out the observations into "levels of socio-culturalintegration". This approach is applied to the Puerto Rico situationby Steward and Mannersand they study the effects of "factors which have originatedoutside, the way of life yet stronglyaffected within each community whichhave and 1382

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY difhelped to create the socio-cultural ferencesfound withinand among the communities" (1953:124). But the Indian situation presentsdifficulty in where the three general distinguishing categories of "levels" begin and end and in dividing socially and culturally, off the "horizontal segments" within the culture. Hanssen (1953) presentsanotherway in which a collection of "activity fields"linkingparts of town and vileach lage society(the fieldsoverlapping otherin varied ways) may be mapped out. Hanssen's technique of mapping and might probablydepictthe structure some of the systematic aspects of the position of an Indian village in relation to the outside world, but the results of the mapping would be very complex and would involve immense problemsof interpretation.Moreover the delineationof activityfields is a techniqueratherthan a conceptionof the whole. Buildingon the conceptof the folkurban continuum,Betty Starr (1954) presentsanother approach in which a peasant village is viewed as a step in a series of "levels of communalrelations" like those that intervene between little communities and great cities of Westerntype in modem Mexico. But the concept of levels of communalrelations does not fit into the Indian situation because it contrasts with much that is most characteristic a of peasant village in India. A series of inclosing, nucleated greater communities is not evidentin India. Here social relationsof each different kind spread out in widely different patterns. Primary Civilisational Type and Process Marriott(1955), in his study of the village of Kishan Garhi in Uttar Pradesh, wherehe discussesthis veryproblem, findsthe concept of a primary civilisationaltype and process (concept of Redfieldand Singer 1954, based on Indie urban materials)as the most useful model for conceptualising the relations of Kishan Garhi with its universe. A primary or "indigenous" civilisation defined Marriott is (ibid: by 181) as "one which grows out of its own folk culture by an orthogenetic line of indiprocess - by a straight genous development".The "great tradition" which is characteristically devecivilisationis loped by such a primary a carrying-forward cultural mateof rials, norms,and values that were alreadycontainedin local littletraditions. Aj indigenousgreat traditionremains in constant communicationwith its own little traditionsthrougha sacred a literature, class of literati,a sacred and the rites and ceremogeography, nies associatedwith each of these. One effect the development an indiof of genous great traditionis to universalise the cultural consciousness of personswithinit as theybecomeaware of a greater sphereof commonculture. Interaction Marriott tells us that in dealing withIndia we are on the middleground and cannot understand total culture the without the knowledge of the local communitiesany more than we can comprehend the local communities withoutreference the largercultural to outline. According to him, the two questions - whethera small commuas nity can be comprehended a whole in itselfand whether studycan conits tributeto the understanding of the largercultureof which it is a part are inverselyrelated, and he claims that if the answerto one is "Yes" the answer to the other must logically be "No". One might argue that this is hardlythe case if villages can be consideredsegmentary1 unitsof the culture and if comparativestudies are undertaken. Marriott examines the religiouslife of Kishan Garhi in historical depth. He offers data to show that the larger have society and the small community been interacting for a long time and that each has influenced the other.To little and great community correspond little and great tradition. Marriott asks: "What elementsof ritual and belief represent contributions fromvillage life upward to the formationof India's great Sanskritic tradition? What elementsare local modifications of that great traditioncommunicated downwardto it?" To thetwoaspects of the double process of this interaction between little and great traditions Marriott gives names: "universalisation" and "parochialisation". Marriott's but one analysis is very illuminating may argue that there is something moreto be considered studying in modern India than the great or old tradition and the small or local tradition; there is also the "new tradition". As Opler (1955:153) has argued: "Marriott's conceptualisationleave no room . . . for elements that are not aboriginal or local on the one hand or classical Indian on the other,

