Policy Perspectives, Volume 8 , Number 1, January – June 2011
Abstract
[Over the last fifty years, caste and communal differences in Indian society have been asserting themselves in increasingly violent forms, with more powerful groups attempting to brutally suppress others, and the latter striking back through mass movements for rights. The Indian state remains determined to see the country as one nation, turning a blind eye to the caste, religious, ethnic, and linguistic heterogeneity of Indian society, and attempting to address the growing challenge to its political cohesion with ill-conceived repressive measures.Clearly, in the case of India, studying culture with the “nation” as the unit of analysis is misleading and leads to ineffective, even damaging, sociopolitical policies. The solution to the crisis lies in India’s finding a social theory that accepts the great diversity of human situations on its soil and yet provides coherence through an active sociocultural process. – Ed ]-
