People and Forest: Unfolding the Participation Mystique

What is social reality? How does one know social reality? How do social sciences construct social reality? Is there any gap between the way social reality exists and the way it is constructed in the social sciences? If there are such gaps, then how can they be accounted for and overcome in the process of scientific understanding? These are some of the questions which were discussed during an interdisciplinary seminar on 'Perspectives on Perception and Understanding of Social Reality' held in April, 1983, at the Centre of Advanced Study in Psychology, University of Allahabad. The seminar participants were from various disciplines, such as, psychology, sociology, history and literature. This volume primarily constitutes revised form of some selected papers which were initially presented in the seminar. Social Scientists who face the growing challange of scientific understanding of the social reality should find the book particularly useful.