Author Description

Language: English Pages: 527 About The Book This anthology is a reprint of perhaps the first ever attempt to put together a number of significant studies, by Indian and foreign scholars, on the urban sociology of India. Some of the papers included here are reproduced from previously published as well as unpublished sources; a few had been specially commissioned for this volume. Two criteria have guided the selection of material: a bias towards empirical investigations rather than mere theoretical discussions; and a concern for sociological analysis. The material is presented in nine parts: Theoretical Problems, Historical Aspects, Demographic and Ecological Aspects, Immigrant Communities and Neighbourhoods, Social Stratification and Mobility, Marriage and Family, Religion, Politics, and Urban Influences on Rural Life. Besides a General Introduction, each part has an introduction and select reading lists have been appended to all the parts. About The Author M.S.A. Rao was Professor of Sociology at the University of Delhi. He taught at London, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, Duke and Virginia universities. He is the author of Social Change in Malabar, Urbanization and Social Change, Tradition, Rationality and Change and Social Movements and Social Transformation; co-author of Cities and Slums; editor of Social Movements in India, Studies in Migration; co-editor of A Reader in Urban Sociology, Food, Society and Culture and Dominance and State Power in Modern India. He was the recipient of the Ghurye Award and the Sarat Chandra Roy Gold Medal. Preface The present Reader has grown out of my research interests and the course of lectures that I gave at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London) on ‘Urba