SOCIOLOGY OF SANITATION: An Inquiry into the Problem of Insanitary Practices and the Evolution of Modern Institutions

Book Details

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: Sanjay Kumar Mishra & Prabhleen Kaur Pabla

• Language: English

• Edition: 2023

• ISBN: 9788131612866

• Pages: 326

• Cover: Hardcover

About the Book

This comprehensive volume explores the evolution of sanitized societies in the context of modern institutional development. Tracing the roots of sanitary reforms back to the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the book highlights how the rise of epidemics due to poor urban hygiene led to significant policy transformations. These reforms redefined the quality of life and shaped modern urban environments.

Focusing on the Sociology of Sanitation, the authors critically examine the cultural, structural, and institutional aspects of cleanliness, hygiene, and public health. The book covers essential themes including the historical trajectory of sanitation, the role of toilets as instruments of social change, gender inequities, and the persistence of open defecation in India. With a strong academic foundation and empirical insights, it reveals how sanitation intersects with development, urban governance, and everyday lived experiences.

This book is an indispensable guide for scholars, researchers, and policy-makers interested in urban sociology, public health, development studies, and gender studies.

Contents

• Genesis of Sociology of Sanitation

• Spatial Concepts of Sociology of Sanitation

• A Brief History of Sanitation, Toilets and Pandemics

• Sanitation and Social Structure: The Emerging Macro-Social Structure

• Sanitation and Social Structure: The Emerging Micro-Social Structure

• The Cultural Perspective of Sanitation

• Subjective Experience of Open-Defecators

• Water, Sanitation and Gender Inequities

• Sanitation, Management and Social Marketing from the Perspective of Development

• Toilet as a Tool of Social Change

• Why Sanitation Reforms Could Not Take Place in India?

About the Author / Editor

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Mishra earned his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), JNU, New Delhi, and also received a post-doctoral fellowship from UGC. He has served as Head of the Department of Sociology at JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth and as Principal of Udaipur School of Social Work. His academic work includes a major research project, three minor projects, 24 research articles, and a published book.

Prabhleen Kaur Pabla holds M.A. and M.Phil. degrees in Sociology, and has been awarded a University Gold Medal from Panjab University, Chandigarh. A UGC-JRF qualified scholar, she has over five years of teaching experience and has published widely in reputed journals and books. She has actively participated in national and international seminars and conferences.