Social Trends, Vol. 05

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3502

EDITORIAL NOTE

Editor’s Note I am indeed happy to see that the 5th volume of Social Trends in published on time. From the last volume, Social Trends is one of the journals that have been approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and I am happy that it has survived the periodic cuts by the UGC. For this volume we had received about 17 articles and we had to reject four of them based on reviewers’ reports. As in the previous volumes we have mostly the young scholars who have contributed papers in this volume. As editor I read all the articles carefully and enjoyed doing editorial corrections and arranging them in an order. I apologise for the errors that will still be there.

Some of the articles in this volume have been selected out of the ones presented in the Research Committee (RC) on Sociology of Everyday Lifeas a part of the 43rd All India Sociological Conference held in Lucknow University on 9-12 November 2017, and some other articles have been selected out of the ones presented in a national seminar on Nuances of Social Relations, organized on 2-3 March 2018 at Sikkim University by the Department of Sociology, Sikkim University, in collaboration with the RC of the Indian Sociological Society on Sociology of Everyday Life. It is gratifying to note that the young scholars who present papers in seminars and conferences work on their papers to make them publishable. The papers by Tila Kumar of Delhi University and Maudual Islam and Rozyna Begum of Chittagong University were not presented in the seminar/ conference we had organized but I am happy that these scholars of reputed institutions have taken interest in Social Trends.

The interdisciplinary character of the Social Trends has been retained. The contributors to this volume represent literature, phisophy, psychology, history, economics and sociology. We are commited to promote and preserve dialogue and closer interaction among the scholars of different yet related disciplines because this is the only way to transcend the rigid boundary of a particular social science discipline.

Some of the members of the Advisory Committee took interest in some of the articles published in the last volume and gave their comments. This prompted a dialogue between the author and the senior sociologists of the Advisory Committee. This is indeed a healthy development which will definitely promote debates on methodological, social and political issues in the public sphere.

I take the opportunity to thank all the contributors, the members of the Advisory Committee and my fellow colleagues on the Editorial Board whithout whose help the present volume would not have seen the light of the day. I would also thank the emplyees of the North Bengal University Press for printing the present volume with utmost care.

