The Status and Function of Intellectuals in State and Society in India and China

Some Critical Comparisons

Bibliographic Data

ID2356571
AuthorsSubramaniam (0000-0002-5007-1443), V Subramaniam (0000-0001-9448-0401, corresponding author)
Year1987
Volume2
Issue3
Pages301-314
Publication date1987-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0268-5809 • E-ISSN: 1461-7242
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/026858098700200307
OpenAlexW1997438107
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited8

Max Weber's comparative studies of the great non-European civilisations of India, China and Islam were, in spite of their breadth of content, focussed on the problem of the non-evolution of modern capitalism in them and most Webenan scholars did not, unfortunately, move far away from this. But the most mteresting topic of companson between China and India is not their common non-generation of capitalism but the totally different relation that evolved between the intellectuals and the state in each. A collaborative relation of the literati in the service of the state was evolved in China by the Han dynasty by a clever distortion of the Confucian ethic and it lasted with minor discontinuities until early this century. By contrast, the Indian Brahmin intellectuals gave only conditional support to the State, treating Dharma or Universal law as supreme and gave up hope of the impenal integration of India by the seventh century. Instead, they built a flexible pattern of cultural integration - based on Bhakti for contact with the masses and an all-India cultural elite for leadership - which has lasted all these centuries

Buddhism · Capitalism · China · Dharma · Elite · Islam · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Agriculture, Water, and Health · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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