Religious Practice and Democracy in India / Pradip K. Chibber.

1. Religious Practices, Social Hierarchies, and Political Representation;
2. The Influence of Religious Practice;
3. Social Domination: Cast and Political Representation;
4. Avenues for the Connected: Civic Associations and Democracy;
5. Political Institutions and the Reproduction of Inequalities;
6. Party Competition, Ideology, and Social Divisions;
7. Conclusion.

Religious Practice in India:
This book demonstrates the close relationship between religion and democracy in India. Religious practice creates ties among citizens that can generate positive and Democratic political outcomes. In pursuing this line of inquiry the book questions a dominant strand in some contemporary social science - that a religious denomination (Catholic, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh,etc.) is sufficient to explain the relationship between religion and politics, or that religion and democracy are antithetical to each other. The book makes a strong case for studying religious practice and placing that p[ractice in the panoply of other social practices.