THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted sociologist Andre Beteille has said that who controls whom is the crux of the political dynamics of the social institutions.
Addressing university and college teachers at the Academic Staff College of the Kerala University here on Wednesday, he said that there are tremendous political manipulations in every social institution.
Beteille said that politics operates in every social institution, including family. Power structure operates in both formal and informal ways in social institutions.
What is required is a balance between formal and informal, which is possible through negotiation between power structures. But, too much of negotiation will lead to a state where no business is possible, he added.
Beteille is one of India’s leading sociologists, particularly well-known for his studies of the caste system in South India.
He was a Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics at the University of Delhi, where he is Professor Emeritus of Sociology since 2003.
In his long and distinguished career, he has taught at Oxford University, Cambridge University, the University of Chicago, and the London School of Economics. He is currently Chairman of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and of the Indian Council of Social Science Research.
Beteille has received the Padma Bhushan as a mark of recognition for his work in the field of Sociology. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s National Knowledge Commission.
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