Comprehensive Notes: Modes of Formation of Subjects
Key Details
- Founder: Dr. S.R. Ranganathan
- Founding / Parent Organisation: Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC) at Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bengaluru (Established in 1962).
- Important Dates: Fundamental modes were developed over Ranganathan's career. Advanced multidisciplinary modes (like Fusion, Distillation) were specifically isolated around 1968 and formulated during the final years of his life with DRTC colleagues.
- Primary Function: To map the dynamic growth of the Universe of Knowledge, enabling library and information professionals to classify, analyze, and organize new subjects seamlessly.
1. Introduction & Nature of Knowledge
The universe of knowledge is a dynamic, growing organism (aligned with Ranganathan's Fifth Law of Library Science). As society progresses, human curiosity, planned research, and technological advancements lead to the exponential growth of knowledge. To manage this influx, knowledge organizes itself through distinct evolutionary patterns known as the Modes of Formation of Subjects.
2. Primary Modes of Subject Formation & Contextual Examples
Subjects generally emerge through Specialization, Inter-disciplinary growth, and Multi-disciplinary growth. Here are the core modes with easy-to-understand examples:
A. Specialization Trends (Fission)
When a subject becomes too vast, it fragments. Ranganathan identified two primary ways this happens:
- Dissection: Slicing a broad subject horizontally into mutually exclusive, equally ranked parts (like slicing a pizza).
- Academic Context: The basic subject "Natural Sciences" is dissected into Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.
- Everyday Context: "Vehicles" dissected into Cars, Motorcycles, and Trucks.
- Denudation: Stripping a subject layer by layer, vertically downward, to reach a highly specialized core (like peeling an onion). Extension decreases while intension (depth) increases.
- Academic Context: Science → Physical Sciences → Chemistry → Organic Chemistry → Benzene.
- Geographical Context: Asia → India → Maharashtra → Mumbai.
B. Lamination
Lamination is the process of placing one or more isolated layers (laminae) onto a parent basic subject to create a "Compound Subject."
- Medical Context: Medicine (Basic Subject) + Eyes (Layer 1) + Disease (Layer 2) = Ophthalmology (Disease of the Eyes).
- Linguistics Context: Linguistics + English + Grammar = English Grammar.
C. Inter-disciplinary Growth
- Loose Assemblage: A temporary, casual, or flexible combination of two or more distinct subjects (phases). They are studied together but maintain their individual identities.
- Professional Context: "Statistics for Librarians" (Statistics is used as a tool, but it doesn't permanently merge with Library Science).
- Academic Context: "Psychology for Nurses" or "Influence of Computers on Library Operations."
- Fusion: An advanced stage of loose assemblage where two subjects merge permanently and irreversibly to create an entirely new Basic Subject with its own distinct literature and rules (like baking a cake where ingredients can no longer be separated).
- Science Context: Biology + Physics = Biophysics.
- Political Context: Geography + Politics = Geopolitics.
D. Multidisciplinary Growth
- Distillation: A specific practice or technique is applied across many different disciplines. Over time, the technique accumulates enough of its own literature to "distill" into an independent main subject.
- Business Context: Management practices used in hospitals, schools, and corporations eventually distilled into the independent subject of Management Science.
- Academic Context: Research Methodology or Museology (Museum Studies).
- Partial Comprehensions (Agglomerates): Bringing together coordinate subjects under a broad umbrella term, mostly out of tradition or convenience. The sub-topics are neighbours but not chemically fused.
- Academic Context: "Plant Sciences" (which agglomerates Botany, Agriculture, Horticulture, and Forestry).
- General Context: "Social Sciences" (encompassing Sociology, Economics, Political Science, etc.).
- Subject Bundles: Mission-oriented or area-oriented subjects where a team of specialists from entirely different disciplines work together toward a common goal.
- Research Context: "Oceanography," "Space Sciences," or "Environmental Sciences" (where chemists, biologists, sociologists, and legal experts all bundle their knowledge).
3. Significance for Information Professionals
- Anticipating Growth: Understanding these steps helps classificationists foresee where a new topic will fit in a library system (e.g., DDC, UDC, or Colon Classification).
- Accurate Indexing: Recognizing whether a book is a "Loose Assemblage" or a "Fusion" dictates how its Call Number is constructed and how it is indexed for search engines and databases.
- Organizing the WWW: The foundational principles of subject formation are increasingly used in designing ontologies and semantic web structures for digital information retrieval.
Note: These structural models provide the fundamental blueprint for faceted classification systems and remain vital for modern knowledge organization.