Showing papers on "Caste published in 1976"

The Economics of Caste and of the Rat Race and Other Woeful Tales

Abstract: I. Introduction, 599.—II. Sharecropping, 601.—III. Work conditions: the rat race, 603.—IV. Statistical discrimination, 606.—V. Caste and group organizations, 608.—VI. Conclusions, 617.

Kerala Christians and the Caste System

Abstract: Le systeme de la caste ne joue qu'en tant qu'institution traditionnelle en ce qui concerne les Chretiens| systeme respecte envers les castes hindoues, mais non entre les diverses confessions chretiennes, pour l'essentiel (absence de la notion specifique d'impurete).

The politics of South India, 1920-1937

Abstract: The interwar years witnessed great changes in the political life of India, with the establishment of new governmental institutions, the emergence of political movements based on class, caste and ideology, and the rapid expansion of the nationalist campaign. This book looks at the complex of political changes during this crucial and formative period in the Madras Presidency, the largest but often the most neglected province of British India. Among the many strands of political life and behaviour which Dr Baker studies are the non-Brahman movement, peasant agitations, caste movements and the rise of the Indian National Congress to a position of undisputed primacy in the region. Making use of hitherto unresearched materials Dr Baker attempts the first overall study of the political process and the dynamics of political change in the province. The book may also be seen as a case-study of political change in a late-colonial society.

Coconuts and gold: relational identity in a south Indian caste:

Abstract: This paperl will examine the ideological construction of identity for an upper non-Brahman, landowning south Indian caste, Kontaikatti Velalar (hereafter KV). The focus of discussion, the person-in-caste, is in many ways opposite to the Western understanding of the person as autonomous actor, antecedent to society (the elementary unit from which society is built), and so we must proceed with caution, following the thoughts of caste members themselves, not immediately jumping to facile generalizations. The problem of the person-in-caste is set by the profound writings of Louis Dumont2 on caste hierarchy. Dumont argues, and his views are far from readily accepted by Indianists, that the individual is ’encompassed’ in caste society, a society integrated through a holistic ideology of pure and impure. The whole (ordered vertically in terms of relative purity) is antecedent to any of its parts, each part being fundamentally interdependent on each other part so that the whole, not the individual, is the ultimate locus of value. But asserting this does not suggest how biological persons participate in daily life in caste society. Dumont leaves this question open, presenting instead a global view of caste ideology, relying heavily on Hindu texts and other formal statements. This paper complements Dumont’s work by developing the implications of the ideology of holism for persons in a single caste. My sources of information are not primarily texts but the thoughts of ordinary people, what passes for KV commonsense. KVs say that a person must work hard to be a KV. They mean that KVs

Seven Kinds of Hierarchy in Homo Hierarchicus

Abstract: I began the work of this paper by trying to specify the different kinds of "hierarchy" that Louis Dumont uses in Homo Hierarchicus.' Such an inventory, I thought, might be helpful to those who find the book difficult to read. Unexpectedly, in the course of the exercise, I began to uncover Dumont's argument and to find what I take to be solutions to two of the problems I had continued to have with this monumental work, even though it had been amply reviewed and discussed.2 I had been troubled by the mystery of "the mantle of our Lady," 'that odd process of the encompassing and the encompassed, and the lack of fit between Dumont's model of the Indian caste system and that of his AngloAmerican-trained colleagues.4 In the paper below, I present the inventory, argument, and solutions mentioned, as well as their implications for an understanding of Homo Hierarchicus by the empirically oriented social scientist. Let us begin by taking Dumont's own vantage point, at what Yalman has referred to as the "watershed between Anglo-American schools of empirical philosophy and behaviourism and French rationalism."' At least for the moment, let us accept Dumont's conviction that ideas are facts of greater importance than observable behavior. He defines the caste system of India as "a system of ideas and values, a formal, comprehensible, rational system, a system in the intellectual sense of the term."'6 With this ideational tilt, Dumont confronts the Indological conception of Hindu ideology-a conception partly inspired by French scholars interested in the content of ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts: Bougle, Hocart, Mauss with the Anglo-American-trained social anthropologists' field monographs, which reflect their concern with power in intergroup relations. These latter scholars-especially M. N. Srinivas, Adrian Mayer, and F. G. Bailey borrowed from the Africanist anthropologist, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, the concept of "dominant clan"; and they adapted it to fit the Indian local caste system by referring to the "dominant caste."' They have also followed Evans-Pritchard in his definition of social structure as

