Current Sociology

Please welcome our Sociologist of the Month for March 2026, Suraj Milind Yengde (Harvard University, USA). His article for Current Sociology Race and caste in the making of US sociology is Open Access.

Suraj Yengde (Photo credit: Christopher Olssøn)

Could you please tell us about yourself? How did you come to your field of study?

S.M. Yengde: I studied law in India and got registered with the State Bar. Then I moved to the UK to study International Human Rights Law. Worked briefly with the United Nations in Switzerland. I was disillusioned with the institution. I decided to move to Africa to work and pursue my research. Thus, I went to Johannesburg to study Anthropology in African studies. While there, my field of enquiry changed to being an old-school historian, i.e., spending time in the archives while also spending time in the field. This led me to new frontiers, which emerged through excavations. I earned my second doctorate in intellectual history at Oxford, while my first was in interdisciplinary social sciences.

What prompted you to research the area of your article, “Race and caste in the making of US sociology”?

S. Yengde: I was researching the existence of caste as a feature of social and economic analysis in America. The early years of American sociology had grappled with this issue. However, we saw that expanding by the 1940s was a rigorous sociological theme. Several donor agencies and universities were interested in the topic of inequality and history. The Sociology discipline was also having a moment of public reach and revival. It was sort of a sought-after field alongside Economics. Thus, caste was notably studied as a sociological concern that existed during and after the slavery relations of production. This took me into the archives of American sociology.

What do you see as the key findings of your article?

S. Yengde: That caste was indeed a triumphant category of analysis, beholden in the field of sociology primarily and even anthropology. Caste considered diverse objectives that make a society from class, status, to colour relations. However, not all agreed with the caste school of race relations or social relations. There are some, like Oliver C Cox, who preferred to analyse it as a capitalist situation embedded in the racial dynamics. While Allison Davis, the Gardners, William Lloyd Warner, and Gerald Berreman were invested in comparative sociology that did not isolate one society from the other.

What are the wider social implications of your research in the current social climate? How do you think things will change in the future?

S. Yengde: It will be a sought-after field of analysis. As more research on caste finds its relevance in the current climate of disparity and rise of inequality, more research will be encouraged in various disciplines and geographies. Caste foregrounds a wider net of enquiry beyond the pale of colour, race, space or class—it combines them. The economic and political analysis finds an appropriate place in the scholarship of caste, class and culture. These are the dimensions that the current climate is wrestling against.

Do you have any links to images, documents or other pieces of research which build on or add to the article? Or a suggested reading list?

S. Yengde: Caste: A Global Story.

The bibliography in my Current Sociology article is a good directive.