Biased and Prejudiced View of Sociologists

Vivek Kumar has attempted (“How Egalitarian Is Indian Sociology?,” EPW, 18 June 2016) to demolish Indian sociology/social anthropology in one stroke by asserting that it has been dominated by the twice-born castes at all the levels from schools to colleges to universities and even classrooms. His allegation is that upper-caste sociologists have been indulging in this game to preserve and enhance their control on the discipline in every possible way. Such a view is not only erroneous, it is also biased and prejudiced. There are several factual errors in the article.

Let me take my own case in this regard. Kumar writes about “domination at school sociology.” He mentions my book Indian Society and me as the editor of the book; I am the author of the book, it was published in 1987 and not in 1986 as mentioned. The book was not edited by a committee but by a review group of 15 members, drawn from different universities and schools. One member belonged to the Other Backward Classes (s). In the second review group meeting, scholars of the stature of S C Dube and Yogendra Singh, and a scholar from a minority community participated. The book contains four chapters on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the OBCs.