Social Structures of Indian Villages

This study of a complex rural society is based not only on survey data but on historical records, particularly the `village notes′ of Bihar from the beginning of the century. Jha has classified the region into eleven categories on a simple-complex continuum by analysing the records of more than 5,000 villages. He concentrates on the modal styles of relationships constituting the `primary level structures′ of villages - including family, share-cropping and class-differentiated relations.