Context and Emergence

• As Indology (textual and scriptural approach) declined post-independence, scholars sought empirical, realistic frameworks to study Indian society.

• The structural functionalist perspective emerged in the 1940s, aligning with India's developmental state priorities and welfare planning.

• Influenced by Western sociology (Parsons, Merton, Radcliffe-Brown, Malinowski), early Indian sociologists adapted these ideas to Indian field realities.

Key Contributors

1. M. N. Srinivas – Pioneered this approach in India. Conducted fieldwork among Coorgs of Mysore.

   • Emphasized ethnographic realism, moving away from American abstraction.

   • Concepts like Sanskritization, Dominant Caste exemplify structural-functional insights.

2. W. H. Wiser – Applied this perspective to the Jajmani system, highlighting its integrative function.

3. S. C. Dube – Used structural-functionalism to understand village India through micro-level field studies.

4. K. M. Kapadia, Irawati Karve – Studied family and kinship, locating their functions in Indian cultural context.

Core Features of Indian Structural Functionalism

• Holistic study of social institutions (caste, family, religion) and their interconnectedness.

• Focus on social order, cohesion, and integration.

• Use of empirical fieldwork instead of textual analysis.

• Emphasis on customs, beliefs, and values in shaping social solidarity.

• It accounted for actual structural cleavages, including caste and kinship.

• Shifted from the view of a static Indian society to a dynamic, changing one.

• Functionalism applied not only to culture but to changing social structures.

Criticisms

• Diluted application compared to pure Western functionalism.

• Overemphasis on consensus and order, ignoring conflict, inequality, and power relations (e.g., caste oppression).

• Failed to explain dysfunctions and persistence of oppressive institutions like caste.

• Accused of status quo bias and of upholding upper caste hegemony (e.g., through Sanskritization).