Sociology Plus
History of Indian Sociological Society (ISS)
Formation of ISS
Indian Sociological Society is a national society of sociologists in Bombay, debuted with instrumental support from Prof. G. S. Ghurye, Head of the Sociology Department at the University of Bombay. ISS debuted in December 1951 under the Societies Registration Act with G. S. Ghurye as its first president and continued his presidency till 1956. Professors J. V. Fereira and K. M. Kapadia were important ISS founders.
Creation of AISC
Sociologists R. K. Mukerjee and D. P. Mukerjee of Lucknow launched the All India Sociological Conference at the same time as another effort distinct from ISS.
The merger of ISS and AISC
The founders of these two organizations met in the late 1960s to discuss professional sociological concerns and social issues in India. They then agreed to combine ISS and the AISC, and the combined group had its first conference in Bombay in October 1967.
G S Ghurye inaugurated the new conference, and ISS elected M. N. Srinivas as the new President. The Society’s office changed from the University of Bombay to the University of Delhi after the merger. Since the merger, ISS has been regularly hosting the All-India Sociological Conferences and producing the journal Sociological Bulletin.
Indian Sociological Society Journals and Publications
Three journal publications and a newsletter are both published by the ISS.
Sociological Bulletin
One of India’s earliest English-language professional social science magazines is Sociological Bulletin, established in 1952. Since 2004, it has been published three times a year. ISS inked a deal with Sage Publishers in 2017 to publish Sociological Bulletin, which is now a worldwide publication with readers all over the globe.
Samajshastra Sameeksha
As of January 2014, the Bhartiya Samajshastra Sameeksha Journal of the Society started its publication. This Hindi-language international journal produces two issues a year. Sameeksha is Sage Publications’ first Hindi-language publication.
ISS Explorations
Explorations is an ISS E-journal that was relaunched and renamed in 2017 by the Society. It is published in April and October twice a year as a double-blind peer-reviewed open access journal.
Society has a newsletter produced three times a year, first in print and then online as an e-newsletter. Editorial guidelines govern all of the publications of the ISS.
Awards/Endowments/Funds of ISS
M. N. Srinivas endowment and Radha Kamal Mukerjee endowment
A prize for young sociologists is awarded each year at the AISC, and yearly talks are held in their honour.
Life Time Achievement Award
The ISS first gave the Lifetime Achievement Award at the AISC in 2005. This honour is given to the social scientist considered to be the most distinguished in their field.
Yogendra Singh Endowment Fund
The Indian Sociological Society established the Professor Yogendra Singh Endowment Fund in 2021 due to Mrs. Neerja Singh’s contribution of Rs. 8 lakhs. Each year during the All-India Sociological Conference, a renowned sociologist gives the Prof. Yogendra Singh Memorial Lecture, which is arranged from the interest income of the endowment.
International Outreach
Since 1950, the ISS members have been affiliated with International Sociological Association. Since the ISS’s founding, its members have represented India in the ISA’s executive and as its officials. The Society successfully hosted the Eleventh World Congress of Sociology in Delhi in 1986.
ISS collaborates with the following associations also
- Russian Society of Sociologists
- Polish Sociological Association
- European Sociological AssociationBrazilian Society of Sociology
Membership of ISS
Individual, collective, institutional, and life memberships are available via ISS, and subscription costs are calculated per membership requirements. Any person with a university bachelor’s degree in the social sciences is eligible to join the ISS.
ISS Conferences
The All India Sociological Conference, created by R. K. and D. P. Mukerjee, first met in 1955. Between 1957 and 1961, they organized an additional 5 conferences. Since 1965, when the ISS and AISC were combined, the Society held AISC biennially. ISS started to hold yearly conferences in 1993. The rules established by the ISS Managing Committee are applied in conducting conferences.
