The book under review, Social Transformation in Rural India, consists of 15 essays which are grouped into three sec¬tions. The first section mainly deals with theoretical and methodological issues. The second section, which is entitled ‘The State and the Rural Poor’, focuses atten¬tion on socio-economic changes in rural India. And, in the last section, ‘Agrarian Organizations and Move¬ments’, the emphasis is on themes of social mobilization and institution building towards social transformation in rural India. The papers put together by Professor T.K. Oommen, who has recently received the V.K.R.V. Rao Award, are well-researched and provide a useful insight into the specific areas, which he has chosen to cover. The bulk of the research was conducted in Alleppey District in southern Kerala. The first section of the book, which deals with methodo¬logical issues, seems to be a statement of the obvious—which could be found in most sociology textbooks. Much of this section could have been omitted, with the exception of Prof. Oommen’s rejection of the traditional dichotomy bet¬ween the rural and the urban.
March-April 1985, volume 9, No 3/4