Nation, Civil Society and Social Movements: Essays in Political Sociology, and: Peasant Movements in Post-colonial India (review)

Reviewed by Peter J. Smith Athabasca University T.K. Oommen, Nation, Civil Society and Social Movements: Essays in Political Sociology. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004, 266 pp. Debal K. Singha Roy, Peasant Movements in Post-colonial India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004, 275 pp. Most approaches to the study of social movements are grounded in European and North American realities. Too little analysis is informed by consideration of social movements elsewhere, particularly from the Global South. This is regrettable as such intellectual encounters can prompt us to reconsider the basic assumptions and limitations of our own approaches. These two contributions to the study of social movements within the context of the Indian subcontinent both reconfirm and challenge Western theorization on social movements. While each book is distinctive both agree that, thanks to a vibrant civil society, and the activities of social movements, new voices and multiple identities — ethnic, gender, caste, environmental — are emerging within India. Both authors agree that attempts to impose homogenizing concepts of identity in India whether those are based on the nation, religion, class, or modernity, are doomed to fail. Moreover, the emergence of these new social movements and identities owe little to Western ideologies but are rooted in the complexities of India's history and social realities. The first contribution is a self-edited collection of essays by the doyen of India political sociologists, T.K. Oommen. Oommen is an incisive theorist whose essays are grounded in three interrelated themes — nation, civil society and social movements. In regards to the first theme, the nation, Oommen is particularly wary of the dangers of what he describes as "project homogenization", the loss of identity by minority groups at the hands of the nation-state, a common outcome once the nation and state are linked as they were in some cases in Western Europe, for example, France. In these situations of state led nationalism the state grants individual equality of citizenship in compensation [End Page 542] for the loss of minority identities. On the other hand, in South Asia, Oommen argues, both individual equality and group identity will have to co-exist. Only, a pluralist approach respective of identity and equality, he contends, is suitable for India. Oommen is primarily concerned about religion, particularly Hinduism, becoming the basis of national formation in India. Among the dangers of Hinduism, in particular, its more virulent form, Hindutva (devotion to Hinduism), which has been on the rise in the past decade, is that it is hierarchical and inegalitarian and thus not a basis for a democratic polity. Project homogenization under the auspices of Hindu nationalism would offend not only India's Dalits (formerly untouchables), Adivasis (tribal peoples), Dravidian Hindus but also other long standing religious communities, for example, Jains, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims, who, altogether, comprise over half of India's population. The reality of India according to Oommen is that it "is a multinational state, ... a conglomeration of many nations co-existing under one polity." (85) In terms Canadians would understand Oommen argues that a commitment is required for "the dignified coexistence of different identity groups." (84) Also recommended is a greater emphasis on language as a basis for a democratic and egalitarian pluralism for language, while primordial, can be both inclusive and secular providing a better possibility of constitutional recognition and territorial governance for India's plethora of nations. While the first section of the book explores the relationship between state and nation, the next section of essays explore the meaning and emergence of civil society in India. The author is careful to draw important distinctions between Western and Indian experiences on the autonomisation of the state, market and civil society. Western theorization, Oommen argues, emphasizes the autonomisation of, first, the state, then the market, and, finally, civil society. In India, the trajectory was different, first the state, then civil society, and, in the 1990s, the market. The state not long after...

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