Indian Society  (English, Paperback, Dube S C)

Indian Society by S.C. Dube is a comprehensive and in-depth study of the evolution and complexities of the Indian society at large. The book is mainly directed towards the Indian youth, and attempts to present an interlinked perspective of the past and present nature of the country’s social ethos. The author has tried to study the prevailing Indian customs, such as the caste system and the joint family, in both the urban and rural scenarios. Apart from providing a commentary on the present social norms, the author has also tried to interpret the changes that might occur in the coming times. In short, the book is a documentation of the state of the Indian society and is written in a lucid manner, making it easy for the reader to understand the nuances of the highly fragmented and diverse society of India.

The author, Late Shyama Charan Dube, was born in 1922, and was one of the prominent anthropologists and sociologists of post-Independence India. His book, Indian Village, is considered to be a milestone in the field of Indian sociology. Dube held a degree in Political Science before he took up Anthropology. His doctoral dissertation on the ‘Kamars’ of Raipur, a tribe that was hitherto unknown before Dube studied them, broke new grounds in anthropology. During his teaching career, he taught Political Science at Lucknow University and Sociology/Social Anthropology at Nagpur and Osmania Universities. He worked with the Anthropological Survey of India and the National Institute of Community Development for a brief period. From 1964-72, he served as the Head of a joint Department at Saugor, Madhya Pradesh, and was also appointed Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh University Grants Commission. In the early 1950’s, Dube also travelled abroad to teach at the London and Cornell Universities.