Individuation in Indian Society: From Collective Identity to Individual Identity.

The far-reaching changes taking place in India in recent decades call for an examination of the changing relation between individual and society. This process, resulting in a transformation of collective identity into individual identity, is discussed in this paper in an historical and theoretical setting. It is implied that similar principles of change that transformed the European society couple of centuries ago are at work in the Indian society at present. So also, the theoretical insights developed in the western sociology are employed in comprehending the changes in India. Although the European and Indian societies are distinct inform, they are undergirded by similar basic principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]