Social context of an ideology : Ambedkar's political and social thought

Social movements are not idiosyncratic events. which just happen. They are characterised by identifiable patterns of behaviour which take the shape of collective attempts to bring about social change or even to prevent the changing of specific social institutions. As such, social movements are capable of scientific analysis.

In this major study, Professor M.S. Gore examines the nature of an ideology of protest and locates it within the broader framework of a study of social movements on the one hand and the sociology of idea-systems on the other. The movement he studies is the one launched by Dr B.R. Ambedkar to promote the interests of the untouchables and other deprived groups in India.

Professor Gore begins by discussing the con cept of social movements and the nature of an ideology of protest. The next section traces the evolution and maturation of Ambedkar's ideol ogy, showing how he arrived at the conclusion that the untouchables could not hope to find life of self-respect within the Hindu fold and Ambedkar's choice of Buddhism as the best solution for them.

The next section discusses Ambedkar's tren chant analysis of Hinduism and of Hindu soci ety and the social and spiritual meaning he found in Buddhism. Professor Gore returns to his theoretical concerns in the final section. He shows how ideology can influence historical interpretation and how ideology itself can be influenced by social context and the social loca tion of the progenitor of an ideology.

A major contribution to the theory of social movements, this book will interest sociologists, political scientists and all those engaged in the search for a just social order.