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

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-defined 15). For Dumont and Pocock "the first and on self but which come from without 01 culturalsimilarities ol which are invented by carriers of identity, were based on conditionfor a sound development which in turn the culture. The mannerin whichthe communication those who com- Sociology of India is found in the esamong village will absorb and respond to of tablishment the proper relationbsthesenew ideas whichsweep in from prise the entities. tween it and classical Indology' the West and the East or which are Second Approach being generatedin India today is (1957:7). They tell us that "by putting perhaps even more importantthan we In the second approach, the outside ourselvesin the school of Indology, the manner in which it copes with learn in the first place never to forget influences should be discussedas parts Sanskritic rites." ratherthan as ex- that India is one" and that "the very Oplei s criticism is valid, but of a wider system, of and the influence, the traon Marriott's has study,nevertheless, great ternalfactorsimpinging the village. existence, In such studiesthe outside eventscan- ditional higher,Sanskritic,civilisation merit. Throughhim we are being helped to a viewpoint, set of concepts, not be treated simply as intrusions. demonstrates without question the a and a way of workingthat will allow These outside events may themselves unityof India" [ibid: 9). Dumontand "a Sociology of to anthropologists studya village in its have some sociological implications; Pocock believe that of outside India lies at the point of confluence generichistoricprocessesof interaction theymay be a part of systems the village and one has to take ac- Sociologyand Indology*{bid: 7). Redwith the civilisationof which it is a count of these externalsystems. The field (1956) has argued that "the little part. But the study of the interplayof village,however,may remain the best tradition"of village culture and "the culture or great and little traditions, thai of vantage point from which to survey great tradition"of the wider of and fromwhich to ana- are mutualdeterminants one another. the adventof the "new tradition" with- these systems, in a village does not help much in lyse the way in which the change is SimilarlyMarriott(1955) teils us that our understandingof the greater takingplace. The best examples of this a village in India cannot be "satisfacand conceived as Indian culture. may be truethat "To type of studies come from Bailey torilycomprehended It and in Orissa and Epstein a whole in itself**, that the village study Joncsvilleis to study America'*, (I960; 1963) but it is not true that "To study (1962) in Mysore State. Such studies on the one hand, and the greaterculKishan Garhi, or Bisipara, is to study frequently require an anthropologist ture and greatersociety on the other, of India." To do this we may not limit to studyphenomenawhich traditionally are mutual determinants one anThus in his other. ourselves to the village as an isolate. belongto otherdisciplines. We may, however,do it to som.; ex- studyof politics and social change in Bailey disagrees with all these tent in two different ways which w Orissa, Bailey appears not only as a authors.He poses not the generalprobut also as a blem, but the specificquestion: social anthropologist, shall discuss now. First, we may do it by taking a historian and as a political scientist. ". . . no one would denythat thereis wider unit for study.Such studies are Similarly Epstein, in her studyof ecosome connection between, for inand social change what Bailey (1962:262) calls "regional nomic development stance,the Siva who appears in sacred texts and the Siva who is worstudies"or what have been called 'vil- in Mysore, where she discusses (he shipped in Bisipara. Does it then lage-outward" type of studies by impact of irrigationon the economic follow that I must know what this of Mayer (1962:267). Studies of this type and social organisation two villages connection is, and trace its every include,among others,those of Gough (only one of these receiving irrigalink, beforeI can appreciatethe significanceof the Bisipara temple in (1952b), Miller (1952; 1954), Mayer tion) within a regional economy,has the dispute betweenthe clean castes Gould (I960; 1961), Cohn and had to collect a great deal of dita (I960), and the Bisipara Pans? Must I know Marriott (1958), and