This is a collection of original essays written in honour of André Béteille, an outstanding sociologist and social anthropologist. Based on intensive fieldwork and archival research, the settings vary from a steel plant in Madhya Pradesh to temples in Tamil Nadu. Discussing themes and arguments from the oeuvre of André Béteille, the book focuses on individuals as well as social classes or communities and inequalities set in India, China, Russia, Japan, and England. Dealing with the relationship between institutions and inequalities, the essays move from studies of changing patterns of stratification through an analysis of agrarian structure to assessments of policies of protective discrimination. Exploring various themes in Béteille's work, such as the place of the individual in Indian history, the functioning of institutions in civil society, and the threats to secularism, the volume also relocates him in the great tradition of comparative social theory.

This book is a collection of essays in honour of André Béteille which discuss the relationship between institutions and inequalities, changing patterns of stratification, agrarian structure, and policies of protective discrimination.