Social Structures of the Economy

Barring a few exceptions, Indian sociology has traditionally worked in the cultural-symbolic register rather than the political-economic one. While there is some work on labour, industry, and agrarian markets, the discipline as a whole has shied away from “economic” matters. As a result, it has also been kept at arm’s length from policy conversations. Some economists, on the other hand, have discussed “social structures of accumulation” and examined how culture and social hierarchies of gender, caste and region “regulate” the economy.

Research and allied activities within this research cluster aims to nudge Indian sociology beyond the “embedded” thesis to show how commerce, production, and finance often occur in the service of the reproduction of social dominance.