The Professionalization of Sociology in India: Historical Phases and Influences

Sociology in India did not emerge in a vacuum. It grew out of a complex interplay of colonial encounters, indigenous intellectual traditions, and global academic currents. Tracing its journey from the late 18th century to the post-independence era reveals how a discipline shaped by foreign rulers eventually found its own voice – one that speaks to the unique realities of Indian society. As scholars like Srinivas and Panini have outlined, this evolution can be understood through three broad historical phases: the foundational period (1773-1900), the professionalization era (1901-1950), and the post-independence phase.

Phase one: the foundational period (1773-1900) 🔗

The roots of Indian sociology lie in the colonial project itself. British administrators sought to understand Indian customs, institutions, and social structures primarily as a tool of governance. Christian missionaries, too, studied local languages, folklore, and cultural practices to advance their own objectives. Together, their documentation – in the form of census records, ethnographic surveys, and colonial gazetteers – produced an enormous body of information about Indian society, even if it was shaped by a colonial lens.

The first all-India census was conducted in 1871, and the monographs and gazetteers produced during this period remain valuable sources for sociologists even today. Alongside colonial administrators, European orientalists and early Indologists turned their attention to Hindu systems of caste, the joint family, and village and tribal communities. These became the dominant themes of early social inquiry in India.

Indian intellectuals of this era also played a role, even if an indirect one. Reformers like Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar critically engaged with Western ideas and advocated for social change. Their work was not explicitly sociological, but it planted the seeds of a reflexive tradition – one that questioned Indian social norms through a comparative lens. Formal sociology as an academic discipline had not yet arrived, but the groundwork was firmly in place.

Phase two: the professionalization era (1901-1950) 🔗

The early 20th century marked a decisive shift. Sociology began moving from colonial documentation to academic inquiry, finding a home in Indian universities. According to Srinivas and Panini, this second phase (1901-1950) is when sociology and anthropology became professionalized in India, with the creation of university departments and the contribution of both Indian and foreign scholars.

The arrival of Patrick Geddes and the Bombay school 🔗

A pivotal moment came in 1919, when Scottish sociologist Patrick Geddes was appointed to the Chair of Sociology at the University of Bombay, establishing what is recognized as the first department of sociology and civics in India. Geddes brought a distinctive, holistic perspective – emphasizing the ecological and urban dimensions of social life. His ideas resonated with India’s diverse and complex social structures and set a broad theoretical foundation for future inquiry.

However, it was G.S. Ghurye who truly institutionalized the discipline. After completing his doctoral dissertation at Cambridge under W.H.R. Rivers, Ghurye succeeded Geddes as Head of the Department of Sociology at Bombay University in 1924. He would go on to lead the department for over three decades, until his retirement in 1959. Under his stewardship, the department produced some of the most influential names in Indian sociology, including M.N. Srinivas, Iravati Karve, and A.R. Desai.

Ghurye’s approach blended Indological scholarship with empirical research. He established the Indological approach as a legitimate method in Indian sociology, drawing on Sanskrit texts and vernacular literature to interpret caste, kinship, and Indian culture. His landmark work, Caste and Race in India, challenged prevailing racial theories of caste and argued that caste was a social institution rooted in ideology and cultural practice – not in racial categories. Today, Ghurye is widely regarded as the founding father of Indian sociology.

The Lucknow school and early pluralism 🔗

While Bombay emerged as one centre of sociological inquiry, Lucknow developed independently as another. R.K. Mukherjee and D.N. Majumdar helped introduce sociology at Lucknow University in 1921, and the city’s school adopted a distinct orientation – more attentive to Marxist frameworks and the historical analysis of Indian society. D.P. Mukherjee, a leading figure of this school, argued strongly for contextualizing sociology within Indian cultural traditions while using Western methodologies critically.

This period also saw the spread of sociology to other universities. Sociology was introduced at Mysore University in 1928 and Poona University in 1930, gradually expanding the discipline’s academic footprint across the country. Despite this growth, the pre-independence period was still characterized by theoretical uncertainty. Sociology was considered a mixed bag without a proper identity of its own – often grouped with economics, social philosophy, or psychology, and lacking a strong empirical tradition.

