Talking Sociology

A well-known name in contemporary sociology, Dipankar Gupta’s wide range of scholarship and popular columns have justly earned him the reputation of being one of India’s leading public intellectuals. Talking Sociology provides a complete panorama of Gupta’s life and works and his contribution to Indian sociology. In this book of conversations, he shares insights into the key areas of Indian sociology, such as the problem of social stratification, citizenship and democracy, and the caste system and ethnic groups in India. In his view, once we understand the discrete nature of caste identity we begin to appreciate the energy behind caste mobilization and, indeed, of the obduracy of this institution itself. It also discusses the influence of prominent thinkers on Gupta’s works, such as Claude Lévi Strauss, Talcott Parsons, André Beteille, and John Rawls. The ninth in the series of Ramin Jahanbegloo’s conversations with the prominent intellectuals who have made a significant impact in shaping the modern Indian thought, this book discusses Gupta’s array of work and its redefinition and reconstruction of the central concepts of sociology, taking it beyond its disciplinary boundaries.