Understanding Social Dynamics in South Asia: Essays in Memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee

This volume includes fourteen essays by eminent sociologists in memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee (1919–2017), the last of the founding architects of sociology in India. It also includes two interviews with Ramkrishna Mukherjee by senior sociologists. The essays cover a variety of themes and topics close to the works of Ramkrishna Mukherjee: the idea of unitary social science, methodology of social research, the question of facts and values, rural society and social change, social mobility, family and gender, and nationalism. In the two interviews included here Mukherjee clarifies his intellectual trajectory as well as issues of methodology and methods in social research. Overall, this volume endorses his emphasis on the need for social researchers to transcend the ‘what’ and ‘how’ to ‘why’ in the pursuit of sociological knowledge. The volume is a valuable addition to the history of sociology in India. Students of sociology and other social sciences will find it useful as a book of substantive readings on social dynamics; those researching the social world will find in it a useful guide to issues in designing and execution of social research projects.

Table of Contents:
PART I  – REMEMBERING THE SCHOLAR AND HIS SCHOLARSHIP.- 1. Remembering  Ramkrishna Mukherjee Partha Nath Mukherji and N. Jayaram.- 2. Ramkrishna Mukherjee: An Accomplished Academic Amphibian T. K. Oommen.- PART II  – PHILOSOPHY AND METHODOLOGY.- 3. Unitary Social Science: An Idea and its Prospects N. Jayaram.-  4. Fact–Value Relations in Ramkrishna Mukherjee’s Contributions E. Hari Babu.- 5. Sociology of Ramkrishna Mukherjee: An Introspection Biswajit Ghosh.- PART III  – RURAL SOCIETY AND DECENTRALISATION.- 6. Caste, Economy, and Political Power: Changing Rural Bihar Gaurang R. Sahay.- 7. Dynamics of Social Mobility in an Emerging Knowledge Society: Reflections from Rural India Debal Singha-Roy.- 8. How Democratic is Decentralisation: A Study of West Bengal Panchayat Elections of 2008 Partha Nath Mukherji.- PART IV – FAMILY AND GENDER RELATIONS.- 9. Family Matters in India: A Sociological Understanding Ravinder Kaur.- 10. Women’s Autonomy and Spousal Violence: An Analysis of NFHS-3 Data Bhola Nath Ghosh and Samba Siva Rao Pasupuleti.- PART V  – SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL MOBILITY.- 11. Social Change in India: Revisiting Ramkrishna Mukherjee Surendra Munshi.- 12. Some Unity in Diversity: Analysing Social Change and Mobility Staffan Lindberg.- 13. Ecological Changes and Underdevelopment of North-eastern Bihar in Historical Perspective Hetukar Jha.- 14. The Neoliberal Transformation of Bangladesh Class Structure and Contemporary National Identity Mahabub Ahmed.- PART VI – CONVERSATIONS WITH RAMKRISHNA MUKHERJEE.- 15. On Methodology of Social Research: Conversations with Ramkrishna Mukherjee Partha Nath Mukherji and Chandan Sengupta.- 16. Ramkrishna Mukherjee in conversation with Anjan Ghosh Anjan Ghosh.- Bibliography: Works by and on Ramkrishna Mukherjee Bhola Nath Ghosh.

About the Author :
Partha Nath Mukherji was Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; a Senior Fellow of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi; and S.K. Dey Chair Professor at Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. He was the President of the Indian Sociological Society. His areas of research interest include social movements; democratic decentralisation; social change, development and mobility; and research methodology. He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Indian Sociological Society. N. Jayaram is Visiting Professor at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. He has taught at Bangalore University, Goa University, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He was Visiting Professor at The University of the West Indies (St Augustine), Trinidad and Tobago; and Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. His research areas include sociology of education, political sociology, sociology of diaspora, and theory and method. He is a recipient of the Dr Paduru Gururaja Bhat Annual Award and ET Now Education Leadership Award. Bhola Nath Ghosh is Professor and Head of the Sociological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He has earlier taught sociology at the West Bengal State University, Rabindra Bharati University, Jadavpur University, University of Kalyani and Indira Gandhi National Open University.  His research areas include gender studies, decentralisation, rural development, and social problems.