Publications
Socio-Cultural Diversities and Globalization Issues
by Shiv R. Mehta
Neo-liberalism through marketization,
privatization and globalization was pursued as an ideology
by the developed nations during the last three decades or
so to control and influence the global economy including that
of the developing nations.
In our context, globalization as a process to integrate our
economy with that of the world got initiated in the early
1990s after the Indian State depleted its resources and mortgaged
the reserves at its command. We had no option but to open
our economy to the market economic forces. However, in certain
quarters, it is argued that globalization as a phenomenon
and process, was likely to bring in the social transformation
of the Indian society by affecting our social institutional
and organizational arrangements while there were others who
thought that because of socio-cultural diversities inherent
in our social structure, globalization might have limited
penetration in our agricultural and bio-massed society. The
present book is an outcome of the papers presented and deliberations
made in a seminar on 'Socio-Cultural Diversities and Globalization'
by eminent scholars drawn in from different disciplines on
these two divergent perspectives on globalization.
Shiv R. Mehta, a former
Baba Prithvi Singh Azad Professor in Sociology, at Panjab
University, Chandigarh, had a rare distinction of being a
Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla,
to research on “New Understanding of the Indian Society:
Encounters with Sociology” between 2004 to 2007. Before
joining Panjab University, Chandigarh, Professor Mehta was
a Sociologist and Head of Evaluation in the World Bank Project
on Rural Development in Mauritius for nearly five years. He
also had a stint with the World Health Organisation, SEARO,
New Delhi, as a Short Term Consultant, on 'Teamwork in Primary
Health Care' in 1984.
Professor Mehta has published extensively and his major publications
include Emerging Pattern of Rural Leadership (1972), Social
Development in Mauritius (1981), Rural Development Policies
and Programmes (1984), Society and Health (1992), Communication
and Development (Ed. 1992), Poverty, Population and Sustainable
Development: Essays in Honour of Professor Victor S. D'Souza
(Ed. 1997), Dynamics of Development (1999), Social Transformation
of an Island Nation (Co-authored with Dr. Rani Mehta, 2009)
and New Understanding of the Indian Society (IIAS, Shimla,
2010) (in press).
