Mind and Society

One of the country’s most eminent sociologists, J.P.S. Uberoi inaugurated a unique approach in the study of Indian sociology and social anthropology. He makes a case for a form of independent Indian sociology in relation to the principal philosophies and sociological theories of the Western world, by adopting Gandhi’s plea for swaraj in thought. This volume brings together eighteen papers by Uberoi which highlight his pioneering thought. Originally written between 1968 and 2013, these papers are divided thematically into three groups. The first examines the eternal political war of imperialism versus nationalism as it related to the academic pursuit of knowledge in the university. The second group begins with questions of social science and philosophy and concludes by discussing the working lives of the industrial worker (in the West) and the household farmer (in the East). The third group explores the project of finding grounds for a concept of a plural vernacular Indian modernity. The volume represents an emphatic statement by the author that the time has come for India to bid for its place in the universal free world of the intellect.