Surinder S. Jodhka is Professor of Sociology at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has held this position since 2006, having previously served as Associate Professor at JNU (2001–2006), Reader at Panjab University, Chandigarh (1998–2001), and Lecturer at the University of Hyderabad (1991–1998). He earned his M.A. (1985), M.Phil. (1987), and Ph.D. (1991) in Sociology.
Jodhka's scholarly interests center on the dynamics of rural transformations and agrarian change; social inequalities—old and new—and their reproduction; the social life of caste and its varied modes of articulation in contemporary India; and the political sociology of community identities. He is also a Senior Affiliate Fellow at the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi, since September 2014, and has served as Visiting Professor at Lund University, Sweden (October 2012–June 2013), and Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Bergen, Norway (May–June 2005).
Jodhka is the author and editor of over 10 books and approximately 90 research articles. His major publications include: *Contested Hierarchies, Persisting Influence: Caste and Power in 21st Century India* (with James Manor); *The Indian Village: Rural Lives in the 21st Century* (Aleph, 2023); *The Oxford Handbook of Caste* (OUP, 2023, co-edited with Jules Naudet); *Mapping the Elite: Power, Privilege and Inequality* (OUP, 2019, co-edited with Jules Naudet); *India's Villages in the 21st Century: Revisits and Revisions* (OUP, 2019, co-edited with Edward Simpson); *The Indian Middle Class* (OUP, 2016, with Aseem Prakash); *Caste in Contemporary India* (Routledge, 2015); *Caste: Oxford India Short Introductions* (OUP, 2012); and *Interrogating India's Modernity* (edited, OUP, 2013).
In 2012, Jodhka became one of the first recipients of the ICSSR-Amartya Sen Award for Distinguished Social Scientists. He is editor of the Routledge India series on "Religion and Citizenship" and co-editor of the Oxford University Press series "Exploring India's Elite." His recent publications in journals such as *Social Change*, *Economic & Political Weekly*, and others continue to address themes of caste policy, rural transformation, and social inequality.
Sources
- 1.Surinder Jodhka - Swedish South Asian Studies Network — Swedish South Asian Studies NetworkSASNET profile listing research focus, publications, awards, and academic positions
- 2.Surinder S. Jodhka – CSH Delhi — Centre de Sciences HumainesCSH Delhi team profile with recent publications and editorial roles (2023-2025)