The ‘Economic’ in Indian Sociology: Genealogies, Disjunctions and Agenda

Abstract

A cursory glance at the century-old history of Indian sociology reveals its relative under-engagement with economic phenomena and processes. Although the ‘economic’ did get studied under the influence of agrarian and village studies, and certain apparently economic themes such as industry and labour did attract scholarly attention from some sociologists, we notice the absence of a sustained and robust academic tradition of sociological studies of the economy in India. There appears to have been an intellectual division of labour, where the study of economic issues was ceded to economists whereas sociologists remained jubilant with their studies of primordial institutions. This study attempts to locate this persistent disjunction between the social and the economic from the perspective of the disciplinary history. Of necessity, this calls for an examination of the relationship between sociology and economics, and the way it unfolded in post-independence India. To this end, this study discusses the role of the developmental state, the prevailing notions of expertise, and the differential treatment accorded to different social sciences’ disciplines. The paper concludes with the outlining of a disciplinary agenda for the sociological study of the ‘economic’.