Rowe (1960). The which would normallybe done by an what is written the Sanskritic in texts about untouchabilitybefore I can "village-outward** of studyconsists economist rather than an anthropolotype understand of studying populationof a single gist (she is both). This is the direction the why the clean castes of and inter- in which Indian social anthropology the two villages took such a serious village in its intra-villagc view of the assults? (1964: 60-61)" and in thentrying to is gradually moving today. village activities, If one sees this question in relationto abstractthe structure those activiof a specific IV problem,and not in termsof ties reachingoutside the village. This the generalquest for scholarship (study How much knowledge of the old typeof studytriesto maintainthe holof Indology),Bailey's answer is justiand the traditional literature istic and microcosmicapproach; but Sanskritic fied. He says that detailed acquainit is the centralproblem,not the vil- Indian civilisationis needed by an antance with,and scholarship Sanskrit in, lage, to which the materialis related. thropologistto study an Indian vil- and the sacred texts and literature, may one studya village without Such studies,although they do take lage? Can not be relevantto a specificsocial-anor accountof the complexsocietyoutside, any such knowledge, must he postreat the outside elementsas accidents sess all this knowledgeto be able to thropologicalanalysis. Bailey agrees that it is most helpfulto know the or intrusions, and do not fittheminto comprehendthe village society? in background Hindu cultureof thepoltheir structural Evans-Pritchard (1951) tells us that explanations.Berreman to luting effects of untouchables, the has pointed out the the anthropologist India ought in (1960; 1963:295ff) of the relevanceof a hierarchy areally de- have a knowledge of Sanskrit litera- situationof Brahmins, sinfulness of handling dead cattle and hides, the finedregionalgroups or identifications ture. "If one has any regardfor schoto the Himalayan villagershe studied, larship one cannot be a student. . . avoidance of alcohol, the merit of with the village,a clusterof of Indian peasant communities without vegetarianfood. He is also willingto beginning and extendingto the central having some knowledgeboth of the accept that "the nuances of social revillages Himalayan region,the entire Himala- literature of their language and oi lationships only become apparent to the yan region, north India, and finally Sanskrit, classical language of theit one familiarwith the culturein which India. These entities were Based on ritual and religious tradition" (1951: those relationships are expressed", 1383

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1960 "Tribe, Caste and Nation: A (ibid: 61) and that "the betterone is his discussion of the two disputes in conStudy of Political Activityand able to absorb Hindu values and Bisipara and Baderi, Bailey is not Political Change in Highland Hindu culture, the more penetrating cerned with the problem of exOrissa", Manchester University is likely to be one's insightinto so ploring culture traits in a village by Press. cial relationships" relating them, either genetically or {ibid). 1962 "The Scope of Social AnthroSo far we fully agree with Bailey. through morphological similarity,to pology in the Study of Indian But we do not completely agree with traits described in the sacred literaSociety**,in T N Madan and ture or found in the great religious him when he suggeststhat the Hindu "Indian Gopala Sarana (eds): and Hindu centres. For him this is a cultural concepts of untouchability Anthropology",pp 245-65, Asia values about the cow and about vege- problem which does not need to be PublishingHouse. London. tarianism are pieces of knowledge answeredin the process of abstracting 1963 "Politics and Social Change: whichcould be learntby the anthropo- a systemof social behaviour and exOrissa in 1959",University Caliof logist in the village itself.We also do plaining the disputes. He can atTord fornia Press, Berkeley and Los to be naive about this problem and not quite agree with Devons and Angeles. Gluckman when they contend that therefore he does not need much 1964 Two Villages in Orissa of Sanskrit literature or of "knowledge South Americanand Eu- knowledge (India)', in Max Gluckman (ed): be more useful sacred texts. But Marriott(1955), in ropean villages might "Closed Systemsand Open Minds: for the analysisof Indian villages,than his discussion of festivalsand deities The Limits of Naivety in Social in Kishan Garhi cannot affordto be is knowledgeof Sanskrit"(1964: 195) Anthropology*', pp 