Inner world:a psycho-analytic study of childhood and society in India

I ike to think of this book as a contribution to social psychology in
general and the social psychology of Hindu society in particular.
Readers will quickly discover that I view social psychology as a
study of the psychic representation in individuals of their society's
culture and social institutions. This conception diverges somewhat
from the dominant academic tradition in the subject which is rela-
tively a-cultural and a-historical and is more concerned with studying
the reactions of individuals in the 'here-and-now' situations of social
stimulus.

This book first began to take shape in a seminar 'Childhood and
Society in India', which I gave at the Sigmund-Freud Institute of
Psycho-analytic Training and Research in Frankfurt in the summer
of 1972. I am grateful to Professor Clemens De Boor and the Insti-
tute's Training Committee for their encouragement. The work on
this study was continued and completed with the help of a Senior
Fellowship of the Indian Council of Social Science Research during
1975-76. I am extremely grateful to the Council and especially to its
member-secretary Mr. J. P. Naik for the support which freed me
from academic commitments and allowed me to work undisturbed

on the manuscript for almost eighteen months. My colleagues at the
Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
provided a hospitable environment during the period of this fellow-
ship.
Discussions with psycho-analytic colleagues, both in Germany and
India, have considerably helped in giving final shape to this work.
The detailed comments of Erik Erikson, respected teacher and dear
friend, have been invaluable. Above all, I owe a special debt of grati-
tude to Pamela Daniels. She helped to shape many of the ideas in
this book. Without her personal involvement, critical acumen and
sympathetic support this book could not have been written in its
present form.