Sanjay K. Roy
Department of Sociolog
North Bengal University
31 March 2018

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    Partying at Nightclubs in Kolkata: A Search for ‘Nirvana’ in Everyday Life
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Dutta Banik, Piyali
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    Redefining the need for Caffeine: The role of new age Cafés in Everyday Life
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Kahini, Palit
    New age Cafés like the CCD has entered our lives as India began its journey in ‘coffee culture’, with its first outlet at Brigade Road, Bengaluru on July 11, 1996. The present research attempts to explore the role of these cafes in our everyday lives. The findings indicate that these Café hangouts have unknowingly beginning to take a major part in our lives, it is increasingly taking us to a place where the universe devoid of such hangouts is unthinkable, irrational and sad.
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    LGBT Movement in India
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Khatun, Hena
    Although sexual diversity was prominent in ancient India, heterosexuality has become the norm of present times. People with different sexual orientation other than heterosexuality are subjected to various forms of violence and are made to live on the margin of society. This paper, which is based on existing literatures and newspaper articles, aims at first to discuss the diverse sexual past of Indian society and how with the advent of colonial rule, heterosexuality became the dominant and only ‘accepted’ form of sexuality. It also aims at discussing the trajectory of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) movement in India and the role of various NGOs and other organization in it. At last there are some suggestions regarding social acceptability of sexual diversity which if comes along with legal safeguards, would create a better society.
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    Reflexive Society and Reflexive Relationships: The Changing Patterns of Family and Friendship in Late Modernity
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Islam, Maidul; Begum, Rozyna
    The conventional definitions and, meanings of marriage, family, family relationship, and kinship ties demand a serious relook as things are changing fast and drastically in the late capitalistic era. New structures and new designs of social relationships are coming up.This article deals with the nature of family formation and their margin of relationships based on secondary sources. On the one hand, late modern familiesoffer greater freedom of life to its members and on the other hand they open up great deal of variations and flexibility while operating as a part of the ‘risk society’.
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    Life of the Middleclass Aged in the Light of Changing Family Relations: A Study in Kolkata
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Roy, Sinjini
    The present paper explores the life of the middleclass aged in Kolkata metropolis. The life of the aged has been studied in two different locations – in the family setup and in the old-age homes – in a comparative mode. The uniqueness of the study lies in the observation that the kind of life that the aged live depends much on the changing family situations. The composition of the family, the marital status of the aged, the dispersal of the family members and the household arrangements, the health status of the elderly, the kinship and neighbourhood support systems impact the life of the senior citizens significantly. One of the key findings of the study is that the aged women, especially those who have been single, are more vulnerable to take refuge in the old-age homes. Another key finding is that the aged move to old-age homes as the last resort, when the family care system breaks down completely, particularly when they lose their spouses and have broken health. I have found in this study that although the dispersal of the younger members is on the rise the aged take this as a logical and welcome development, although it takes a toll on the conventional care system in the family. I have also found that the stigma that was attached to old-age living is withering and the aged and the larger society have started accepting it as a rational solution to their real-life problems. My study does not support the widely held perception that the middleclass aged are the victims of the growing calculative rationalism and inhumanity in the younger generation.
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    Strength of Social Ties in Local Labour Market of Kolkata
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Deshmukh, Jayeeta
    In a world where labour market participants are not anonymous, social networks often play a major part in shaping labour market outcomes. Labour economists have long recognized that social networks play a very important role in shaping labour markets outcomes. Job-seekers often use their personal contacts to get employment-related information or job referrals. This paper provides an example, where workers use social ties to exchange employment information, in the context of the urban formal labour market in Kolkata. Workers are mainly employed in the healthcare sector, IT sector, data analysts, and in other service sectors, including banking sector, education (non-teaching) of Kolkata. The paper finds that a significant percentage of the workers irrespective of their age and gender, hears about the job vacancy through personal connections. This paper further finds that friendship ties are mainly used for searching jobs. Most of the workers hear about the job vacancies from their friends or acquaintances. The paper also finds that a worker, who is a newcomer in the labour market, is likely to get information through one of his direct ties rather than indirect ties. However, indirect ties are important for the workers who change their companies on a regular interval. Moreover, workers hear about employment information from both strong ties and weak ties. The paper also finds the empirical support of evolution of a triad.
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    Marxism, Bengal National Revolutionaries and Comintern
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Deb, Bikash Ranjan
    The origin and development of national revolutionary movement in India, particularly in Bengal, in the beginning of the twentieth century constituted one of important signposts of Indian freedom struggle against the colonial British rule. The Bengal national revolutionaries dreamt of freeing India through armed insurrection & individual terrorism. But in spite of supreme sacrifices made by these revolutionaries, almost after thirty years of their movement, in the thirties of the twentieth century, they came to the realisation about the futility of the method which neglected involvement of the general masses so long. In the first half of the thirties most of these revolutionaries were detained. While in detention in different jails & camps for a pretty long period many of the revolutionaries came in contact with Marxist literature there. Imbibed by the Marxist view of social change they gave up ‘terrorism’ as a method altogether after coming out of jails/camps in 1938 or later. However, a sharp debate developed among them on the perception of the Communist International (CI), its colonial policy in general and the policy with respect to the Indian freedom struggle in particular. Further, CPI’s policy of following Comintern decisions as its national section also came under scrutiny. A large number of revolutionary converts questioned the applicability of the Comintern formulations in the perspective of late colonial Bengal. They were not ready either to accept CPI as a real communist party or to pay unquestionable obedience to the dictates of the Comintern. As a result, instead of joining any of the existing Marxist political parties, these revolutionaries formed their own parties having Marxism as the guiding principle. It has been the common notion among many scholars and writers that the Comintern’s colonial policy has, at least to some extent, resulted in the disintegration of the communists’ in Bengal. The role of the Comintern and conflicting understanding about its role in the Indian context that led to the development of a number of Marxist political parties has been tried to be analysed in this paper with a newer perspective.
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    Relatedless, Integration and Reality: An Exploration in Counsellor’s Chamber
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) De, Arpita
    This is an autobiographical paper which intends to explore relationship in the continuously changing world through our stories of life. I tried to explore some of my childhood experiences and some stories of my life in different times. Besides, I have included the case study of a 27 year-old-girl who consulted me seeking counselling help. Her stories, her relationships with her parents, friends and others along with her suffering from depressed mood, intense anger acting out, vacillating sexual involvement with others, tendency of self-injury, anxiety, lack of concentration, indecisiveness were explored in the counselling sessions. She urgently felt the need of professional help as it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to bear it alone. In this study I have tried to analyse our journey in the counselling chamber on a step-by-step basis to find out the aetiology of her symptoms from different theoretical perspectives. It led me not only to personal environment of the person but also to some structural issues. As a counsellor besides my conceptualization of the aetiology of the symptoms I also tried to reflect on my own role as a counsellor, how the sessions contributed to enriching my insight and my praxis as a professional.
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    Gendered Bengali: Expectations and Challenges, in Ashapurna Devi’s ‘Chhayasurya’ and Partha Pratim Chowdhury’s Chhaya Surya [Chhayasurya], and Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Dadar Kirti and Tarun Majumdar’s Dadar Kirti
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Ray, Anirban
    The paper offers a comparative study between two filmic ‘adaptations’ from two Bengali texts: (i) Chhaya Surya [Chhayasurya] (1963) adapted by Partha Pratim Chowdhury from Ashapurna Devi’s short story ‘Chhayasurya’ (1988[?]: 130–139), and (ii) Tarun Majumdar’s Dadar Kirti (1980), ‘adapted’ from the novella/novel Dadar Kirti by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay ([1982] 2011: 259– 289). With close textual and filmic references, the paper explores (i) the conceptions of masculine and feminine and conflations of the two, (ii) artistic expressions internalizing gender as well as challenging it, (iii) male interactions interpreted by domestic women, and (iv) women’s interlocution in perspectives on heterosexual coupling and marriage.
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    Of Objective Claims and Located Accounts: An Ideological Plea to Rethink Knowledge in Assisted Reproductive Technologies from a Feminist Standpoint
    (University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Roy, Pinaki
    Attempts to critically grapple with the practice of Assisted Reproductive Technologies cannot solely focus on the objective medical claims of the practitioners. Holistic and inclusive perspective on the operations of this domain should also engage and reflect on the located accounts of the intending mothers, who are mostly at the receiving end in this domain. Their located accounts can help us rethink the dominant conceptions, both clinical and cultural, of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (henceforth ARTs) as a medico-technological enterprise from a feminist standpoint.