SOCIOLOGY, FLAME UNIVERSITY

Invites you to a talk on

Social Stratification, Neoliberalism and Social Development in India

By

Prof. N. Rajaram

Abstract

The talk will focus on analysing the inter-relationship of social stratification, neoliberalism and social development, especially in India. Right since its appearance in mid-eighties, the neoliberal path of development – based on technology driven global market and minimal state control - has been propagated as the panacea that would bring about human well being in countries across of the world, including India. However, in the last decade or so, scholars have been pointing out that instead of bringing about human well being, the neoliberal path of development has been exacerbating economic & social inequalities, be it in rich countries or in India.  Even social institutions like coops - considered as being able to arrest inequality - have not been able to escape the impact of neoliberal development in India. Current global research data points out that inequalities harm societies. Countries having more inequalities as compared to those having less have social and health outcomes which are not good for human well being. Further, the neoliberal inspired technological changes, is affecting social development be it in rich countries or in India. The lecture concludes by examining the challenges that we face for the future.

Bio-sketch of the Speaker

Professor N.Rajaram has over 38 years of teaching and research experience. His area of research interest is social development. His research work and publications includes the areas of cooperatives (milk and cotton coops of Gujarat), political sociology, health and development, and transnational migration and development.

He began his career in August 1979 in the Department of Sociology, M.S. University of Baroda and was associated with the M.S. University of Baroda till 2010.  On being invited, in May 2010, he joined the newly established Central University of Gujarat at Gandhinagar. He served Central University of Gujarat in various capacities including that of being the first Dean of School of Social Sciences and the first Registrar.  He superannuated at the end of July 2017.

He was the Fulbright Fellow in 2003 at New York University and has had about 15 research projects, seven of which were funded by international agencies like National Science Foundation, Population Council Ford Foundation, IDRC (Canada).

He has been a member of ICSSR-WRC Advisory Committee (2007-10); Member of UGC- Centre for Advance Studies in Sociology, University of Pune (2011-13), Academic Affairs Committee, Department of Sociology, Hyderabad Central University (2011-12); Advisory Committee of Women’s Studies Research Centre, M.S.University of Baroda (2013-18); Member of Board of Studies, Department of HDFS, Faculty of Family & Community Sciences (2017-18); Member of Deparmental Advisory Board in Social Sciences of NCERT, New Delhi (2017-19); Chairperson Board of Studies for Language and Social Sciences, Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad (2018-21).

He is the author of two books (monographs) Health Status of Women in Gujarat (1999) and  Social Process and Communal Tension (2006) and has numerous articles published in International and National journals.