A Philosophy of Hindu Rank from Rural West Bengal

Abstract: Hindus regard all humans as fundamentally unequal. Hindu society is organized around groupings of people into ranked castes. On this there is general agreement, as Dumont's apt characterization, Homo hierarchies, affirms and attests. No similar agreement exists, however, as to the criterion of caste rank. On the one hand, attributional theorists such as H.N.C. Stevenson emphasize the physical nature of a caste and its placement on a continuum of purity and impurity, with the more pure castes held to rank above the less pure. On the other hand, interactional theorists like McKim Marriott emphasize the coded exchange between castes of culturally valued foods and services, with the givers of food held to rank above the receivers, and the receivers of service above the givers; here it is not the religious values of purity and impurity, but behavioral dominance that seems to be at issue.

caste/class and child‐rearing in a changing Indian town

Abstract: An investigation of child-rearing practices among a stratified sample of households in an Indian town indicates that there are some significant differences in parent-child behavior between lower socioeconomic status households and higher status ones. Certain economic factors are identified as affecting how adults handle children, and these are in turn related to differences in children's behavior. Some intra-cultural diversity along one dimension, socioeconomic status, is demonstrated.

The legend of Prince Vijaya — a study of Sinhalese origins

Abstract: Ancient chronicles relate the origin of the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka to the arrival of Prince Vijaya from an area either in north-east or north-west India, and his subsequent affiliation with people from south India. Students of Indian history argue that the Vijayan legend should be interpreted to favor either one or the other of the northern origins, or a mixture of peoples from both areas. Genetic distance analysis however, despite the limitations imposed by the data, shows that modern Sinhalese populations are closer to the Tamils and Keralites of south India and the upper caste groups of Bengal than they are to populations in Gujarat or the Panjab.

Caste Associations in South India: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract: The role of caste associations in Indian society and politics over the past 70 years has been the subject cf extensive discussion, much of it theoretical and unrelated to the detailed study of specific associations. The Rudclp~hs interpreted caste associations as agents of &dquo;modernity,&dquo; a means by which the social. entities of traditional Hindu India were being reforged as democratic pressure groups.’ I Their ideas were elaborated by Hardgrave in his investigation of the once lowly Nadar community in Tamilnad. ’To Hardgrave the Nadar caste associations were central to the process of social elevaticn and to the accumulation of political influence by caste leaders during the early decades of this century.’ The social anthropologists, Bailey and Sriniva,s, have also noted the birth and proliferation of caste associations as a modern adaptation of traditional caste forms. Bailey envisaged the associations as draining the catchment areas of what he termed &dquo;caste categories&dquo;-that is, &dquo;aggregates of persons, usually in the same linguistic region, usually with the same traditional occupation and sometimes with the same caste name....&dquo; He observed that the associations function as welfare and improvement associations, and-notoriously in Kerala-as political interest groups.&dquo;3 Srinivas has suggested that the origins of caste associations can be

Caste, Class and Democracy: Changes in a Stratification System

Abstract: Caste, Class and Democracy is concerned with recent changes in the stratifi cation systems of three communities in Uttar Pradesh, India, during the thirty-fi ve-year period from 1930 to 1965. "The major theoretical concern behind this research is to study the changes in a stratifi cation system over time and to identify the important societal factors that have influenced the process," and to examine "how institutionalized inequalities are created and distributed, particularly in India."

Women and Social Change in Modern India

Abstract: Analyzed are the striking changes that have taken place in the position of women of the Kayasth caste in Hyderabad. The variables that give a reliable index of change for women are: (1) age of marriage, (2) amount & kind of education, (3) employment outside the home, both before & after marriage & motherhood, (4) naming patterns, (5) marriage across subcaste & caste lines, (6) marriage out of birth order, & (7) ratio of never-married women. Specific findings for the Hyderabad Kayasths demonstrate the usefulness of these variables to give a reliable index of social change, not only for women but also for the entire caste population. Since control of women at all stages of their life cycles is necessary for the continuation of traditional family & caste patterns, women constitute the single most sensitive index of social change in modern India. Comparison & generalizations await further studies of other castes using the same variables. AA.

