Showing papers on "Caste published in 1968"

The Caste War of Yucatan.

Abstract: This is the classic account of one of the most dramatic episodes in Mexican history-the revolt of the Maya Indians of Yucatan against their white and mestizo oppressors that began in 1847. Within a year, the Maya rebels had almost succeeded in driving their oppressors from the peninsula; by 1855, when the major battles ended, the war had killed or put to flight almost half of the population of Yucatan. A new religion built around a Speaking Cross supported their independence for over fifty years, and that religion survived the eventual Maya defeat and continues today. This revised edition is based on further research in the archives and in the field, and draws on the research by a new generation of scholars who have labored since the book's original publication 36 years ago. One of the most significant results of this research is that it has put a human face on much that had heretofore been treated as semi-mythical. Reviews of the First Edition "Reed has not only written a fine account of the caste war, he has also given us the first penetrating analysis of the social and economic systems of Yucatan in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." -American Historical Review "In this beautifully written history of a little-known struggle between several contending forces in Yucatan, Reed has added an important dimension to anthropological studies in this area." -American Anthropologist "Not only is this exciting history (as compelling and dramatic as the best of historical fiction) but it covers events unaccountably neglected by historians...This is a brilliant contribution to history...Don't miss this book." -Los Angeles Times "One of the most remarkable books about Latin America to appear in years." -Hispanic American Report

Migration and Social Change: A Survey of Indian Communities Overseas

Abstract: ISCUSSIONS of the nature and prospects of economic development in India have repeatedly drawn attention to cultural impediments to the evolution of a modern economy. Institutions such as the extended family, caste, and religion have been said to resist change and retard the development of more adaptive and innovative attitudes and values. Although there are good reasons for considering such views to be exaggerations, it is interesting in this connection to examine contexts in which such institutions have changed. Society among Indian communities overseas provides a field for studying situations where key institutions of Indian culture were radically adapted or gradually discarded in the face of new political and economic conditions presented by emigration. The aim of this exploratory essay is to review briefly an extensive and growing literature,' sketching broadly a range of factors associated with the

Peasant Resistance and Revolt in South India

Abstract: WX TITH A THIRD OF THE WORLD socialist, and guerrilla movements active in more than a dozen countries, some social scientists in the West have turned their attention to the role of peasants in revolution.1 This article stems from work by Hamza Alavi, Eric Wolf, and A. G. Frank.2 It tries to supplement Alavi's analysis of peasant revolts in two areas of India-Telengana and Bengal-with an account of some peasant actions in the northern part of the state of Kerala, with references for purposes of comparison to Tanjore, a district in southeast Madras. The questions of principal concern are, first: Is rural class struggle endemic in these South Indian regions, or is it engendered by self-interested political parties, especially the communists? Second: in modern peasant insurrections, what have been the respective roles of landlords, rich peasants, middle and poor peasants, and landless labourers? Third: what is the potential for future peasant revolt? Kerala has a large number of types of land tenure, which vary, moreover, as between Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore. The most common traditional tenure has been kdnam, in which the tenant surrenders a fixed rent, often about a third of the crop, to the landlord, in addition to a cash renewal fee every twelve years. In pre-British times this "superior" tenure was confined to Nayars and other high caste Hindus of similar rank and to relatively high ranking Muslims and Christians. The most common "inferior" tenure is verumpdftam, in which the tenant pays a fixed rent, usually amounting to about two-thirds of the net produce, to the landlord or the kanam tenant, whichever is immediately above him. Verumpda.tam and simi-

A Sociological Approach to the Caste Puranas : A Case Study1:

Abstract: In this paper I shall make an attempt to analyze two Puranas, the Mallapurana and the Kalika Purana, which belong to the Jethimallas and the Kansakaras of Gujarat respectively. I have tried to analyze the structure of these Puranas by placing them in the social organization of which they were a part. The attempt has been to shift the emphasis from the study of these texts as literary documents to their study as social documents and in this process I have tried to apply some sociological insights to the understanding of these texts.

The territorial basis of medieval town and village settlement in eastern uttar pradesh, india1

Abstract: Although the national and regional political structure of India was Muslim-controlled and centralized in nature through the latter half of the medieval period, the Brahmanic Hindu lineages, mainly Rajput, evolved as the dominant local powers in various territories of eastern Uttar Pradesh. These lineages articulated a strong cultural and political dominance over other groups of peoples in their territories through the intricate Hindu caste and jajmani system. There developed a three-tier territorial segmentation in each locality on the functional basis of kinship of the dominant lineage—the occupied territority became the pargana which was segmented into secondary clan areas known as tappas, and the latter were further parcelled into smaller territories of gaon, or village units. Corresponding with these territorial segmentations, there also proliferated three basic settlement units: whereas the pargana and tappa headquarters evolved as quasi-urban settlements because of their viable territorial ...

