["Sociological Forum, Volume 41, Issue 1, Page 55-59, March 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nSociology, a discipline that engages academia and the public, has been largely hindered by institutional barriers and disciplinary silos, especially in India. M. N. Srinivas, a pioneering Indian sociologist, played a significant role in bridging this gap through his ethnographic fieldwork and public discourse on caste, social mobility, and rural transformation. His theoretical contributions, particularly Sanskritization and Westernization, reshaped the understanding of caste dynamics and social change in India. This paper critically examines Srinivas's legacy in public sociology, assessing its relevance in contemporary debates on caste, identity politics, and social justice. The study highlights Srinivas's methodological innovations, emphasizing his “field view” approach, which prioritized empirical research over abstract theorization. The paper also sees Sanskritization as a transformative framework and looks into what implications it has for caste mobility and its critics among Dalit scholars. The paper calls for revitalizing public sociology through interdisciplinary research, greater public engagement, and inclusivity. By drawing lessons from Srinivas's work, contemporary Indian sociologists can reaffirm their role in shaping public discourse and social policy.\n"]