Below is a Notion-compatible, UPSC-ready note on “Study of Contemporary Indian Society through Major Perspectives”, keeping the same three perspectives and extending them to post-Independence / contemporary India.

Study of Contemporary Indian Society: Major Perspectives

Contemporary Indian society is marked by rapid social change, driven by industrialization, urbanization, globalization, state intervention, and social movements. Sociologists have continued to analyze these changes using Indological, Structural-Functional, and Marxist (Dialectical) perspectives.

1. Indological Perspective in Contemporary Indian Society

(G. S. Ghurye – Extended)

Core Argument

Even in modern India, tradition continues to shape social institutions, values, and identities.

Focus Areas in Contemporary Context

• Persistence of caste consciousness despite constitutional equality
• Survival of rituals, kinship, family norms in urban life
• Religion as a source of identity and social cohesion
• Continuity of civilizational ethos under modern structures

Application to Contemporary Society

• Caste in politics (vote banks, identity mobilization)
• Arranged marriages coexisting with love marriages
• Religious festivals as mass social institutions
• Tribes moving from isolation to integration

Contribution