Book contents
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- LSE International Studies
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Activists, Intellectuals, and Movements
- Part II Schools of Thought
- Part III Dissident Sociologists
- 9 Firing Back Imperialism
- 10 A. R. Desai’s Marxist Critique of Nationalism and of the Indian Nation-State
- 11 The Environmental Sociology of Radhakamal Mukerjee
- Part IV On Method
- Index
- References
10 - A. R. Desai’s Marxist Critique of Nationalism and of the Indian Nation-State
Towards a Reframing of Sociology as Social Science*
from Part III - Dissident Sociologists
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2025
By
Book contents
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- LSE International Studies
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Activists, Intellectuals, and Movements
- Part II Schools of Thought
- Part III Dissident Sociologists
- 9 Firing Back Imperialism
- 10 A. R. Desai’s Marxist Critique of Nationalism and of the Indian Nation-State
- 11 The Environmental Sociology of Radhakamal Mukerjee
- Part IV On Method
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter assesses the critique of Indian anticolonial nationalism by A. R. Desai, a Marxist sociologist during the post-independence period (1950s to 1990s). By initiating a debate on the class orientation of Indian nationalism and analyzing the exploitative capitalist processes by the nation-state in post-independence India, Desai overturned the complex and convoluted relationship between anticolonial thought, nationalism, coloniality, and social science scholarship in India. He confronted the existing social anthropological and structural functionalist school of thought dominating sociology in the early years after independence while his project of Marxist historical sociology contributed to the creation of new areas of research for sociology in India. The chapter also highlights some of the limitations in Desai’s scholarship and suggests that his sociology was about opening up new areas of research rather than doing a rigorous Marxist analysis of class relations.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Anticolonialism and Social Thought , pp. 234 - 252Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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