Recent theoretical and methodological innovations in the anthropological analysis of South Asian societies have introduced distinctive modifications in the study of Indian social structure and social change. This book, reporting on twenty empirical studies of Indian society conducted by outstanding scholars, reflects these trends not only with reference to Indian society itself but also in terms of the relevance of such trends to an understanding of social change more generally. The book demonstrates how students of South Asia are turning to intensive, functional studies of the adaptive changes that particular groups in particular villages, towns, cities, and regions are undergoing. The authors view the basic social units of joint family, caste, and village not as structural isolates but as intimately connected with one another and with other social units through social and cultural networks of various kinds that incorporate the social units into the complex structure of Indian civilization. Within this broadened concept-ion of social structure, these studies trace the changing relations of politics, economics, law, and language to the caste system. The essays included in this book show that the study of Indian society reveals novel forms of social structure and change.
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