State and Society

State and Society

Professor Mona Mehta

About Course: This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of state and society as they are understood in the social sciences and explores their mutual relationships. How have classical theories conceptualised the state and society? How is the historical evolution of the state and society in the West different from the way they have evolved in the Global South, especially in India? The big transformations in information technology and capitalism in the 21st century have fundamentally impacted the state and social interactions. Through a focus on theory and empirical studies, the course explores five key themes or dimensions of the state-society interaction: 1. What is the state?; 2. What is society?; 3. Civil Society, social movements and citizenship; 4. Sociality and politics in the age of internet; 5. State, market society and neoliberalism.