The 'other' view of sociology

Book review of 'QED: India Tests Social Theory'

QED: India Tests Social Theory

Dipankar Gupta

Oxford University Press

223 pages; Rs 695

This book has been written primarily for the author’s peer group in the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. But it is not a sermon. It starts from the position that the simultaneous existence of modernity and traditionalism, rich and poor, rural and urban in India defies the construction of social theories. So how can these seemingly contradictory forces be harmonised into the construction of theory? To offers answers, the author has rigorously analysed the entire corpus of sociological theories as applied to the study of modernity, peasantry, caste,