Abstract
The volume edited by Meenakshi Thapan for the series ‘Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and Social Anthropology’ is an important exploration of the different dimensions of the subject of education in India. A significant but understated objective of the anthology also seems to be to generate discussion about the possible role of sociology of education in India, given the present lacunae in our understanding of the relationship between education and society. It is this specific framing that distinguishes Education and Society from other anthologies on education in recent times that have had a largely thematic focus.
In her general introduction to the book, Thapan provides an overview of the theoretical and conceptual frames (especially those developed in the West) that have influenced sociology of education. Together with this discussion, she also draws attention to the shortcomings that characterise approaches adopted by sociologists of education in India. Her critique in this regard is cited below at some length since it not only explains the choice of articles in the anthology but also provides a glimpse into the possibilities that exist for sociological and educational research in India.
Sociological studies of schools as institutions in India are rare. It is often the case that sociologists of education in India focus on the ‘structures’ of society vis-à-vis education, whether these include the state and various policy perspectives and initiatives in education: the economy, the family and socialising practices; the relationship between politics and educational practices; and so on. It is a rare sociologist who seeks to understand educational institutions in themselves as sociological ‘problems’ worthy of the sociological gaze. The micro-level focus is essential for an in-depth understanding of such institutions which are, no doubt, located in the wider, macro-structures that constitute the society. Such studies would actually help us gain insights into the working of such institutions (pp. 29–30).
Along with the preference that Thapan indicates for micro-level studies, she engages an added criterion for the selection of the essays, that is, studies that seek to give voice to the human subject’s multi-dimensional experiences of education. Consequently, a significant number of studies that have adopted the ethnographic approach have been included in the anthology and these serve to enrich the understanding of educational themes, institutions and practices. Yet another striking feature about the articles included in the anthology is that except for the 1989 publication by Krishna Kumar on ‘Texts and Values’, the rest of the essays/excerpts included are publications dating between 2003 and 2011. This feature could well be read as an indication of the fact that the kind of work that Thapan regards as best exemplifying sociology of education is emerging only in recent times.
The 20 essays in the book are organised under six themes. The themes are selected with a view to provide an understanding of the relationship between education and society in India. The set of essays under each section devoted to a theme is preceded by an introduction that highlights the salience of the theme and contextualises its significance vis-à-vis education, in general, and the scheme of the book, in particular. The chosen themes are: (i) education for the good citizen: values, ideals, practices; (ii) Civic education and the making of identities; (iii) inside schools: contexts, processes, practices; (iv) educational texts and their transmission; (v) education and forms of social inequality; and (vi) youth, educational outcomes and dilemmas.
Essays in the first section reflect on the possible approaches through which education and values can be linked in order to enhance the growth of the individual as well as the institutions and the society. The second section on civic education and the making of identities includes essays that examine the understanding of citizenship and identity introduced with varying degrees of success by processes of schooling. The third section, which has the richest collection of essays, explores the actual school contexts in which children learn. The fourth section focuses on the meanings associated with textbooks in the contexts of the schools and their specific use. The fifth section includes essays that attend to how different forms of social and structural inequalities impact education and also how education exacerbates existing inequalities. The last section, the only one on higher education, comprises essays that dwell on the nature of options available to the educated youth.
A thread that runs through the essays included in Education and Society relates to the contradiction engendered by educational processes. The contradiction rests in the fact that education holds the potential both to constrain and to liberate the individual. The significance of each article derives from its examination and explanation of why and how different individuals within the education system engage with this tension. Providing a summary of each article in the anthology could have provided a better sense of how the dynamics of education has been understood and analysed by the individual authors. Given the constraints of space, however, these details cannot be addressed in this review.
However, an anthology is as much about the editor as the individual contributors and in lieu of an overview of each of the essays, the following lists, alphabetically, the contributors: Shalini Advani, Gaysu R. Arvind, Purwa Bharadwaj, Dipta Bhog, Vivek Dhareshwar, Peggy Froerer, Latika Gupta, Zoya Hasan, Radhika Herzberger, Craig Jeffrey, Devesh Kapur, Krishna Kumar, Ritty A. Lukose, Amman Madan, Manabi Majumdar, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Ritu Menon, Disha Mullick, Martha Nussbaum, Sanjay Srivastava, Meenakshi Thapan, Padma Velaskar and Anne Waldrop.
Not surprisingly, an anthology invariably lends itself to interrogation about the articles that are included and as pertinently for ones that are left out. In relation to the latter, the most curious omission in Education and Society is in the section on textbooks. This section neither includes any article discussing the controversy around the cartoon involving Dr B.R. Ambedkar nor does the introduction section even allude to it. Given the insight that the editor herself provides about how ‘[I]n India the debate around school textbooks has been lodged in politics around contested understandings of what constitutes legitimate knowledge’ (p. 339), the omission is inexplicable. Even as it enables contemplation about such significant absences, the volume will undoubtedly be an invaluable and critical resource for all who seek a deeper understanding about the processes of schooling and education in India.