About the Book
Changing Indian Society, penned by India’s leading social scientist of
international renown, encapsulates the enormous empirical and
statistical data to present profile of Indian society as a multicultural
entity composed of different ethnic origins, various religions, and
belonging to a variety of speech communities, and yet bonded together as
a nation, sharing a common polity and economy.
Written simply
and without jargon, in a style intelligible to a lay reader, the book
provides a sound sociological perspective to comprehend Indian society
and its major social institutions. It introduces urban and rural India;
gives a glimpse of tribal India; explains marriage, kinship, and the
caste system; and outlines major changes occurring in Indian society.
The
book offers a good Introduction to Indian society for a variety of
audiences: students graduating in social sciences, candidates preparing
for competitive examinations, business executives – particularly
representatives of multinationals in need of orientation to Indian
culture and society, foreign tourists, and students in other countries
auditing a course on India, and, of course, the general public.
Contents
1. India: Unity in Diversity
2. Population Profile
3. Urban India
4. Village India
5. Tribal India
6. Varna and Jati
7. Marriage, Family, and Kinship
8. Status of Women
9. Indian Polity
10. Changing India
About the Author / Editor
YOGESH ATAL (b. 9 Oct. 1937) has had a long and distinguished
career, first as UNESCO’s Regional Adviser for Social and Human Sciences
in Asia and the Pacific, and then as its Principal Director in charge
of co-ordination of work related to the World Summit for Social
Development held in Copenhagen in 1995. He also collaborated with the
International Social Science Council in developing its Programme of
Comparative Research on Poverty (CROP). He is author and editor of
numerous books and articles, including, “The Changing Frontiers of
Caste, Local Communities and National Politics, Social Sciences – the
Indian Scene, Building a Nation, Indian Sociology from Where to Where,
Understanding the Social Sphere: The Village and Beyond (co-editor), ”
Mandate for Political Transition and The Poverty Question: Search for
Solutions.