52-82. The and that "if an anthropologistwere naive about this problem; for him Aldine Publishing Company, this is the central problem,and theresuddenlylanded in an Indian village Chicago. needs a good deal of (as Evans-Pritchardwas among the fore he certainly Nuer of the Sudan in 1932), and he the knowledgeof sacred textswhereby Beals, Alan R 1954 "Culture Change and Social the essence of the had no previousknowledgeof Hindu- he may understand in Conflict a South Indian Village*', he could learn as much of the great tradition. ism, Ph unpublished D Thesis,Universit> RecentlyDube (1961: 122) has sug cultural tradition as would be reof California,Berkeley. gestedthat "in our studyof Indian villevant for his analysis of the village 1955 'Interplay among Factors of ... it may be usesocial system (ibid: 194). To study lage communities Change in a Mysore Village', in ful to consider the contextualclassiNuer society and to study an Indian McKim Marriott (ed): "Village cal and local traditions,as well as village are not quite the same thing. India: Studies in the Little Comthe regional (culture rea), Western -a That thereis a connectionbetweenthe of munity",pp 78-101, University Siva who appears in sacred texts and (ideological-technological),and emPress. the Siva who is worshippedin Bisi- ergent national (nativistic-reinterpreta- Chicago Gerald D para, that the villagersall over India tional adaptive) traditions". His sug- Berreman, 1960 "Cultural Variability if and Drift seek the firstpossible opportunity to gestion is valid, particularly one is in the HimalayanHills", American visit the traditional sacred shrinesand making a "village-outward"type or 62: 774-794. Anthropologist great religious centres,and that there regionalstudy. Startingfroma singb l%3 "Hindus of the Himalayas*. village as a unit of study,and by takare strikingsimilarities between the one University of California Press. religious values and norms of the ing account of all these traditions, would be in a betterposition to unBerkeley. peoples in the villagesand of those in 1965 "Identity, Interaction and the cities- are the facts whichtell us derstandthe larger Tndian societyand Social Change in India', (mimeo). that a village in India is very much culture. (Paper presented for Conference a part of the wider society and that Notes on "Approach to Interpersonal we cannot know all about the tradiin Relationships South and SouthI The term "segmentary"has been tional values of the villagers without East Asia'* at Timber Cove. April used here in its common layman knowing somethingabout the greater sense or meaning,and not in the 9-12. 1965). Hindu tradition. specialised sense in which it has Carstairs.G Morris been used by the Africanistato We are not arguingthat the Hindu 1952 "A Village in Rajasthan - A describe the segmentarysocieties culture as representedin the sacred and States. Study in Rapid Social Change*. texts and in Sanskritliteratureis the The Economic Weekly 4: 75-77, culture of the village; we are simply Bibliography Bombay. that there are significant suggesting Bailey, F G similaritiesbetweenthe two and that 1953 -'An Oriya Hill Village*, The Conn, BernardS 1955 4The Changing Status of a a knowledgeof the former would put Economic Wt'ekly 487-92. Bom 5: the anthropologist an advantageous Depressed Caste', in McKim in bay. Marriott (cd): "Village India: the latter. position in comprehending 1957 "Caste and the Economic Studies in the Little Community**, This does not mean that for studying Frontier: A Village in Highland pp 53-77, Universityof Chicago an Indian village an anthropologist Orissa'*, Manchester University Press. has to be an Indologist,nor that he Press. should possess all the knowledgeof Cohn, BernardS and McKim Marriott 1959 "For a Sociology of India? Sanskrit literatureand sacred texts; 1958 "Networksand Centresin the Contributions Indian Sociology. H> how much of this knowledgeis necesof Louis Dumontand D Pocock (eds). Integration Indian Civilisation", sary dependsonce again upon the proJournalof Social Research,Vol 1, No HI, pp 88-101, Mouton and blem one is seekingto investigate. In Co. Paris-Th Hague. No 1, pp 1-9, Ranchi,India. 1385

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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

