The Intersection of Hinduism and Contemporary Society

Hindus, their communities, and their traditions face a wide variety of sociological challenges in assimilating into or avoiding modern secular societies. Underpinning these tensions is the fact that Hindus live and work in the world while simultaneously maintaining a separation from it. Sociological issues they may encounter include, among other things, those of identity, value, affiliation, and ethnicity. This project aims to increase the latitude of Indian studies to incorporate these social experiences of contemporary Hindu communities and adherents as they navigate life within, without, and on the fringes of their religious institutions and host communities. The project looks to redress the paucity of research into the key causes of these tensions while also identifying opportunities for dialogue and conflict resolution. 

Research methods include but are not limited to standard sociological tools, such as surveys (interviews and questionnaires), field work, participant observation, case studies, experiments, ethnographies, and secondary data analysis.  The research is theory-rich and multi-disciplinary, incorporating, for instance, philosophy, theology, and philology. Rather than produce data and ethnographies, the research blends experience with theory so as to illuminate trends and tensions affecting the societal lives of present and former adherents as well as the Hindu traditions themselves. 

The project facilitates scholarly research on social issues among Hindus, discourse and productive interaction with and between all types of Hindu tradition and practitioner, and the developing of studies and proposals that can assist governance and policy. Among the important issues that this project addresses are social cohesion, social integration, and social identity. Examples of the kinds of issues explored are: the roles and problems of Hindu run schools, challenges in the reintegration of former resident nuns and monks into wider society, religious fundamentalism, the concerns of youth, and Hindu perceptions and responses to racism, sexism, social inequality, climate change, consumerism, and other current social conflicts.