Whatarguments were given for and against the village as a subject ofsociological research by M.N. Srinivas and Louis Dumont?

Accordingto Louis Dumont, social institutions like caste were more importantthan the study of villages. He argued that villages are just a groupof people, who live or die or may move to another location, but theirsocial institutions always follow them. Hence, he thought that thestudy of village as a category should not be given much importance.

Contraryto this, M.N. Srinivas argued that the Indian villages were relevantsocial entities and historically the villages were a unifying factorin the Indian society. Further, he criticised the Britishadministrators because they studied the villages as a self sufficiententity, and mentioned them as “little republics”. Withthe help of historical and sociological data, M.N. Srinivas concludedthat the Indian villages had undergone considerable change, wereconnected with the outside world and had always been a part of theIndian economy. Thus, he believed it was necessary to study thefunction of villages in the Indian social life.