Overview

Sociology programs from Jawaharlal Nehru University its inception and in keeping with the mandate of the JNU Act, the core thematic concerns of the Centre included questions of national development and problems of the marginalized social groups such as the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and the others. This thrust has been a persistent feature of the CSSS ever since and it is not surprising that our teaching and research show engagement with pressing questions of development, marginalization, social justice and social movements to name a few.

Key facts

Their teaching and research programs have been conceptualized with an aim to develop systematic and comparative approaches to the analysis of social phenomena. Drawing upon the extant social anthropological and sociological perspectives and combining them with interdisciplinary orientations facilitate such approaches.

Broadly, the prospects for sociology in India were seen as resting on a continued tradition of research based on a variety of methods and intellectual orientations. This plurality of theoretical and methodological approaches remains a persisting and defining feature of the CSSS. This enabled us to respond more quickly to critical social developments, as well as, new intellectual currents. Importantly, the institutional flexibility of JNU and also the intellectual openness of the CSSS made it possible for new areas such as gender studies, diaspora studies, tribal studies and Dalit studies to be incorporated more readily.