Book discussion on ‘A Social Theory of Corruption: Notes from the Indian Subcontinent’ by Sudhir Chella Rajan. It was chaired by Ananya Vajpeyi. The discussant was Manu V. Devadevan.
In contemporary policy discourse, the notion of corruption is highly constricted, understood just as the pursuit of private gain while fulfilling a public duty. Its paradigmatic manifestations are bribery and extortion, placing the onus on individuals, typically bureaucrats. Using South Asia as a case study, the author argues that this understanding ignores the true depths of corruption, which is properly seen as a foundation of social structures. Not just bribes but also caste, gender relations, and the reproduction of class are forms of corruption.
Sudhir Chella Rajan is Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Madras.
Manu V. Devadevan is Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Mandi.
Ananya Vajpeyi is Associate Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.
Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 4 pm, Zoom https://bit.ly/3L0x1rx
