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This paperback edition of Anti-Utopia: Essential Writings of André Béteille, first published in 2005, presents a collection of Béteille's seminal writings on society, research methodology, social stratification, equality, and civil society and its institutions. This OIP edition carries a new Preface by Dipankar Gupta.
Sommario
- Preface to the Paperback Edition (Dipankar Gupta)
- Acknowledgements
- The Anti-Utopian Liberal: An Introduction to the Works of AndrÃ(c) BÃ(c)teille (Dipankar Gupta)
- Section I: Studying Society: Academic Judgement and Common Sense
- 1: Sociology and Anthropology: Their Relationship in One Person's Career
- 2: Sociology and Common Sense
- 3: Religion as a Subject for Sociology
- Section II: Methods and Concepts: Operationalizing the Field
- 4: Some Observations on the Comparative Method
- 5: Ideas and Interests
- 6: Tribe and Peasantry
- 7: Race, Caste, and Gender
- Section III: Social Stratification in India: The Dynamics of Class, Status, and Political Mobilization
- 8: Caste in Contemporary India
- 9: Caste, Class, and Power
- 10: The Future of the Backward Classes: The Competing Demands of Status and Power
- 11: Class and Status
- Section IV: Equality and Individualism: the Tension between Fact and Value
- 12: The Idea of Natural Inequality
- 13: The Two Sources of Inequality
- 14: The Reproduction of Inequality
- 15: Individualism and Equality
- Section V: Civil Society and Institutional Well-Being
- 16: The Conflict of Norms and Values
- 17: Equality as a Right and as a Policy
- 18: Distributive Justice and Institutional Well-Being
- 19: Civil Society and the Good Society
- Section VI: Appendices: My Two Grandmothers
- Interview with AndrÃ(c) BÃ(c)teille
- Index.
Info autore
André Béteille is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Delhi and National Research Professor.
Dipankar Gupta is former Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Riassunto
For the last four decades, André Béteille's work has had a fundamental impact on Indian sociology. While drawing from universal theoretical perspectives, Béteille has adapted them to empirical realities in India. This collection brings together 19 of the most seminal writings of Béteille, selected and introduced by Dipankar Gupta. The topics of the essays range from caste, class, and religion to methodological issues in the social sciences, equality, and civil society. The overarching theme with which these essays are concerned is how a society may ensure equality of opportunity without making grave compromises to the well-being of civil society institutions.
