M. N. Srinivas

Sanskritization, introduced by M. N. Srinivas, describes the process by which lower-caste groups in India adopt the rituals, customs, and lifestyle practices of upper castes to raise their social status. Srinivas developed the concept through his ethnographic fieldwork, arguing that the Indian caste system was more fluid and dynamic than colonial accounts suggested.

Srinivas defined a dominant caste as one that possesses both numerical strength and significant economic power, often through land ownership, in a given local area. He argued that ritual status alone did not determine social dominance—economic and political factors were equally important in rural Indian social hierarchy.

Srinivas's key works include Religion and Society Among the Coorgs (1952) and Social Change in Modern India (1966), both of which shaped the sociological study of caste and social change. He also wrote The Remembered Village, a reflective ethnography based on his fieldwork in the Karnataka village of Rampura.

Srinivas studied at the University of Bombay and later at the University of Oxford under the social anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. He taught at universities including the University of Delhi and the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, playing a major role in establishing sociology as an academic discipline in post-independence India.