The Sociology of Greed

This book examines crises in financial institutions such as banks from the vantage point of greed of the people at their helm. It offers an intensive analysis of the banking crises under conditions of colonial capitalism in early-twentieth century Bengal that led to institutional and social collapse. Breaking new ground, the work looks at the mo

Prasanta Ray is Professor Emeritus in Sociology, Presidency University, Kolkata, and Honorary Visiting Professor, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, India. He was Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Presidency College; Professor-in-Charge, Department of Sociology, Presidency College; Guest Faculty member, Department of Sociology, Calcutta University; Member, Calcutta Research Group; and Member, Working Group on Under-Graduate Colleges in India, National Knowledge Commission, 2006. His books include Conflict and the State: An Exploration in the Behaviour of the Post-Colonial State in India (1991) and Pratyaha: Everyday Lifeworlds: Dilemmas, Contestations and Negotiations (co-edited with Nandini Ghosh, 2016).

List of Tables. Acknowledgements. A Convolute. Introduction 1. The Institutional Crisis 2. Retrieving Trust: The Banks, the State and the Press 3. The Victims 4. The Losers' Responses 5. Grasping Greed. Epilogue. Appendix 1 Banks in Calcutta, 1947. Appendix 2 Bank in Liquidation. Appendix 3 Archival Records. Index