Dipankar Gupta – författare

Talking Sociology is the ninth title in the OUP series of Ramin Jahanbegloo's conversations with prominent intellectuals who have made significant contribution in shaping the modern Indian thought. The present volume covers the life and works of the influential Indian sociologist and public intellectual, Dipankar Gupta. As a social scientist, Gupta has made remarkable contribution to contemporary social theory by redefining and reconstructing the central concepts of the past masters and taking sociology beyond its disciplinary boundaries by helping several generations of Indians understand contemporary social change and transformation of institutions. He is considered the most insightful analyst of modernity and modernization in India. The conversation in this volume revolves around Gupta's career and contribution to the field, and discusses the key areas of sociology such as the problem of social stratification, citizenship and democracy, and the caste system and ethnic groups in India.

The book explores how Muslims in Mumbai and Ahmedabad coped with the aftermath of the violence directed against them in 1993 and 2002 respectively, and how they responded to the ethnic carnages of which they were the victims, highlighting the importance of the context and the history of the place where such violence occurred.Unlike other studies on ethnic violence which have a short-term focus, in dealing with its immediate aftermath, this book examines what happens to the victims over time and how they negotiate a ‘new normal’ and get on with their lives. Using empirical material based on field work in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the book shows that while poverty, education and employment remain important elements in the recovery process, the most crucial issue is that of justice and the need to reclaim citizenship. A significant section of the book is devoted to the relationship between Muslim faith-based organisations and the victims of ethnic violence.

Dipankar Gupta, one of India's foremost thinkers on social and economic issues, takes a critical—and controversial—look at the limits of the Indian success story in The Caged Phoenix. Through a fine blend of theory and new evidence on small scale industries, farming, and more, Gupta argues that, despite the promise of Independence and liberalization, India continues to remain caged in backwardness. In short, the country's phenomenal growth story has not translated into development. Questioning prevailing culture-based theories—and the academics who perpetuate them—that are used to explain India's poverty and its hampered development, Gupta attempts to "normalize" India, advocating a rigorous rejection of justifications that rely upon cultural otherness and exoticization. He critically examines the reluctance to acknowledge that structural impediments, not cultural factors, deny growth benefits to the majority of Indians, and explores the close link between growth in high technology sectors of the Indian economy on one side and sweat shops and rural stagnation on the other. Making a comparison with the developed West, Gupta underscores the point that affluence can be achieved only after living conditions improve across all social classes.Combining original scholarship with a lively narrative, Gupta debunks widespread myths about why India's democracy has yet to deliver and offers compelling explanations for the paradoxes that exist.

From ‘People’ to ‘Citizen’ brings together social theory with policy practice to enlarge our understanding of the difference that democracy makes to the life of a nation. Unlike nationalism, democracy takes our attention away from the past to the future by focusing on the specific concerns of ‘citizenship’. Historical victories or defeats, blood and soil are now nowhere as relevant as the creation of a foundational base where individuals have equal, and quality, access to health, education, and even urban services. The primary consideration, therefore, is on empowering ‘citizens’ as a common category and not ‘people’ of any specific community or class. When citizens precede all other considerations, the notion of the ‘public’ too gets its fullest expression. Differences between citizens are not denied, in fact encouraged, but only after achieving a basic unity first. This book argues that the call of citizenship not only advances democracy, but social science as well.Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Relying on many years of fieldwork and on his involvement with several national level policy making bodies, this book presents a cultural interpretation of how public life and state interventions in India should be viewed. While commending statistical interventions in governmental decision making, it detects a marked deficiency in the understanding of how cultural factors impress upon and condition economic life.Towards this end, Dipankar Gupta interrogates anti-poverty drives, labour relations, election studies and, in this process, provides a novel and helpful guide towards resolving the vexing relationship between the domains of the public and the private. In all of this, the sociological antenna is constantly at work, beeping helpful signals on how one might untangle knotty issues in public life. More than anything else, this book urges policy makers to be self-consciously intersubjective in their approach and this is where sociology can make its mark. The Appendix provides a medley of situations where cultural sensitivity and the discipline of sociology prove their worth in figuring out fresh ways to resolve outstanding problems in our country.This book is co-published with Aakar Books. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)

Relying on many years of fieldwork and on his involvement with several national level policy making bodies, this book presents a cultural interpretation of how public life and state interventions in India should be viewed. While commending statistical interventions in governmental decision making, it detects a marked deficiency in the understanding of how cultural factors impress upon and condition economic life.Towards this end, Dipankar Gupta interrogates anti-poverty drives, labour relations, election studies and, in this process, provides a novel and helpful guide towards resolving the vexing relationship between the domains of the public and the private. In all of this, the sociological antenna is constantly at work, beeping helpful signals on how one might untangle knotty issues in public life. More than anything else, this book urges policy makers to be self-consciously intersubjective in their approach and this is where sociology can make its mark. The Appendix provides a medley of situations where cultural sensitivity and the discipline of sociology prove their worth in figuring out fresh ways to resolve outstanding problems in our country.This book is co-published with Aakar Books. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)

From ‘People’ to ‘Citizen’ brings together social theory with policy practice to enlarge our understanding of the difference that democracy makes to the life of a nation. Unlike nationalism, democracy takes our attention away from the past to the future by focusing on the specific concerns of ‘citizenship’. Historical victories or defeats, blood and soil are now nowhere as relevant as the creation of a foundational base where individuals have equal, and quality, access to health, education, and even urban services. The primary consideration, therefore, is on empowering ‘citizens’ as a common category and not ‘people’ of any specific community or class. When citizens precede all other considerations, the notion of the ‘public’ too gets its fullest expression. Differences between citizens are not denied, in fact encouraged, but only after achieving a basic unity first. This book argues that the call of citizenship not only advances democracy, but social science as well.Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

The book explores how Muslims in Mumbai and Ahmedabad coped with the aftermath of the violence directed against them in 1993 and 2002 respectively, and how they responded to the ethnic carnages of which they were the victims, highlighting the importance of the context and the history of the place where such violence occurred.Unlike other studies on ethnic violence which have a short-term focus, in dealing with its immediate aftermath, this book examines what happens to the victims over time and how they negotiate a ‘new normal’ and get on with their lives. Using empirical material based on field work in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the book shows that while poverty, education and employment remain important elements in the recovery process, the most crucial issue is that of justice and the need to reclaim citizenship. A significant section of the book is devoted to the relationship between Muslim faith-based organisations and the victims of ethnic violence.

The author, through a study of Sikh extremism in the Punjab, argues that ethnic identities are not fixed and permanent but are dynamic, and need to be sociologically contextualized, in order to be properly understood.