Devons, Ely and Max Gluckman Marriagein a NorthIndian Area*, munity", American Journal <>t> 1964 'Conclusion: Modes and ConSouthwestern Jourtuil Anthropoof Sociology 55: 136-43. logy 16:476-491. sequences of Limitinga Field of Newell, William H 1961 "A Further Note on Village 1952 "A Himalayan Village', The Study', in Max Gluckman (ed): "Closed Systemsand Open Minds: Economic Weekly 5: 208-10. Exogamy in North India'*,SouthwesternJmtrnalof Anthropology The Limits of Naivety in Social Opler, MorrisT 17:297-300. Anthropology*', 158-261,Aldine pp 1955 "Review* of "Village Inda: Gluckman,Max and Fred Eggan PublishingCompany. Chicago. Studies in the Little Community* , 1965 "Introduction** "The Releto Dube, S C McKim Marriott (ed), Univer1955 "Indian Village*, Routlcdg vance of Models for Soc'al sity of Chicago Press, in Far and Kegan Paul, London. Anthropology", Michael Banton Eastern Quarterly26: 146-153. 1961 'The Study of Indian Village (d), ASA Monograph I, pp ix-xl, 1956 "The Extensionsof an Indian FrederickA Praeeer. New York. Communities',in R N Saksena Village", The Journal (tf Asian (ed): "Sociology, Social Research Ha assen, Borje Studies 16:1-10. and Social Problems in India**. 1953 "Fields of Social Activityand Robert Redfeld, Their Dynamics", Transactionsof Bombay. 1941 "The Folk of Culture 99Louis and David Pocock the Westerntarck Dumont, Society, pp Yucatan", University of Chicago 1957 "For a Sociology of ndia**, 133, Copenhagen. Press. Contributions Indian Sociology. Lewis, Oscar ti> 1956 "Peasant Society and Culture**, Lou's Dumontand D Pocock (eds). 1954 "Group Dynam'cs in a Northof University Chicago Press. Indian Village: A Study in FacNo 1, pp 7-22, Mouton and Co, Roser, Colin Paris-The Hague. The Economic Weekly 6: tions**, 1955 "A 'Hermit* Village in Kulu*', Durkhcim, Emile 423-25, 445-51, 477-82, 501-6, in M N Srinivas (ed): 'India's of Labour in 1933 "The Division Bombay. Villages", pp 77-89, Asia Publish1955 'Peasant Culture in India and transby George Simpson. Society*, ing House, Bombay. The Macmillan Company, New Mexico: A ComparativeAnalysis*, York. in McKim Marriott(ed): "Village Rowe, William 1960 "The Network Marriag India: Studies in the Little ComEpstein,T Scarlett and Structural Change in a North of 1962 "Economic Development and munity*, 145-170,University pp Indian Community", Southwestern Social Change in South India". Chicago Press. Journalof Anthropology 16: 299Press. Manchester 1958 "Village Life in Northern University 311. E E India'*, University of Illinois Evans-Pritcbard, Smith, M G London. 1951 Social Anthropology, Press, Urbana. I960 Social and Cultural PluralM McKim Foster,George Marriott, ism', in "Social and Cultural 1953 "What is Folk Culture?**, 1955 'Little Communities in an Pluralism in the Caribbean", 55: 159AmericanAnthropologist IndigenousCivilisation',in McKim (Annals of the New York Academy 73. Marriott (ed): "Village India: of Sciences, Vol 83, Art 5), pp Studies in th-eLittle Community", Freed, StanleyA 763-785, published by th New of Chicago 1963 "Fictive Kinship in a North pp 171-222,University York Academy of Sciences, New Indian Village*. Ethnology 2:86Press. York. 103. Mayer,Adrian C 1965 "Th^ Plural Society in the Furnivall,J S 1960 "Caste and Kinship in Central British West Indies", University and Prac1948 "Colonial Policy India: A Village and Its Region", of California Press. Berkeley. tice", CambridgeUniversityPress, Routlcdge and Kegan Paul. Smith, Marian W London. London. 1953 "Social Structurein the PunGough, E Kathleen 1962 'Systemand Network: An Apjab", The Economic Weekly 1952a "The Social Structure of a proach to the Study of Political 5:1291-98. The Economic Tanjore Village**, Process in Dewas*, in T N Madan Srinivas,M N Weekly4: 531-36,Bombay. and Gopala Sarana (eds): Ind:an 1951 "The Social Structureof a in 1952b "Changing Kinship Usages Anthropology,pp 266-278, Asia Mysore Village", The Economic the Setting of Political and EcoPublishingHouse, London. Weekly 3: 1051-56. the Nayars nomic Change among Miller, Eric J of 1955a The Social System a Mysore of Malabar', Journalof the Royal 1952 "Village Structure in North Village', in McKim Marriott(ed): 82. Institute,Vol Anthropological Kerala", The Economic Weekly "Village India: Studies in the Pt I. 4:159-64. 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ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Starr,BettyW 1954 "Levels of Communal Relations", AmericanJournalof Sociology 60:125-35. Steward,JulianH 1951 "Levels of Socio-cultural Integration: An OperationalConcept", Southwestern Journalof Anthropology 7: 374-90. Steward, Julian H and Robert A Manners 1953 "The Cultural Study of ConSocieties: Puerto Rico", temporary American Journal of Sociology 54:123-30. Tonnies,Ferdinand 1940 "Fundamental Concepts of Sociology", (Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft) Translatedand supplemented by Charles P Loomis, New York. Warner,W L 1949 "Democracy in Jonesvilie", Harper, New York.

