Readings in Indian Sociology: Volume II: Sociological Probings in Rural Society

Sociological Probings in Rural Society , focuses mainly on the changing face of rural–urban relations. The papers included in the volume have been arranged in five sections, taking a note of rural–urban relations, rural social stratification, rural profiles, religion and rituals and social change in village India. The volume maps out the structure and process of rural–urban relations, along with divides and gaps between the rural and the urban settings, and the role of urbanization, industrialization, land reforms and development agencies. Cover 1 Contents 8 Series Note 14 Foreword 18 Preface and Acknowledgements 20 Introduction: Reconceptualising The Indian Village 22 SECTION I - Rural Society and Rural-Urban Relations 42 1 - Rural Sociology: Its Need in India 44 2 - Symposium on Rural-Urban Relations: The Industrialization and Urbanization of Rural Areas 61 3 - Modernization and the Urban-Rural Gap in India: An Analysis 71 4 - ‘Fringe’ Society and the Folk-Urban Continuum 91 5 - Rural Family Patterns: A Study in Urban-Rural Relations 98 SECTION II - Social Stratification in Rural India 116 6 - Measurement of Rigidity–Fluidity Dimension of Social Stratification in Six Indian Villages 118 7 - Bhadralok and Chhotolok in a Rural Area of West Bengal 136 8 - Caste System in Contemporary Rural Bihar: A Study of Selected Villages 155 9 - Power Elite in Rural India :Some Questions and Clarifications 179 10 - Social Stratification and Institutional Change in a Gujarat Village 196 SECTION III - Village Profiles 214 11 - Chokhala—An IntervillageOrganization of a Caste in Rajasthan 216 12 - Modernization and Changing Fertility Behaviour: A Study in a Rajasthan Village 228 13 - Ideology, Power and Resistance in a South Indian Village 254 14 - Voices from the Earth: Work and Food Production in a Punjabi Village 280 SECTION IV - Religion and Rituals 296 15 - Public Shrines and Private Interests: The Symbolism of the Village Temple 298 16 - A Study of Customs in Rural Mysore 319 17 - Ritual Circles in a Mysore Village 332 SECTION V - Social Change in Rural India 346 18 - Study of Social Change in Independent Rural India: Critical Issues for Analyses in the Fourth Decade of Independence 348 19 - Downward Social Mobility: Some Observations 376 20 - Dimensions of Agrarian Structure and Change: Issues in Theory 394 Index 411 About the Editor and Contributors 419 Appendix of Sources 422