Buyer beware: this essay has a higher than usual ratio of speculation to explanation. I am playing with two central ideas (illustrated in the flowchart below): What? The modern system - with the state and the market being its standout institutions - destabilizes traditional categories, breaks them apart, swallows the pieces and finally assimilates tradition within its schemes. As I will argue below, that's what's happening with religion in India. The ascent of the Sangh Parivar isn't a sign of a premodern tradition winning over liberalism, but of the modern system assimilating "Hindu ways of life," whatever that might mean.
2019 Newsletter 10: Bits of India (2)
2019 Newsletter 10: Bits of India (2)
2019 Newsletter 10: Bits of India (2)
Buyer beware: this essay has a higher than usual ratio of speculation to explanation. I am playing with two central ideas (illustrated in the flowchart below): What? The modern system - with the state and the market being its standout institutions - destabilizes traditional categories, breaks them apart, swallows the pieces and finally assimilates tradition within its schemes. As I will argue below, that's what's happening with religion in India. The ascent of the Sangh Parivar isn't a sign of a premodern tradition winning over liberalism, but of the modern system assimilating "Hindu ways of life," whatever that might mean.