CONTENTS Preface 9 1 What is Rural Sociology ? 11 o Newly Acquired Significance of Rural Sociology o Sociology, Social Anthropology and Rural Sociology 2 Nature, Subject Matter and Methods of Rural Sociology 37 o Nature of Rural Sociology o Subject Matter of Rural Sociology o Methods and Tools of Rural Sociology o Tools of Data Generation 3 Studies in Rural Sociology 54 o Decade of the Flood of Village Studies 4 Some Key Concepts of Rural Sociology 70 o Changing Language of Rural Sociology o Emergence of New Methodology o Dominant Caste o Village Unity o Sanskritisation o Westernisation o Little and Great Traditions o Parochialisation and Universalisation 5 Sociology of Rural Life 98 o What is Rural? o Rural People o Determinants of Rural Social Formations 6 Agrarian Social Structure 114 o Study of Agrarian Structure o What is Agrarian Social Structure? o History of the Study of Agrarian Structure o Gandhi's Approach to Land Problem 7 Land Tenure System and Land Reforms 125 o Areas under Agrarian System o Land Tenure System o Land Reforms 8 Rural Social Stratification: Caste and Class 150 o Social Stratification o Forms of Social StratificationRural Social Stratification o Theoretical Approach to the Study of Rural Stratification o Changing Rural Caste Stratification o Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in the Changing Rural Caste Stratification o Rural Class System: The Changing Patterns o Caste-Class Nexus 9 Rural Social Institutions: Family, Kinship, Marriage and Religion 179 o Social Framework of Village Community o Rural Institutions and Their Types 10Rural Aesthetics 213 o What Does Aesthetics Mean? o Art Forms o Status of Art in Rural Society 11Agrarian Unrest 223 o Importance of Peasantry in India o Some Basic Statistics about Indian Villages o Some Erroneous Assumptions about Peasantry o Who is a Peasant? o Peasant Movements in Pre-Independent India o Santhal Insurrection (1855-56) o Peasant Revolt in Punjab (1930) o Champaran (Bihar) Movement (1917-18) o Kheda Peasant Struggle (1918) o Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) o Moplah Rebellion in Malabar (1921) o Peasant Movements at the Eve of Independence and o Afterwards o Naxalbari Peasant Struggle o Some Other Contemporary Peasant Struggles 12Rural Development 265 o Rural Development Before Independence o Rural Development After Independence o Impact of Development Programmes 13Village Cooperatives 293 o Meaning of Cooperation and Cooperative Societies o Basic Characteristics of Cooperatives o Types of Cooperative Societies o History of Cooperative Movement in India o Some Important Kinds of Societies o Politics in Cooperative Societies o Sugar Cooperatives in Maharashtra o Milk Cooperatives in Gujarat o Status of Cooperatives in India 14Village Environmental Crisis: Forest, Landuse, Water and Fuel 314 o Environment, Ecology and Development o The Policy Framework o Extent of Environmental Degradation o Causes of Environmental Degradation o People's Movement for the Protection of Environment o The Government fnitis'ive 15Panchayati Raj: An Era of Frnpowerment 329 o Why Study Panchayati Raj? o Historical Backdrop o Functions of Panchayati Raj o Empowerment of Women o Empowerment of Weaker Sections o A Critique of 73rd Constitution Amendment Act 16Changing Rural Society 345 o Subsistence to Market Economy o Rural Society and Technology o Abolition of Intermediaries o Emergence of Various Associations and Institutions o Contemporary Rural Cultural Changes Index 357