Dipankar Gupta

Deepankar Gupta (born 11 October 1949) is an Indian sociologist and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor at Shiv Nadar University and director, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory.^[1] He was formerly Professor in the Centre for the Study of Social Systems,^[2] Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. For a brief period from 1993–1994, he was also associated with the Delhi School of Economics as Professor in the Department of Sociology. His current research interests include rural-urban transformation, labour laws in the informal sector, modernity, ethnicity, caste and stratification. He is a regular columnist with The Times of India, The Hindu and occasionally in The Indian Express and Anandbazar Patrika in Bengali. He serves on the board of institutions like the Reserve Bank of India, the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) and Max India.

Early life and education

Gupta was born in Patna, Bihar before going to school and college in Delhi, Mumbai and Kanpur. He completed his MA in Sociology from the in 1971, before doing his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1977.

Career

Gupta has had a diverse career in academics, the corporate world and in government agencies. Between 1980 to 2009 Gupta was a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for the Study of Social Systems. Between 1990 and 2007 he was co-editor of Contributions to Indian Sociology

Over the years he has held many appointments and fellowships in universities in North America, Europe and UK. He served as Visiting Professor in the University of Toronto, Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, London School of Economics (as Leverhulme Professor), Institute of Politics and Social Science (Science-Po) (first Asian nominee), Paris, University of Belfast and Deusto University in Bilbao, Spain. He has also been a Shastri-Indo Canadian Fellow, a Charles Wallace Fellow,^[3] a Fulbright Program, and a .

He started and led KPMG's Business Ethics and Integrity Division, New Delhi; was a member of the National Security Advisory Board and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority. He has also been on the Board of Governors of the Doon School.

Contribution to Indian sociology

In his study of caste he turns things around by arguing that jati units are discrete in character, which is why the caste order has multiple hierarchies, depending on the perspective from which it is viewed. On the subject of ethnicity he shows how context determines identity and why the majority community attacks in the name of the "people" and the minority responds as "citizens". In his studies on rural India he shows how the old agrarian structure has given way because it has collapsed from within, this is why what was once rural is not quite the same as before. The increase in non-farm occupations in villages has impacted the number of traditional institutions such as caste, family and occupations. His work on modernity received notice because he puts forward the view that it is not "things" that make modernity, but how people relate to one another. In this sense modernity is not about cars, factories and chimney stacks, but about ethical anonymity that governs social relations. His latest book "Revolution from above: India's future and the Citizen Elite (2013)" he puts forward the controversial thesis, with historical illustrations, that democracy advances every time interventions are made from above. Through this book he urges the Indian elite to stand up and be counted and not remain contented with their privileged position.

Awards

• 2013 D.Litt. Honoris Causa, University of Burdwan, West Bengal
• 2010 Chevalier D'Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres, (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) French Government Award
• 2004 Malcolm Adeseshiah Award
• 2004 Eric Wolf/Krishna Bharadwaj Award

Publications

Scholarly texts

• Gupta, Deepankar (2013). Revolution from Above: India's Future and the Citizen Elite. Rainlight. ISBN 8129124602. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2011). Justice before Reconciliation: Negotiating a ‘New Normal’ in Post-riot Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Routledge. ISBN 1136196862. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2011). The caged phoenix: can India fly?. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804771898. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2005). Learning to Forget: The Anti-Memoirs of Modernity. Oxford University Press India. ISBN 0195674332. 
• Béteille, André (2005). Gupta, Deepankar, ed. Anti-utopia: Essential Writings of André Béteille. Oxford University Press India. ISBN 0198075979. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2004). Ethics Incorporated: Top Priority and Bottom Line. Sage. ISBN 0761934715. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2004). Gupta, Deepankar, ed. Caste in question: identity or hierarchy?. Sage. ISBN 0761933247. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2000). Interrogating Caste: Understanding Hierarchy and Difference in Indian Society. Penguin Books India. ISBN 0140297065. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2000). Mistaken Modernity: India Between Worlds. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 8172234155. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2000). Culture, Space and the Nation-State: From Sentiment to Structure. Sage. ISBN 0761994998. 
• Das, Veena; Gupta, Deepankar; Uberoi, Patricia, eds. (1999). Tradition, pluralism and identity: in honour of T.N. Madan. Contributions to Indian Sociology: Occasional studies 8. Sage. ISBN 0761993819. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1997). Rivalry and brotherhood: politics in the life of farmers in northern India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195641019. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1996). The Context of Ethnicity: Sikh Identity in a Comparative Perspective. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195636945. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1996). Political Sociology in India: Contemporary Trends. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 8125006656. 
• Gupta, Deepankar, ed. (1992). Social stratification. Oxford University Press. 
• Sharma, Kanhaiya Lal; Gupta, Deepankar, eds. (1991). Country-town nexus: studies in social transformation in contemporary India. Rawat Publications. ISBN 8170330998. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1982). Nativism in a Metropolis: The Shiv Sena in Bombay. Manohar. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1982). Endogamy and Status Mobility among Siddiqui Shaikh in Social Stratication. Manohar. 

