Challenges to the Discipline of Sociology in India

This short note focuses on the need for teachers and students to have grounding in the canons and practice of theoretical orientations and philosophical meanings. Theory, method and data must have a meaningful interlinking to gain a wholesome knowledge of social reality.A well-perceived knowledge perspective would facilitate understanding of classifications, consciousness, solidarity, interpretation, creative labour, etc. Synergy between knowledge and existence is the crux for survival of the human society. The essence of this brief paper is to propose an outline of quality teaching and research. Teaching and research are complimentary and mutually reinforcing activities. Research demythologises preconceived, static, outdated and non-functional concepts, categories and constructs. Emancipation from rigid mental structures must be the real goal of scientific research. The search for ‘dominant causality’ needs to be an ongoing concern of a true teacher and a researcher. On the basis of empirical studies conducted by the author, over four decades, some of these points have been highlighted.