Maximizing in Jajmaniland: A Model of Caste Relations

Abstract: Insofar as it may be regarded as a purely logicomathematical system, lacking empirical content, economic theory may, by appropriate empirical interpretation, be applied to domains quite apart from the market Here such use yields a model of caste or jajmani relations The chief assumptions of the model regarding the stability of a caste system are the following: (1) it requires a high concentration of political power; (2) it requires “prices” that do not change “freely” with supply and demands; (3) it requires consonance of political power, wealth, and ritual rank These assumptions and various related deductions are tested statistically by data derived from village studies in India, Pakistan, and Ceylon The evidence indicates that the model is generally plausible and may be applicable to hereditary hierarchies everywhere

Caste and Class : Some Aspects of Continuity and Change∗:

Abstract: A review of the studies on caste and class in contemporary India could be undertaken in terms of available replies to a set of questions, such as : what is the nature and reality of caste and class in Indian society today ? In what ways are changes at the level of these two categories interlinked, or generate processes significant to the transformation of the system of social stratification ? And, what bearing have these processes upon the modernisation of Indian society ? The following pages are devoted to a treatment of these questions in the light of some recent studies on caste and class.

Caste and race : comparative approaches

Abstract: ing each paper. The individual papers each give a short and admirable presentation of a particular viewpoint and the book is useful in bringing together a great variety of different approaches to the subjects discussed. Caste, slavery and race are three disparate subjects. Caste is probably best viewed as a type of society and slavery as a type of economic organization, while race is used in the symposium chiefly in the sense of racialism. All three are pejorative words, suggesting oppression, exploitation, social rigidity, discrimination, prejudice and allied wickednesses. Their choice as a

Grain Taxes in British Ceylon, 1832–1878: Problems in the Field

Abstract: Ancient Sinhalese rulers had a right to a share of agricultural income, a right which embraced the produce of the land as well as irrigation rates and was generally paid in kind. In effect, there was a land tax; but the term used (bojika-, bojiya-, or bojaka-pati) was more than mere land tax and connotes a tax on income corresponding to bhaga in Indian law books. By the fourteenth century, if not earlier, there had been a fundamental change. Rather than a tithe from each class of land in the village, the king received the whole of the produce of certain fields, the muttettu, which were cultivated gratis by the villagers who possessed other fields either in return for this service or in recognition of the king's suzreignty. This meant that there were no intermediaries farming (renting) the right to collect the tithe. It also meant that the villager held his paddy fields on an individual and hereditary (paraveny) basis. There was, however, no concept of freehold ownership. Authority was political. One could not distinguish private rights from political allegiance. Landholders combined rights in land with duties to the king. Service was attached to the land and was obligatory to any transferee. In some cases, this service was rendered to the king's chiefs and nominees or to the temples, for the kings distributed largesse in the form of lands and the services attached to them; these were known as nindagam, viharegam or devalegam as distinct from the king's villages, the gabadagam; such recipients were more like feudal overlords than farmers of the revenue. In other cases, villagers of certain castes performed certain specified services for the king, for other castes (usually higher castes) in their village, or for neighboring villages, and in return enjoyed certain fields. It was a system of service tenure that was girded and threaded by the caste system.

Political Elite and Caste Association-A Report of a Caste Conference

Abstract: Political Elite and Caste Association A Report of a Caste Conference M S A Rao Caste conferences do more than reflect the aspirations and opinions of a section of the population. They also shape decision-making in some spheres at the national and State levels.

The Sociology of Law in America

Abstract: To understand the development of the sociology of law in America, one should view it in the context of a society characterized by three fundamental conflicts. First, American society asserts an egalitarian value system, yet displays quite apparent social stratification, including something like a caste distinction. Second, although a strong tradition of local autonomy, direct citizen participation in government, and primary group controls persists in the minds of many Americans, the country itself is presently more urban than rural, national than local, and its systems of social control and communication are becoming increasingly depersonalized. Finally, although America often visualizes itself as a nation composed of individual capitalists, the major economic power of the nation is held by large scale organizations — government, business corporations, also labor unions — in which the social, economic, and political fate of thousands, sometimes millions, can be determined by the decisions of relatively few persons.