Kshatriyaization and social change: A Study in Orissa setting

Abstract: In his famous book "Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India" M. N. Srinivas in 1952, for the first time, used the term "Sanskritization" in a way which has very much influenced the course of social anthropological research. He states: "The caste system is far from a rigid system in which the position of each component caste is fixed for all time. Movement has always been possible, and especially so in the middle regions of the hierarchy. A low caste was able, in a generation or two, to rise to a higher position in the hierarchy by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism, and by Sanskritizing its ritual and pantheon. In short, it look over, as far as possible, the customs, rites and beliefs of the Brahmins and the adoption of the Brahminic way of life by a low caste seems to have been frequent, though theoretically forbidden. This process has been called 'Sanskritization' in this book, in preference to 'Brahminization', as certain Vedic rites are confined to Brahmins and the two other 'twice-born' castes. The tendency of the lower castes to imitate the higher has been a powerful factor in the spread of Sanskritic ritual and customs, and in the achievement of a certain amount of cultural uniformity not only throughout the caste scale, but over the entire length and breadth of India."

Trade Unionism and Caste in South India

Abstract: Studies of Indian organized labour have followed the beaten track for three decades. In their obsessive concern with the political links of trade unions and their control by middle-class intellectuals and professionals, the students of Indian labour have barely paused to consider the social consequences of unionization. The origin of the labour movement in India goes back to the turn of the century, and over five million workers are now unionzed. A movement of this proportion cannot be without consequence for the attitudes and behaviour of workers. In the specifically Indian context the crucial question is how a trade union movement whose very cornerstone, at least ideally, is a sense of camaraderie among a socially diverse workforce interacts with a traditional society whose foundation is the caste system.

Factions and Kinship: The Case of a South Indian village

Abstract: FAMILY TIES ARE recognized to be among the most important social bonds throughout India. Kinship ties are used to mobilize many types of mutual aid and the reputation of one's kinship group greatly affects an individual's social standing, especially in rural areas. Kinsmen usually have strong positive sentiments toward one another, and even when relationships are conflictual they are seldom unemotional. Because family and kinship bonds are so important in everyday life, understanding of local politics in India requires knowledge of how kinship bonds mobilize and maintain political support. Currently there is controversy, not about empirical generalizations concerning the relation between kinship and factionalism, but about the interpretation of the evidence. In this paper we will review theory and findings on the role of family ties in local Indian politics, specify empirically testable hypotheses that distinguish two conflicting theoretical viewpoints, and attempt at least a partial evaluation of these theories with data from a single caste, South Indian fishing village. In addition, we present new information on the relationship between kinship ties through the wife and mother and local political preferences in the South Indian region, where marriages within the village are permitted.

Munda religion and social structure.

Abstract: The thesis is concerned with the Mundas, a 600,000 strong tribe living on the Chotanagpur plateau in South Bihar, India. An attempt is made to explore and correlate linkages between certain religious and social changes found to be taking place among this group of people. A substantial body of ethnographic literature about the Mundas exists in the writings of colonial servants and foreign missionaries. This provides a point of departure and a baseline for assessing some of the many subsequent changes undergone by this group of cultivators who are traditionally organized into a segmentary lineage society and who are outside the Hindu caste system both ritually and economically. The changes in social organization discussed here include the protective tenancy legislation enacted by the British in 1908 to prevent further alienation of tribal land to outsiders, the growing shortage of virgin land and its effect on lineage organization and village life, the growth of marketing and monetary structures, missions and education, and the increased cultural 'nationalism' of tribal people in Chotanagpur. These changes are linked with changes in religious organization, and particularly the decline in significance of the village priest (pahan) and the observances traditionally associated with village life and which are tied in with the cycles of wet and dry rice cultivation. The importance of village medicine men and diviners is analysed and placed in the context of the search for explanations of new problems and of old problems for which existing explanations lack credibility. Religion is seen as a charter of meaning as well as a reflector of social and economic changes and constraints. It is a product of history, and particular attention is paid, in this analysis, to the role of historical memory and traditions in shaping present ideologies.

Centers and Boundaries of Regional Caste Systems: Toward A General Model

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the centers and boundaries of regional caste systems. In several parts of India, a single dominant caste controls the agricultural activities of a whole region. The chapter also discusses the overall issue of dominance and some of the main features of social organization that tend to accompany it. It explains a test case based on data from southern India. A whole series of social features are related to variations in the basic dominance pattern. Associated components include local food exchange hierarchies, settlement patterns, spatial positioning within the region, and the varied types of historical circumstances that brought particular groups to the area. The status of a dominant caste appears to rest on two things: a near monopoly of management rights in local resources and considerable numerical strength vis-a-vis an otherwise fragmented local population. A dominant caste, just as a dominant species of animal or plant life, once established, tends to expand its domain to fill the space available. This may be an ecologically defined territory bounded by natural features, such as mountains, or a socially defined territory bounded by other equally powerful groups. Once expanded to its natural limit, a group tends to remain stable over time, until outside forces somehow disturb its previous pattern.