August23, 1969

the University Chicago), and David of G Mandelbaum^ "Family, Jati Village" fin "Structureand Change in Indian Society", 1968, Milton Singer and Bernard S Cohn, (eds), pp 29-50, Viking Fund Publicationsin Anthropology No 47]. Although I have made no referenceto these articles in my betweenmy views paper, the similarity Postscript and those of Singer and Mandelbaum is quite apparent. My main thesisWhile writing this final draft of the that the question of the village as a paper I have come across two very unit of study is the functionof the interesting papers, namely Milton problemone is seeking to explore Singer's'Text and Contextin the Study is shared by Mandelbaum. And my of Religionand Social Change in India ' views on the of interplay the littleand (ms, 17 pp, no date; paper handed out great traditionscome quite close to in the Seminar on Indian Culture at those expressedby Singerin his paper.

Sociology of Science in Developing Countries

The Indian Experience
A Sequel
Ashok Parthasarathi
IN my paper of the above title, social sciences in the developed coun- are very loose if not non-existent, re(August 2, 1969,p 1277) I have begun trieswas, however, accident. It was quire sociological and psychological no with ihe propositionthat the imme- essentiallya consequence of the fact study and initiationof social change diate thrustof the Science of Science that the rate of growthof science and based on its findingsto precede the in India should be sociological and technology was not so rapid then as it large-scale practice of science and the psychological, focus of studybeing is today, and also of the fact that technology as to preparethe "soil" so the scientisthimself, both as an indi- Europe in particular,but the US as for their rapid and wholesomeabsorpvidual and as a member of a social well, went through the Industrial tion. group. The problem of "scientific Revolution and the Technological The plausibility, not the validity, if socialisation"in particularwas stressed Revolution sequentially rather than of this approach has been borne out as of crucial importance. It has thus simultaneously. Iji contrast, a deve- by the experience of Indian scientific been consistently tacitlyimpliedthat, loping countrylike India has today to researchover the past 15 years. What if it is on an understanding solution experience both these revolutions(in this experience and has demonstrated the is of theseand related problemsthat any additionto many others)simultaneous- gross inaccuracyof the tacit assumpan self- ly. As a result of this sequentialex- tion of the policy planners,strategists, hope o generating indigenous, sustaining, and of socio-economically posure,the societiesof Europe and the and administrators science,both in relevant scientific and technological US had already developed the basic India and abroad, ^about the role of functional and value charac- science in a developingsociety. That capabilitydepends. structural, An emphasisof this kind might on teristicsof industrial,urban societies, role was seen by them as that of the the face of it appear odd considering before technology began to interact prime mover of social change and the historicalexperienceof what are with theirsocial fabrics. In this way, intellectualrejuvenationin underdeveknow- loped countries. It was also believed toda.ythe advanced societies. In these the 'second wave' of scientific societies social scientificinvestigation ledge, and science-basedindustrythat that the archaic social structure of of science and technologyhas largely it spawned, could be absorbed and traditional and transitional societies, into the societyand the cul- would just fold up under the impact followed the TechnologicalRevolution, integrated and the accelerating interaction between turewithout excessivepsycho- of modernscience and technology, and producing scienceand societyhas been the prime logical and sociological disorient ations that the verypursuit sciencein thes-e of mover in the currently increasingde- and dislocations with their attendant societies would inexorablyand inevimand for political,economicand socio- economic and political problems. and tably lead themtowardsmodernity In contrast,developingsocieties like progress. While it is difficult genelogical studies of science and technoto logy. Further,such studies have in India, which are predominantly agri- ralise about such a variegatedcollecturn been directed towards maximis- cultural societies, in which even the tion of societiesas are lumped under industrialbase has not the heading "developingsocieties'', in ing the absorptionof science and its manufacturing into society. derivatives been laid and in which (for reasons India the situationis and has been for This particular mode of evolutionof given earlier) the intellectual and some time unmistakable. Here the the interaction betweenthe naturaland social roots of the scientific tradition value-system culture sciencehave and of 1387