Socio-economic change and the religion factor in India

An Indian Symposium of views on Max Weber.

Under what conditions can India hope to become an industrial nation? * Does such a process require a radical break with tradition? * Are there some aspects of Indian tradition which are favourable to industrial develop- ment? This volume representing the close cooperation and considered opinions of over thirty Western and Indian scholars and social scientists, seeks to ans- wer these questions, which are of vital interest to sociologists, political scientists, economists, and others who concern themselves with socio-economic changes in India and other developing countries. To study in a modern context these important questions, posed years ago by the German socio- logist, Max Weber, a Seminar was convened in 1966 in Hyderabad (India), under the auspices of the National Institute of Community Development. The editors offered for discussion an essay centred on Max Weber's thesis concerning India and Protestantism in its bold outline. This work represents the exchange of ideas thereon. The essay is presented in separate chapters along with critiques and additional editorial comments after main divisions. These divisions deal with certain aspects of culture, such as the cognitive (knowledge), the expressive (feeling) and the evaluative; and with structural concepts of society such as caste, power, etc.,-also with such social processes as communication, socialization, etc., as related to conditions of time, space and size of organization.