Published Paper Details:

India has a long history of urbanisation and urban spread, any systematic study on Indian urban phenomena began only in early 20th century, at a time when urban sociology was getting recognition as a distinct branch of Sociology in the U.S.A. and other western countries. The birth and growth of urban sociology in India was rather slow. The reasons for this can be attributed to many factors. If we look at the geographical differentiation of Indian land into rural and urban areas, it could be observed that the vast majority of the Indian population lives in the so called rural areas. Populations in those areas, which are demarcated as urban, accommodates less than 31% (2011 Indian Census Report). This was one of the major factors which held against the requirement for a scientific discipline to study urban phenomena in India. But the majority criterion, however cannot ignore the significant variations in the institutional and organisational behaviour of the people in the urban context. At present, the urban field is subjected to multidisciplinary research involving disciplines such as economics, geography, history, political science and demography besides sociology. A more direct source for a sociological study of urbanism and urbanisation come from the studies of sociologically relevant aspects of urban social life and of segments of urban population, relating to issues such as immigration, caste system, occupational segmentation, family organisation, politics and religion etc. The birth and growth, and the state of urban sociology in India as a distinct branch of sociology discipline can be examined by taking stock of the studies on urban social settings in India that contributed to the development of the discipline. Since it is beyond the scope of this unit to include all the sociologically relevant urban studies, this research work confines its discussion to only some selected areas that fall under urban sociology.