Social changes in so-called Third World societies have often been seen in terms of 'modernization' or 'development', with social 'development' being judged by the degree of Western-style 'modernization' to which they achieve. In this scheme of development, 'traditional' or 'indigenous' social institutions or values are declining or vanishing as a result of so-called 'modernization,' and phenomena contradictory to Western-style 'development' are seen as the remnants of traditional or indigenous culture and society. This kind of Euro-centric viewpoint of development has kept the Third World 'behind' us and has produced power relationships between so-called 'developed' countries and the Third World. The same may be said, no doubt, of our consideration of rural Indian societies. The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative way of looking at social changes in rural India by rethinking the scheme of development from the 'traditional' to the 'modern'. Certainly, some aspects of changes in rural India, such as the increase of agricultural productivity resulting from technological innovation, the dissolution of traditional agrarian relationships (or patron-client relationships), and the democratization of rural politics might be seen as a process of development from a 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. However, phenomena which are contradictory to such a 'development' process - i.e. the reconstruction of patron-client relationships or the villagers' expression of values or ethics based on a 'traditional' community (or moral economy) - have, in fact, been recognized in the very process of development. Moreover, rural peoples' consciousness of class relations or their discourse and practice in rural politics may often show a mingling of the traditional and modern. By paying attention to subjective human actions, I will present a way of understanding such phenomena without accepting the essentialism which has sustained the dichotomy between traditional and modern. The 'traditional' would not necessarily be what