SOCIETY AND CULTURE: S.P. NAGENDRA

This commomerative volume of Professor S.P. Nagendra consists of some of his important and seminal contributions to sociology. These articles broadly are on ‘traditions and their moral and ritual foundations’, ‘culture and its policy implications’, ‘development and its important ramifications’ and his glowing tribute to his outstanding teacher, Professor D.P. Mukerji, the doyen among the Indian sociologists.

For Nagendra, the ancient Indian society is the nearest approximation to what can be considered as the normal civilization. It rests on principles which guided the hierarchical ordering of the traditional society. The social change in the traditional society is from one order to the other, similar to those in the life organism. On culture, Nagendra employs Dielthey’s concept of ‘interpretive understanding’ to fully comprehend the different concepts of culture. Likewise, there are many significant observations on other issues which sociologically are significant, such as the dicussion on tradition and modernity and others.

This book will be invaluable for both academics and the lay readers to appreciate the critical issues in modern Indian society.