The two schools – Bombay and Lucknow – also differed in their organizational culture. The Lucknow school initiated the All India Annual Sociological Conference for professional interaction, while the Bombay school pursued its own channels of academic exchange. These parallel developments laid the groundwork for a more unified professional structure after independence.

Phase three: the post-independence expansion 🔗

India’s independence in 1947 created both new opportunities and fresh challenges for sociology. The discipline had to shed its colonial associations and redefine its purpose in the context of a newly sovereign nation committed to planned development, social justice, and democratic governance.

Institutional growth and professional organization 🔗

One of the most significant milestones of this era was the establishment of the Indian Sociological Society (ISS). Ghurye was the prime mover in founding the ISS in 1952, and was also instrumental in launching its official journal, the Sociological Bulletin. The ISS provided a national platform for scholars to share research, debate ideas, and collectively shape the direction of the discipline. It was a decisive step in giving Indian sociology a professional identity.

At the same time, there was a marked increase in the number of universities, colleges, and institutions teaching sociology, with departments eventually expanding from graduate to undergraduate levels and, by the 1990s, even into higher secondary education in some states. The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), established in 1972, became the premier funding body for social science research, actively sponsoring sociological research and directing it toward national development priorities.

Indigenization and new theoretical directions 🔗

Post-independence Indian sociology was defined in large part by a push to indigenize the discipline – to develop concepts and methods that genuinely reflected Indian social realities rather than simply importing Western frameworks. M.N. Srinivas, one of the most influential post-independence sociologists, argued against uncritical adoption of American sociological paradigms, insisting on the need for a distinct Indian approach. His concepts of Sanskritization, Westernization, and dominant caste became cornerstones of Indian sociological thought, offering frameworks for understanding social mobility and change that emerged directly from the Indian experience.

Srinivas also played a key institutional role: he was one of the five signatories of the Memorandum of Association that established the ICSSR, and chaired the UGC’s first committee to draft a status report on the teaching of sociology in India. These contributions extended his influence well beyond scholarship into the institutional fabric of the discipline itself.

Meanwhile, the post-independence era saw sociology diversify considerably, with growing specialization in subfields including rural sociology, urban sociology, kinship studies, sociology of religion, social stratification, and social demography. Government policy also shaped the direction of research: studies on community development, Panchayati Raj, caste discrimination, and the social impact of large development projects became important areas of sociological inquiry, often funded by central ministries or the ICSSR.

Challenges to the discipline 🔗

Despite this growth, Indian sociology faced persistent structural challenges. In the post-independence period, sociology was dominated initially by structural functionalism and later by the modernization paradigm – frameworks that critics argued failed to adequately address power inequalities or question established social hierarchies. Competition from economics and political science, which commanded more policy influence, also limited sociology’s reach.

The discipline’s colonial legacy created another layer of difficulty. Debates have persisted about domination by Western scholarly trends, by certain privileged sections within India, and by state priorities and identity politics, all of which have shaped – and sometimes constrained – the kind of sociological knowledge produced. From the late 1970s onwards, feminist scholarship, Dalit studies, and subaltern perspectives began challenging the mainstream sociological imagination, introducing new voices and new questions into the discipline.

The interplay of global and local in Indian sociology 🔗

What makes the story of Indian sociology particularly compelling is precisely this tension between the global and the local. Indian sociologists and anthropologists have made a prominent contribution to the development of indigenous studies of Indian society, setting an example for other Asian and African scholars navigating similar postcolonial intellectual landscapes. At the same time, many of India’s leading sociologists were trained in British and American universities, and the discipline has always drawn on international theories and methodologies – adapting rather than simply adopting them.

This dynamic exchange has produced a sociology that is neither a carbon copy of Western models nor entirely insular. The Indian Sociological Society, set up in 1951, provided a platform for scholars from across India and beyond to discuss, debate, and respond to contemporary social issues, embodying this ongoing negotiation between universalization and indigenization. The discipline has grown through that friction – and continues to do so.

What do you think? As India’s social landscape continues to shift – with rapid urbanization, growing inequality, and the rise of digital culture – can a discipline rooted in colonial-era categories and post-independence frameworks keep pace? And what would it look like for Indian sociology to fully center marginalized perspectives, not just as subjects of study, but as sources of theory?

References

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