March
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
of leaders of t h e i r respective r e l i gious
leaders
residing
outside
Boriavi.
The reviewer is n o t t r y i n g to deny
the i m p o r t a n c e of either leaders or
of economic factors.
W h a t he is
o b j e c t i n g to is t h a t Dr Somjee's
survey is neither deep nor systematic, a n d D r Somjee l a c k s the
requisite 'bag o f tools' t o c a r r y out
effectively the t a s k he has undert a k e n . One m e t h o d o l o g i c a l question
seems to have escaped h i m a l t o gether: w h a t guarantee is there t h a t
voters finally vote as t h e y have t o l d
the i n v e s t i g a t o r s they w o u l d ? A g a i n ,
h o w does one k n o w t h e y give the
reasons w h i c h r e a l l y p r o m p t t h e m ,
assuming
that
they are c l e a r l y
a w a r e o f them?
Dr Somjee's p a m p h l e t seems to
have been w r i t t e n in a great h u r r y .
Spelling a n d p u n c t u a t i o n leave m u c h
to be desired. One sentence reads:
' T h i s d i f f i c u l t y was a l l the more
greater in the case of female samples." (Emphasis added) T h e n there
is a gem on p 24: " A m o n g the P a t i dars the samples w h o failed to express
their
vote-intention
were
7,
1959
essentially female samples."
(Emphasis added)
W h a t were they
inessentially?
These c r i t i c i s m s should not be
understood to mean t h a t the reviewer does not welcome the pamphlet.
He does.
Dr Somjee's endeavour
deserves to be praised. He is on
the r i g h t r o a d a n d t h a t i s the i m p o r t a n t t h i n g . L e t us hope t h a t in
the near future the D e p a r t m e n t of
P o l i t i c a l Science i n B a r o d a w i l l lead
the other U n i v e r s i t i e s i n t h i s type
of research.
Rural sociology in India
T H I S is a revised a n d considerably
enlarged version o f D r
Desai's earlier
Introduction
to
R u r a l Sociology i n I n d i a ' . B o t h
books have the same
pattern: a
first section discussing some of the
problems a n d
categories used in
the study of r u r a l
society, a n d a
second p a r t consisting of
reprints
a n d abridgements of various subs t a n t i v e articles on the subject.
V i r t u a l l y no changes have been
made i n the f i r s t p a r t o f the book.
B u t the 'readings' o f the
earlier
edition, none of w h i c h h a d specific
reference to I n d i a , have been replace d b y w r i t i n g s about I n d i a n r u r a l
society. One or t w o of the articles
selected come f r o m the
'classics' :
f o r example, there is the famous
e x t r a c t f r o m Capita) a n d there are
t w o short pieces f r o m
Baden-Powell's book,
'The O r i g i n a n d
G r o w t h of Village Communities in
I n d i a ' . B u t most of the pieces are
t a k e n f r o m recent publications b y
sociologists, some o f t h e m
from
r e l a t i v e l y inaccessible or ephemeral
sources. I n a d d i t i o n , D r Desai has
classified the pieces i n t o ten sections,
w h i c h are
designed to show the
change a n d development n o w t a k i n g
place i n I n d i a n r u r a l society, and
the obstacles w h i c h such developments meet.
It is to be
regretted that Dr
Desai w a s not able to apply to the
first p a r t of the
book the
same
r a d i c a l surgery w h i c h he has used
on the second. W h e n a t h i r d edit i o n of the book is contemplated,
I w o u l d recommend
t h a t the f o l l o w i n g points should be t a k e n i n t o
consideration. F i r s t l y , a l t h o u g h the
By A R Desai. The I n d i a n Society
o f A g r i c u l t u r a l Economics, B o m b a y ,
1959. pp x v i i i , 440, Price Rs 20.
categories a n d theoretical
framew o r k of the first p a r t of the book
are i n m a n y w a y s d i r e c t l y applicable to I n d i a n society, there nevertheless remains here a n d there an
o u t l o o k a n d approach w h i c h i s not
I n d i a n , but A m e r i c a n . F o r instance
in the chapter on E c o n o m y , I consider t h a t the d i s t i n c t i v e character
of
I n d i a n a s against A m e r i c a n
a g r i c u l t u r e — its
labour-intensiveness — is not sufficiently b r o u g h t
out.
Secondly there is an u n f o r t u n a t e
a i r o f 'manifesto' o r ' p r o g r a m m e '
p e r v a d i n g the first p a r t of the book.
W e are c o n t i n u a l l y being t o l d w h a t
should be done. I confine m y s e l f
to one example, f r o m page 20 :
" A detailed map o f I n d i a indicati n g various n a t u r a l a n d economic
regions; i n d i c a t i n g areas inhabited
b y populations l i v i n g i n v a r i o u s
stages of economic development;
s h o w i n g l i n g u i s t i c regions i n c l u d i n g
regions based on different dialects
as w e l l as different v a r i a t i o n s of the
m a i n language; a n d showing, f u r ther, religious regions based on
different religious beliefs p r e v a i l i n g
a m o n g the people; w i l l t h r o w great
l i g h t on some of the m o s t b u r n i n g
problems o f I n d i a n s o c i e t y . , . . "
W o u l d it n o t have been better, in
a book designed to introduce people
to the subject, to show t h e m w h a t
has been done: or even, if such a
m a p is an 'urgent need' to m a k e it
a n d publish i t i n the book? The basis
o f m y c r i t i c i s m i s t h a t m a n y o f the
questions
described in the first
p a r t of the book as
r e q u i r i n g an
u r g e n t answer, could in fact have
been
answered, at least in
part,
f r o m the
readings
g i v e n i n the
second part, or f r o m other sources.
One m i g h t even
argue t h a t more
353
is k n o w n about the
peasants of
I n d i a , t h e i r economic, p o l i t i c a l a n d
religious life, t h a n about peasants
anywhere i n the
world. The first
p a r t o f D r Desai's book has not
tapped the r i c h sources of i n f o r m a t i o n to be found in the older, as
w e l l as more
recent,
literature
about the I n d i a n countryside.
T h i r d l y I w o u l d l i k e to suggest
t h a t i n future editions o f the book
there should be some discussion of
sociological
t h e o r y ; at
least an
e x p l a n a t i o n of such basic concepts
as 'structure', ' f u n c t i o n ' , 'system',
and so f o r t h . It
is true t h a t an
intelligent reader w i l l pick up the
m e a n i n g when he goes t h r o u g h the
second part of the book, but, unless
he is exceptionally intelligent, he
w i l l not realise that behind m a n y
of the analyses lies a coherent and
systematic
body of sociological
theory.
F i n a l l y the
student
w h o uses
this book w o u l d benefit if he were
t o l d s o m e t h i n g o f the methods a n d
techniques
w h i c h can be used in
the study of r u r a l society, I t h i n k
it w o u l d add life to the book if one
were t o l d h o w a survey is conducted, o f w h a t intensive f i e l d w o r k
consists,
h o w questionnaires are
framed, w h a t a genealogy is. w h a t
the 'case
m e t h o d ' is, and,
most
i m p o r t a n t l y , i f the student were
w a r n e d to look at p a r t i c u l a r bodies
o f i n f o r m a t i o n a n d t o t r y t o evaluate t h e i r accuracy and w o r t h
against the methods used to collect
t h a t i n f o r m a t i o n , A teaching book
should t r y at least to inculcate the
habit of criticism.
Nevertheless, if i n t e l l i g e n t l y used,
D r Desai's book w i l l provide a stim u l a t i n g a i d to class-room teaching.
THE
ECONOMIC
WEEKLY
254
March 7, 1959
355