Sociology : Essays on Approach and Method

For forty years, Andre Beteille taught sociology at the Delhi School of Economics. This collection of essays brings together some of his basic concerns as a teacher and scholar. They include the nature and scope of sociology, and its relations with other disciplines such as anthropology, economics and political science. The book as a whole is animated by a very distinctive conception of sociology as an intellectual pursuit. Two of Beteille’s main concerns are with the comparison of societies and the social significance of tradition. He engages with the ideas of a variety of sociologists ranging from Emile Durkheim and Max Weber to N.K. Bose and M.N. Srinivas, and argues that the study of Indian society has something important to contribute to the development of sociology as a general and comparative discipline. Beteille’s clear and effortless prose will attract the non-specialist reader as well as the specialist. This is an important contribution towards advancing our critical understanding of the social framework within which we live.