The development of a new elite in Ceylon, with special reference to educational and occupational background, 1910-1931

Abstract: One of the consequences of British rule in Ceylon was the gradual disintegration of the traditional social order with its structure of authority and influence. In the traditional social system, power and prestige were derived from caste and kinship. The caste system restricted the life chances of individuals to very narrow limits, and the authority of the traditional elite, comprising of 'high caste' royal officials, was theoretically inviolable. But British rule changed all this. The administrative and economic changes introduced in the 19th century, together with English education, offered the individual new avenues for social advancement. Since English was the language of administration, proficiency in English became indispensible for government employment. The English educated 'colonial elite' of government servants (and in the course of time, professional men) acted as intermediaries between the small cadre of British officials who represented the raj in Ceylon and the masses. This new elite who owed their social position mainly to western education, came to eclipse in power and prestige the old nobility. This process of change in native leadership developed gradually but steadily in the 19th century and by the turn of this century the western educated community had emerged as an important element of Ceylonese society. This study shows their development in the period, 1910-1931, primarily, in terms of their growing involvement in public life and the increasing access to political power. In 1910 the western educated had little political influence, but they were considered sufficiently important and distinct to be given separate representation in the Legislative Council. After 1931, with universal franchise, the masses also participated in political activity. But the years in between saw the political scene dominated almost exclusively by the new elite. This period was chosen for study because it was in these two decades that the western educated elite developed into a position of undisputed leadership in the Ceylonese community. [Abstract continues in thesis]

A Study of the Social Stratification in Bangalore City

Abstract: ditional Indian Society, social stratification was based on the system of caste which determined hereditarily fixed differential occupations for members. Davis1 maintains that the Indian caste system in its perfection is an ideal type and because of its inherent contradiction, the system has not been absolute. No social system can remain static and this applies equally to caste. Thus it is plausible that some changes have been taking place in the caste structure over the years. Industrialization with its attendant urbanization has initiated marked changes in the Indian social structure in urban centers during the last two decades. Mobility from the traditionally rooted village residences to towns and cities tends to undermine the rigidity and stability of the caste system. Urban centers do not have a congenial social setting for the observance of caste ritual and the perpetuation of caste occupations. Social control is more or less absent and the strict adherence to and adoption of hereditary occupations has become less obligatory. Numerous industrial and specialized occupations which demand education and training rather than birth are available in urban areas. This facilitates the transitional process and rural-urban migrants tend to abandon their caste occupations and enter into urban industrial vocations. Davis argues that one of the three aspects of caste especially susceptible to the influence of Western technology is, "the association between occupation and caste."2 He adds that old occupations have tended to disappear and new ones to emerge with the introduction of technology. No longer can occupation be based exclusively on birth and caste. The new social structure that is emerging as a result of occupational change is not without its social hierarchy. But occupational placement and social stratification according to birth tend to disappear. As in an industrial society, we may expect people to be stratified according to either their income, occupation, or education, or a combination of any or all of these three criteria. Ghurye, who has made intensive studies of caste and class, says, "Considering the similarity of caste system with estates system, it is but natural that its transformation should install harmonious structure of social classes as was the case with Britain's estates system."3 Davis, too, visualizes this trend when he declares of caste, "It shows every sign of turning into a system of class."4 These two statements were made as far back as 1950 and since then the Indian social organization in general, and caste in particular, have witnessed tremendous upheaval and change. Caste and class structures cannot be expected to be identical because the criteria for placement in the two hierarchies are entirely different. One is born into a caste and therefore it is an "ascribed status." Income, education, and occupation, the main criteria for class position, have to be earned and so class is an "achieved status." Hence a continuation of the caste ranks within the emerging class system is not probable and a correlation of caste and class structures cannot be anticipated. Our concern in the present paper is to test the above theoretical 1 Kingsley Davis, Human Society, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1959, pp. 382-385. 2 Kingsley Davis, The Population of India and Pakistan, Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1951, p. 173. 3 G. S. Ghurye, Caste and Class in India, Bombay: The Popular Book Depot, 1950, p. 228. 4 Davis, op. cit., p. 176.

The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: The Politics of the Associations

Abstract: Associations brought nineteenth-century India across the threshold of modern politics. Sometimes religious zeal, sometimes caste solidarity encouraged the propensity towards associations, but during the course of the century more of the associations in India were brought into being by groups of men united by secular interests. What now held them together were common skills and functions, a common education, and common aspirations and resentments against the policies of the Raj, not simply the bonds of joint family, caste and district. There was a time when these would have been the only points of union; but now that this was no longer so, Indians were converging on modern politics. There are some qualifications to the starkness of this formulation. Associations were not new in India. From one point of view, were not all castes forms of associations? Functionally they were; but the rigidities of endogamous caste systems set them apart from the new unions based on successful adaptation to the demands of a new regime, with its very different viewpoints and novel pressures. A second qualification is that extended patriotisms were not unknown in India, as the history of the Sikhs or the Marathas shows. Thirdly, the new associations of professional men did not at once liquidate the old unities of caste, joint family and district. Indeed, they are still of profound importance today. Some of the associations did, however, provide a method of going beyond them. They may be defined in Hobbesian terms as corporations, whose function was to keep themselves as independent entities under the cover of the regime.