Processes of social change

Story hook

In a village in 1950s Mysore, a sociologist named M.N. Srinivas noticed something curious. A community of toddy-tappers — middling in the caste hierarchy — had begun to give up alcohol and meat, wear the sacred thread, and hire Brahmin priests for their rituals. They were not changing their occupation or their wealth; they were imitating the lifestyle of the higher castes to claim a higher status. Srinivas gave this process a name that became one of the most famous ideas in Indian sociology: Sanskritisation. A few years later, watching English-educated Indians adopt Western dress, ideas and institutions, he coined its companion concept — Westernisation.

These were attempts to answer a deceptively simple question: how does a society as old and layered as India actually change? Indian society is not static — but it doesn't change the way textbook "modernisation theory" predicted either. The joint family did not vanish; caste did not dissolve; religion did not retreat neatly before science. Instead, India shows a peculiar pattern where tradition and modernity coexist and even reinforce each other — caste groups use the internet to organise, ancient festivals are celebrated on social media, and "modern" professionals consult astrologers.

Understanding the processes of social change — Sanskritisation, Westernisation, Modernisation, Secularisation and social mobility — gives you the vocabulary to analyse every other society topic, from caste and gender to globalisation and urbanisation. It is the theoretical toolkit of GS-I society.

Why this matters for UPSC

A foundational Mains topic (GS-I society) — the conceptual lens for analysing caste, family, gender, globalisation and urbanisation. Prelims occasionally tests the definitions (Sanskritisation vs Westernisation, who coined them). Mains and interviews reward candidates who can name the process at work in a social phenomenon. It is the theory that underpins the whole subject.