A. M. (Arvind Manilal) Shah

This article is about the sociologist. For the engineer, see Arvind Victor Shah.

Professor Arvind M. Shah (1939-2020)^[1] retired from his professorship in the Department of Sociology at the University of Delhi in 1996. He had been a student of M. N. Srinivas in 1952 and became a teacher in sociology at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, in 1958. Shah moved to the University of Delhi in 1961.^[2]

According to Hetukar Jha, Shah wrote the first paper on the sociological history of India.^[3] He was a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award from the Indian Sociological Society (ISS) in 2009.^[4] He had held the office of ISS President in 1992-93 and had been secretary, sometimes jointly, from 1967 to 1972.^[5]

Publications

Among Shah's publications, his The Household Dimension of the Family in India (1973) is regarded as a landmark study and in 2014 was re-issued in a single volume titled The Writings of A. M. Shah: The Household and Family in India, which included some of his later writings on the subject - The Family in India: Critical Essays (1998) and Essays on the Family and the Elderly.^[6]

Awards and honours

A festschrift in Shah's honour was published in 2010, entitled Understanding Indian Society: Past and Present (Essays for A M Shah).^[7]