Indian Society: Sociological Perspectives

By Prof. R. Santhosh | IIT Madras

Learners enrolled: 722 | Exam registration: 280

ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course aims to provide a broad overview of the multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives adopted by sociologists to understand Indian society. It provides a historical overview of the discipline, major perspectives such as Indological, Structural-functionalist, Marxian, Structuralist and Subaltern perspectives. The subsequent chapters also examine emergence of Dalit perspective and Feminist perspectives in Indian Sociology. The course also discusses several contemporary debates such as standpoint theory and decoloniality in the Indian context.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Undergraduate as well as postgraduate students of sociology, aspirants of competitive examinations and general public who are interested in the discipline of sociology.

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	22 Jul 2024
End Date :	11 Oct 2024
Enrollment Ends :	05 Aug 2024
Exam Registration Ends :	16 Aug 2024
Exam Date :	02 Nov 2024 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to the course: Theoretical and methodological perspectives within sociology and social anthropology

Week 2: Historical background of the study of Indian society. Colonialism, Anthropology and emergence of sociology in India

Week 3: Orientalism, Indology and knowledge production: Critique

Week 4: Orientalist understanding of India: GS Ghurye and others

Week 5: Structural Functionalist perspective: M N Srinivas and others

Week 6: Marxian Sociology in India: A R Desai, Kathleen Gough and others

Week 7: Structuralist perspective: Louise Dumont, Veena Das

Week 8: Subaltern perspective and critique

Week 9: Feminist perspective and gender studies in Indian sociology

Week 10: Dalit sociology and Dalit feminism in Indian sociology

Week 11: Recent debates on epistemology and methodology: standpoint theories

Week 12: Recent debates on decoloniality in Indian sociology

Books and references

• A R Desai.1981. Relevance of Marxist Approach for India. Sociological Bulletin.
• Declan Quigley. 1993. Interpretations of castes. Delhi: OUP.
• Dumont Louis. 1970 Homo Hierachicus: The Caste System and its Implications Delhi: OUP.
• M N Srinivas.2004. Collected Essays. Oxford University Press, Delhi
• M.N.Srinivas and M.N. Panini (1986). Development of Sociology and social anthropology in India in T.K Oommen and Partha N.Mukherji. (edited). Indian Sociology reflections and introspections. Bombay: Popular Prakasam.
• Patricia Oberoi, Nandini Sundar & Satish Deshpande (2008). Anthropology in the East: founders of Indian sociology and Anthropology.
• Ranajit Guha.1998. Selected Subaltern Studies. Delhi: OUP.
• Ronald Inden.1986. Orientalist Construction of India, Modern Asian Studies
• Shail Mayaram.2005. Subaltern studies XII: Muslims, Dalits and the fabrications of history. New delhi: OUP.
• Sharmila Rege. Writing Caste, Writing Gender: Reading Dalit Women's Testimonies
• Sujata Patel 2011. Doing Sociology in India: Genealogies, Locations, and Practices. Delhi: OUP.
• Uma Chakraborty (2003) Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Lens. OUP.
• Veena Das 2012. Structure and Cognition aspects of Hindu caste and ritual. Delhi: OUP.

Instructor bio

Prof. R. Santhosh

IIT Madras

Dr. R. Santhosh teaches sociology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras. He specializes in field of sociology of religion, focusing on Hindu and Islamic religiosity in the late modern contexts in India.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 02 November 2024 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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