Doing Theory: Locations, Hierarchies and Disjunctions

Abstract

We live in times where theory is often understood as irrelevant in the real world. It appears to have no practical results. This has been further complicated in a post-fact world, where our ‘identities’ and ‘perception’ have become the final judges of truth.

Sociology/social anthropology, in contrast, rests on a fundamental distinction between commonsense and theoretically informed knowledge. It teaches us to get rid of ‘perceptions’ and alerts us to go beyond taken-for-granted ideas. The paradox is that although theory is taught as a mandatory paper in sociology, it is either reduced to a topic in the syllabi or used as ceremonial citations.

Emphasising that theories emerge in specific historical contexts and are embedded in economic, political, social, cultural, institutional, and intellectual processes, this volume takes a new approach by highlighting the sociological paths through which theories travel and are adopted by institutions in different parts of the country.

The contributors explore:

1. The search for an ‘indigenous’ theory within sociology in India; 2. Critically examine the construction of the ‘local’ and the ‘postcolonial’; 3. Theorise the ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’, caste and modernity, industrial and media sociology; 4. Study the disconnect between theory taught within the classroom and theory practised in the world outside.