Urbanizaiton and Social Change

This book examines the social changes in a village that result from the feed-back effects of urbanization. The author lived
in the village of Yadavpur, which is situated on the Delhi metropolitan fringe, in order that he may come really close to the subject
of his investigations. A rare feature of the book is the treatment of sociology of consumption in_the context of urbanization. Status differentiation obtains on the basis of increasing consumption of urban goods and services, and this is seen in relation to the
investment potential of farmers. Unlike usual village studies, this book gives a comprehensive account of all the wider forces to which a village on the metropolitan fringe is exposed; consequently it can explain why certain social changes have followed one direction rather than another. To this end Professor Rao has emphasised the value of processual analysis in the study of social change, by examining the process of differentiation of roles and relationships, the alternatives that are open to the people in the face of rapid change, the choices they make and the ki nds of constraints that operate.