| Conference Number | Year | Venue | Themes |
|---|---|---|---|
| First All India Sociological Conference | 1955 | Dehradun | Social Change |
| Second All India Sociological Conference | 1957 | Patna | |
| Third All India Sociological Conference | 1958 | Calcutta | |
| Fourth All India Sociological Conference | 1959 | Lucknow | Psychology, Social Stratification |
| Fifth All India Sociological Conference | 1960 | Agra | |
| Sixth All India Sociological Conference | 1961 | Sagar | |
| Seventh All India Sociological Conference | 1967 | Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay | Sociological Prerequisites of Democratic Polity, Education and Social Change, Industrialisation and its Social Consequences |
| Eighth All India Sociological Conference | 1968 | Institute of Social Sciences, Agra University, Agra | Religion and Modernisation, Political Sociology, Changing Patterns of Stratification |
| Ninth All India Sociological Conference | 1969 | IIT, New Delhi | Gandhi’s Contribution to Indian Thought and Action, Science, Technology and Society, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Kinship, Education and Society and Teaching Sociology in Regional Languages |
| Tenth All India Sociological Conference | 1970 | Osmania University, Hyderabad | Sociology of National Integration, Socialist Revolution, Sociology of Social Organisation |
| Eleventh All India Sociological Conference | 1972 | Gujarat University Ahmadabad | Social Demography, Sociology of Development, Changing Pattern of Caste, Urbanism and Urbanisation |
| Twelfth All India Sociological Conference | 1974 | Banaras Hindu University Varanasi | Sociology of Conflict, Sociology of Development, Sociology of Law |
| Thirteenth All India Sociological Conference | 1976 | Punjab University, Chandigarh | Sociologist Observer, Analyst or Interventionist, Sociology of Social Movements, Sociology of Peasant and Workers, Towards reorientation of Teaching and Research in Sociology |
| Fourteenth All India Sociological Conference | 1978 | Jabalpur University, Jabalpur | Education Policies in India, Transformation of Tribal Societies, Changing Status of Women |
| Fifteenth All India Sociological Conference | 1980 | Meerut University, Meerut | Social Stratification, Family, Social Change |
| Sixteenth All India Sociological Conference | 1982 | Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu | Caste, Class and Gender |
| Seventeenth All India Sociological Conference | 1984 | South Gujarat University, Surat | Social Action for Change, Ethnicity and Ethnic Processes |
| Eighteenth All India Sociological Conference | 1987 | North Eastern Hill University, Shilong | Sociology and Social Transformation |
| Nineteenth All India Sociological Conference | 1989 | Haryana Agriculture University, Hissar | Rural Development |
| Twentieth All India Sociological Conference | 1993 | Saint Aloysius College, Mangalore | Identity, Equality and Social Transformation |
| Twenty-First All India Sociological Conference | 1994 | Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi | Cultural Dimensions of Social Change |
| Twenty- Second All India Sociological Conference | 1995 | Barkatullah University, Bhopal | Challenge of Change and Indian Sociology Retrospect and Bhopal Prospects |
| Twenty-Third All India Sociological Conference | 1996 | Shivaji University, Kolhapur | Ecology, Society and Culture |
| Twenty- Fourth All | 1997 | Osmaia University, Hyderabad | Fifty Years of India’s Independence and Beyond |
| Twenty-Fifth All India Sociological Conference | 1998 | Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh | Nation, Nationality and National Identity: South Asia |
| Twenty-Sixth All India Sociological Conference | 2000 | University of Kerala, Thiruvantapuram | Civil Society in India |
| Twenty- Seventh All India Sociological Conference | 2001 | Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar | Half a Century of Sociology in India (1951-2001) Challenges, Responses and Expectations |
| Twenty- Eighth National ISS Conference | 2002 | IIT, Kanpur | Globalisation and the Indian Society |
| Twenty-Ninth All India Sociological Conference | 2003 | Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur | Social Policy Governance and Mobilisation |
| Thirtieth All India Sociological Conference | 2004 | DDU University, Gorakhpur | National Policy of Social Sciences |
| Thirty-First All India Sociological Conference | 2005 | University of Jammu, Jammu | Redesigning Sociology, Teaching and Research |
| Thirty-Second All India Sociological Conference | 2006 | University of Madras, Chennai | Science, Technology and Society |
| Thirty-Third All India Sociological Conference | 2007 | Karnatak University, Dharwad | State, Civil Society and Social Justice |
| Thirty-Fourth All India Sociological Conference | 2008 | University of Rajasthan, Jaipur | Youth, Globalisation and Social Transformation |
| Thirty-Fifth All India Sociological Conference | 2009 | University of Kashmir, Srinagar | Identity, Development and Nation Building |
| Thirty-Sixth All India Sociological Conference | 2010 | Ravenshaw University, Cuttack | Development, Polity and Social Tensions |
| Thirty- Seventh All India Sociological Conference | 2011 | Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi | Sociology and the Crises of Social Transformation in India |
| Thirty-Eighth All India Sociological Conference | 2012 | Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur | Contemporary Indian Society: Challenges and Responses |
| Thirty-Ninth All India Sociological Conference | 2013 | Karnataka State Open University, Mysore | Inequality, Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Fortieth All India Sociological Conference | 2014 | Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi | Development, Diversity and Democracy |
| Forty-First All India Sociological Conference | 2015 | KIIT University, Bhubaneswar | Development, Marginalisation and People’s Movements |
| Forty-Second All India Sociological Conference | 2016 | Department of Sociology, Tezpur University, Tezpur | Rethinking Sociological Traditions of India |
| Forty-Third All India Sociological Conference | 2017 | Lucknow University, Lucknow | Neo- Liberalism, Consumption and Culture |
| Forty-Fourth All India Sociological Conference | 2018 | St. Philomena’s College (Autonomous) Bannimantap, Mysuru | Reconstructing Sociological Discourses in India: Perspectives from the Margins |
| Forty-Fifth All India Sociological Conference | 2019 | University of Kerala Thiruvananthapuram | Environment, Culture and Development: Discourses and Intersections |
| Forty-Sixth All India Sociological Conference | 2021 | University of Mumbai Online Mode | Constitution, Citizenship and Minorities: Mapping Seventy Years of Indian Republic |
