From Indian Sociology to a Critical Sociology of India: A Disciplinary History of more than 100 years

Sociology studies modern society, yet Indian sociologists recognized India as modern only in the late 1970s–80s. This shift emerged alongside Marxist, feminist, Dalit, and Tribal critiques, transforming the discipline into an interdisciplinary analysis of inequality and exclusion. Explaining this delay, the talk traces the field’s evolution. Although formal teaching began in 1919 at Bombay University, its intellectual roots lie in colonial Orientalist-Indological frameworks that portrayed India as static and caste-bound. This talk identifies three turning points: anti-colonial nationalism and emic approaches; post-independence ethnography that remained Eurocentric; and the upheavals of the 1970s–80s, which foregrounded capitalist modernity. Today, amid Hindutva’s rise and growing academic control, Indian sociology faces a critical juncture.

Sujata Patel is an eminent Indian Sociologist who served as the Professor of Sociology at the University of Hyderabad, having also taught at the Universities of Pune and SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. She has held positions as National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and as a Distinguished Professor at Savitribai Phule Pune University. She was awarded the Kerstin Hesselgren Visiting Professorship (2021), an Honorary Doctorate from Uppsala University (2023), and the Humboldt Research Award. Her work spans modernity, global social theory, urbanization, social movements, gender, and caste. She has authored or edited 16 books and published 80 peer-reviewed papers and chapters​.​​