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Modernity, backed by tremendous political and intellectual support, spread across the globe in a relatively ˜unproblemmatical` manner. There is hardly any society which has remained immune to the influence of modernity and the degree to which it has impacted different societies is quite profound. When modernity spread everywhere, it came in contact with different socio-economic and political realities prevalent in different societies. One of such realities was ethnicity and ethnic consciousness. Both Marxists and liberals argued that ethnic consciousness would decline in the context of growth of capitalism and the deepening of the process of modernisation. But this argument seems misplaced in the face of spectacular manifestations of ethnicity in the contemporary world. One can rationalise them in terms of inadequate modernisation in the case of traditional societies. But how one would explain them in case of even the ˜modern` and advanced societies, is the question that has not been satisfactorily addressed. Modernity which was expected to have struck a blow to ethnic identities seems to be in a state of helplessness. How one explains this apparent ˜paradox` is the question which has been engaging the attention of the scholars for quite some time now. Though many explanations have been offered, there appears to be a sense of inadequacy in terms of arriving at a comprehensive understanding of the dialectical tension that exists between modernity and ethnicity. This volume would endeavour to engage itself with this by examining concrete empirical situations and in the process interrogating various theoretical formulations which are currently available.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(s)
D.V. Kumar is Professor, Department of Sociology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. His research interests include modernity, ethnicity, development and social change. He has published in leading academic journals in Sociology. His other books are Modernisation and Ethnicity (2006) and Social Change and Development (edited) (2012).
ISBN-978-81-316-0639-1
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