How Egalitarian is Indian Sociology?

Abstract

The British, European and American domination, on the Indian sociology, have been well documented. But the domination of the privileged males, those who claim to be from the twice-born castes, in Indian sociology, has not been recorded. Therefore, this essay tries to analyse various levels of this domination in the discipline of sociology in India and its impact on the discipline as a whole. This domination of the so-called twice-born sociologists has impacted the subject of sociology as a whole. Four broader aspects of this impact have been probed in this paper. One, how a Meta-Hindu narrative is produced by this domination. Second, how erroneous concepts like Hindu Social Order, village, caste, class, Sanskritization, etc. have been produced. Third, because of twice born—caste domination cognitive blackout and reductionism of Dalits have taken place in the annals of sociology in India. The paper has also highlighted how has this domination made the subject of sociology in India unidimensional devoid of any emancipatory agenda for its students. In the same vein, its sophisticated and sanitized language has failed to sensitize the students and researchers about the wretched and contemptuous experiences of the marginalized groups. Therefore, the paper concludes that Indian sociology is inegalitarian, it lacks transience and rigour so that Indian society can be understood objectively and in full measure.