Ranade on Methods of Social Reforms

 Ranade on Methods of Social Reforms  

Ranade advocated social reforms because he knew that all-round reforms were necessary to bring about basic change in Hindu society. There were different methods of social reform and Ranade held that barring revolution all other methods should be pursued. According to him, there were four methods of social reform and they were as follows :  The first method is the method of tradition in which the cause of social reforms was advocated with the help of religious texts, T he second method was that of appealing to the conscience of the people. Reformers could attempt to sensitize people to the corrupt superstitious and unjust practices, The third method was enforcement of reforms by means of penalties, for instance, the government banned the practice of burning widows, 

The fourth method was that of rebellion which sought to change the evil and inhuman customs by force. This could however, break the continuity and would divide the society.