Prof. T.K. Oommen: A sociologist and propagandist of democratic values

“Do you know why dictators do not like social sciences?” This simple question of T.K. Oommen in the class sometime in the mid-1990s baffled and perplexed many students. He began explaining the nature and mandate of social sciences in general and sociology in particular. His language was, no doubt, razor-sharp; his arguments began coalescing with the larger fabric. It was not merely an instrumental relationship between the political structure and the academic institutions. His persuasive arguments laid a much more nuanced foundation of how sociology ought to be in countries such as India. A teacher is not here simply to roll out information on the subject but to provide a sustainable perspective.

Professor Oommen, who passed away on Thursday, actually laid the foundation within the institutional space to probe any issue “sociologically”. When the discipline was overwhelmed with a strong focus of studying family, marriage, kinship, caste, and village/rural India, the modern mandate of the discipline was resurrected by Professor Oommen; his path-breaking work on the Bhoodan-Gramdan movement of Vinoba Bhave in the 1960s where he conducted fieldwork in 18 villages of Rajasthan not only brought in highly insightful dimension of studying a social movement “sociologically”, it also quite successfully upended the Weberian perspective on charismatic leadership itself. In a way, this work led a brigade of scholars to work on the limitations of “western” framework while studying Indian societies. Sociology of India steadily became a cliché and sociology for India emerged as a formidable trope within sociology.

His another interesting work, “Alien concepts and South Asian reality”, very firmly articulates this perspective. To reinvent sociological categories to study Indian social realities, his strong plea to remain impervious to the “westoxicated” mindset in our sociological pursuits perhaps effortlessly became an apotheosis.

As a strong advocate of institutional space, his relentless struggle to maintain sovereign academic freedom must be acknowledged. When he was a critique of all forms of “dictatorship”, it did not deter him from sharing political platforms with a few radical left outfits in JNU. The academic freedom cannot be defined along party lines. Every political ideology can and should have their space in academic institutions, he asserted. His fear was adequately justified when xenophobic and bigotry politics smeared with patriotism came with a bang. A university or any higher education institution is a democratic space and it must remain accommodative. The forceful triumph of one ideology within the institutional space is the first step towards establishing authoritarian regime, he always maintained. Countries like India cannot have such authoritarianism reigning supreme was his firm commitment. This liberal perspective must be the crux of India’s socio-cultural-political fabric.

With the passing of Professor Oommen, Indian academics has lost one of the finest advocates of this liberal voice. As the first President of International Sociological Association from the Global South, Professor Oommen not only preserved the academic sanity of the former colonial countries, he also identified the limits of western paradigms while studying Third World realities. However, this did not make him an apologist while discussing inhuman discriminatory practices India suffers from. His strong plea to discuss caste-based discrimination in international forums was not welcomed by a few sociologists themselves. That did not prevent him from extending his strong support for organisations working among the subaltern communities to go global with their demands to have a discrimination-free social order. His profound enthusiasm in seeing scholars from downtrodden communities asserting with their creative interpretation of Indian social reality emboldened many to aspire more. With the passing of Professor Oommen, Indian academia has lost one of the finest advocates of this liberal voice.

R. Thirunavukkarasu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology of the University of Hyderabad