India Between Tradition and Modernity

This volume is primarily a self-presentation of Indian sociologists and their recent theoretical and empirical research endeavors. It provides an opportunity for diagnosing what Indian sociologists have identified as the most important issues for various social communities. The book also helps reproduce the idiomatic interpretation of modernization in the colonial and postcolonial contexts. And, last but not least, it offers a convenient point of departure for reflection on Western Europe and its international role-modeling function. The book offers an excellent review of universality, rationality, and diversity in post-colonial India, demonstrating that it makes sense to translate the Western world of modernization into the categories and images of Indian capitalist modernization. By approaching the determinants, mechanisms, and consequences of this translation so comprehensively and insightfully, it directs attention towards European modernization rationale and helps take stock of European sociological achievements.