Select articles

• Gupta, Deepankar (2014). "Beyond 'Cleavage Politics’". In Jalan, Bimal; Balakrishnan, P. Politics Trumps Economics. New Delhi: Harper Collins. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2014). "From Poverty to Poverty: Translating Growth to Development in India". In Parry, Jonathan P. Persistence of Poverty in India. New Delhi: Social Science Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar. "The Blind Side of Globalization: Auditing Merchant Producers in India’s Export Sector". In Heath, Anthony; Jeffery, Roger. Change and Diversity: Economics, Politics and Society in Contemporary India. Proceedings of the British Academy 159. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2009). "Gandhi before Habermas: The Democratic Content of Ahimsa". Economic and Political Weekly (Mumbai) XLIV (10). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (Autumn 2008). "The Importance of Being Inconsistent: Modernizing Gandhi". India International Centre Quarterly (Delhi) 35. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2007). "How Rural is Rural India: Rethinking Options for Farming and Farmers". In Ray, Shovan. Handbook of Agriculture in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2007). "Citizens versus People: The Politics of Majoritariansm and Marginalization in Democratic India". Sociology of Religion 68 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2006). "The Politics of 'Caste is Race': The Impact of Urbanisation". In Pinkten, Rik; Preckler, Ellen. Racism in Metropolitan Areas. New York: Berghahn Books. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2005). "Caste and Politics: Identity over System". Annual Review of Anthropology 2005. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2005). "Between Communalism and Ethnicity". In Kaur, Ravinder. Religion, Violence and Political Mobilization in South Asia. New Delhi: Sage. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2005). "The Anti-Utopian Liberal: An Introduction to the Works of Andre Beteille". In Gupta, Deepankar. Anti-Utopia: Essential Writings of Andre Beteille. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2005). "Whither the Indian Village: Culture and Agriculture in Rural India". Economic and Political Weekly (Mumbai) 40. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2004). "The Certitudes of Caste: When Identity Trumps Hierarchy". Contribution to Indian Sociology (New Delhi) 38. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2003). "Between Ethnicity and Communalism: The Significance of the Nation-State". Edinburgh Papers in South Asian Studies 18. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2003). "Meeting Felt Aspiration: Towards a New Paradigm of Development". Indian Journal of Labour Economics (New Delhi) 46. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2002). "Social Stratification". In Das, Veena. The Oxford Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology. Delhi: Oxford University, Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2002). "The Limits of Tolerance: The Prospects of Secularism in India after Gujarat". Economic and Political Weekly (Mumbai) 37. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2001). "Exaggeration as a Weapon: Routine Repression in Peasant Societies". Journal of Peasant Studies (London) 29. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2001). "Structures Sociales et Castes". Revue Des Deux Mondes (Paris). Special Number on India. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (2000). Thapar, Romila, ed. India: Another Millennium. New Delhi: Penguin Books. 

• Gupta, Deepankar (1999). "Caste and Politics: The Presumption of Numbers". In Das, Veena; Gupta, Deepankar; Uberoi, Patricia. Tradition, Pluralism and Identity. New Delhi. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1999). "Civil Society and the State: What Happened to Citizenship". In Guha, R.; Parry, J.P. Institutions and Inequalities. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1997). "Civil Society in the Indian Context". Contemporary Sociology (Massachusetts) 26 (3). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1996). "Engaging With Events: The Specifics of Political Sociology in India". Current Sociology (London) 44 (3). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1995). "Can Postmodernism be Universalized: Derrida and Baudrillard in the Tropics". Contributions to Indian Sociology (Delhi) 29 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1995). "Ethnicity, Religion and National Politics in India". In Berberoglu, Berch. The National Question: National, Ethnic Conflicts and Self Determination in Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1993). "The Indian Diaspora of 1947: The Political and Ethnic Consequences of the Partition with Special Reference to Delhi". In Israel, Milton; Wagle, N. Ethnicity and Migration: The South Asia Experience. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1993). "Between General and Particular 'Others': Some Observations on Fundamentalism". Contributions to Indian Sociology 27 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1992). "The Ethnic Imago and its Correlative Spaces: An Essay on Some Aspects of Sikh Identity and Perceptions in Contemporary Punjab". Contributions to Indian Sociology 26 (2). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1992). "Peasant Unionism in Uttar Pradesh: Against the Rural Mentality Thesis". Journal of Contemporary Asia (Manila) 22 (2). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1991). "Communalism and Fundamentalism: Some Notes on the Nature of Ethnic Politics in India". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1990). "Ethnicity and Politics in the India Nation-State". Journal of Contemporary Asia (Manila) 20 (4). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1988). "For Sociology/Anthropology of Illness: Towards a Delineation of its disciplinary Specificities". International Sociology (London) 3 (4). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1988). et al.. "Punjab: Communalized Beyond Politics". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay) 23 (33). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1988). "The Country Town Nexus and Agrarian Mobilization: The Bharatiya Kisan Union as an Instance". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay) 23 (52). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1986). "Continuous Hierarchies and Discrete Classes: A Study of Peasant Mobilizations in India". In Sharma, K.L. Social Stratification in India. Delhi: Manohar Books. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1986). "Tribal Development in a West Bengal District: Programme, Structure and Process". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay) 21 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1985). "On Altering the Ego in Peasant history. Paradoxes of the Ethnic Option". Peasant Studies (Utah) 13 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1985). "Languages, Peoples, Regions". Esprit (Paris). Special Number on India. 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1984). "Continuous Hierarchies and Discrete Castes". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay) 19 (46). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1983). "Racism without Colour: The Catholic Ethic and Ethnicity in Quebec". Race and Class (London) 25 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1983). "Sociologism, Marxism and the Anthropological Imagination". Journal of Contemporary Asia (Stockholm/London) 13 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1982). "Paradigms and Discourses: New Frontiers in the Sociology of Knowledge". Sociological Bulletin (Bombay) 31 (1). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1981). "Caste, Infrastructure and Superstructure: A Critique". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay) 16 (51). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1980). "Real and Formal Subsumption of Labour under Capital: The Instance of Share Cropping". Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay) 15 (39). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1980). "From Varna to Jati: The Indian Caste System from the Asiatic to the Feudal Mode of Production". Journal of Contemporary Asia (Stockholm/London) 10 (3). 
• Gupta, Deepankar (1977). "Causes and Constraints of an Urban Social Movement". Contributions to Indian Sociology 11 (1). 

References