Showing papers on "Caste published in 1979"

Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects

Abstract: In this pathbreaking and far-reaching work George Oster and Edward Wilson provide the first fully developed theory of caste evolution among the social insects. Furthermore, in studying the effects of natural selection in generally increasing the insects' ergonomic efficiency, they go beyond the concentration of previous researchers on the physiological mechanisms of the insects and turn our attention instead to the scale and efficiency of the insects' division of labor.Recognizing that the efficiency of the insect colony is based on a complex fitting of the division of labor to many simultaneous needs, including those imposed by the distribution of resources and enemies around the nest, Professors Oster and Wilson are able to construct a series of mathematical models to characterize the agents of natural selection that promote particular caste systems.The social insects play a key role in the subject of sociobiology because their social organization is so rigid and can be related to genetic evolution. Because of this important consideration, the authors' work has consequences not only for entomology but also for general evolutionary theory.

Caste and Kinship in Kangra

Abstract: Part 1: Inter-caste relations1. Introduction: the axiom and idiom of inequality2. The setting3. The economy4. The hierarchical aspects of castePart 2: The internal structure of the caste5. Clans and their segments6. Households and their partition7. Rajput hypergamy in an historical perspective8. The 'biradari' reform movement9. Marriage strategies10. Affines and consanguines11. Conclusion: The limits of hierarchy

An Untouchable Community in South India: Structure and Consensus

Abstract: While many studies suggest that Indian Untouchables do not entirely share the hierarchical values characteristic of the caste system, Michael Moffatt argues that the most striking feature of the lowest castes is their pervasive cultural consensus with those higher in the system. Though rural Untouchables question their particular position in the system, they seldom question the system as a whole, and they maintain among themselves a set of hierarchical conceptions and institutions virtually identical to those of the dominant social order.Based on fourteen months of fieldwork with Untouchable castes in two villages in Tamil Nadu, south India, Professor Moffatt's analysis specifies ways in which the Untouchables are both excluded and included by the higher castes. Ethnographically, he pursues his structural analysis in two related domains: Untouchable social structure, and Untouchable religious belief and practice.The author finds that in those aspects of their lives where Untouchables are excluded from larger village life, they replicate in their own community nearly every institution, role, and ranked relation from which they have been excluded. Where the Untouchables are included by the higher castes, they complete the hierarchical whole by accepting their low position and playing their assigned roles. Thus the most oppressed members of Indian society are often among the truest believers in the system.Originally published in 1979.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Race Relations and Residential Segregation in New Orleans: Two Centuries of Paradox

Abstract: Because of its origins as one of the oldest slave trading centers in the country, New Orleans has a unique history in both race relations and residential segregation. Slavery required blacks to live in close proximity to their white owners. This created a mixed residential pattern that was characteristic of other southern cities in the nineteenth century. The rigid caste/race system defined social distance when physical distance was lacking. In the twentieth century, the advent of civil rights and equality for blacks has led to less patriarchal race relations but, paradoxically, greater residential segregation. Blacks have become more residentially isolated since the turn of the century. This essay documents the disappearance of the classic "backyard pattern" in New Orleans.

Equality, quality and quantity: The elusive triangle in Indian education

Abstract: The simultaneous pursuit of equality of opportunity and improvement of standards in the face of scarce resources confronts Indian education with a dilemma common to many countries. Equality and quality are relatively new values for education in India stimulated by the British system and the influence of the ideals of nationalist leaders like Gandhi, but they only gain ground slowly. The modernization process has introduced some changes into class and caste structures in the social and economic context of education, but the situation of the rural masses remains essentially unchanged. In the drive for equality of opportunity, there has been a visible advance in the enrolment of girls, though this may not reflect a real change in status. The same may be said of the education of the lower intermediate and scheduled castes. Regional disparities within the country also continue.

Caste and Class Controversy

Abstract: Introducing a new hobby for other people may inspire them to join with you. Reading, as one of mutual hobby, is considered as the very easy hobby to do. But, many people are not interested in this hobby. Why? Boring is the reason of why. However, this feel actually can deal with the book and time of you reading. Yeah, one that we will refer to break the boredom in reading is choosing caste and class controversy as the reading material.

The relevance of caste among East African Gujaratis in Britain

Abstract: (1979). The relevance of caste among East African Gujaratis in Britain. New Community: Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 350-360.

Caste and Family in the Politics of the Sinhalese 1947-1976

Abstract: List of tables List of maps and charts Preface Glossary and list of abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Description of castes 3. Preliminary investigations 4. Sabaragamuwa: a study of a caste vote in a traditional area 5. Consequences and implications at the national level 6. The family in politics 7. Caste and the insurgency of 1971 8. Conclusion Appendix Notes Bibliography Index.

Harijan religion: consensus at the bottom of caste

Abstract: The religion of Indian Untouchables (Harijans) is often described and analyzed variationally, suggesting that Untouchables differ significantly in religion from those above them because of their lowermost position in the caste system. This paper challenges this variational emphasis. It examines the conceptualizations and ritual actions of a group of South Indian Harijans in their worship of “divine beings” and concludes that Harijan religion is characterized by deep, tacit consensus with higher-caste religion. The variations that do exist are different from those previously proposed; they must be evaluated in relation to the deep framework of cultural unity, and they do not imply a change in collective consciousness at the bottom of the system.

Sinhalese Astrology, South Asian Caste Systems, and the Notion of Individuality

Abstract: S ri Lanka is an island that looks out upon several worlds.' Perhaps the most Anglophilic of England's colonial peoples, the Sinhalese have also been influenced by substantial contact with the Portuguese and the Dutch. Most importantly, the Sinhalese are South Asiansin their social and political institutions, religious values, and cultural forms. The issue here is how two of these South Asian cultural formscaste and astrologyfit together. The difficulty of defining this notion of "fit" is compounded by its temporal aspects: caste and astrology have histories. In the vexing terms of the study of social change, each has survived and flourished in both "traditional" and "modern" settings. The usual way to understand the durability and vicissitudes of these institutions is to analyze the social behavior associated with them, to approach these phenomena historically or sociologically. I should like to speak to structural, more anthropological issues through a preliminary inquiry that considers caste and, more directly, astrology as cultural systems, systems of meanings embodied in symbols.2 One way to approach the structural question is to examine the status of the individual as it is worked out in caste terms and in astrological terms. A recent investigation of cultural conceptions of the individual is Clifford Geertz's account of the "cultural apparatus in terms of which the people of Bali define, perceive, and react tothat is, think aboutindividual persons. "' If the complexity of Sinhalese history since the colonial period makes understanding cultural conceptions of the individual a long-term project, separating out caste and astrology is an instructive way to beginespecially since these two institutions have exercised great influence throughout South Asia over long periods of time. The social thought against which these institutions make sense is, as a result, unusually systematic and self-conscious, and is characterized by a few continuing assumptions about the relationship of man and society. It would be accurate to describe caste and astrology as cultural logics, or

The Hidden Professoriate: Credentialism, Professionalism, and the Tenure Crisis

Abstract: Wilke has called upon sociologists, observers as well as victims of the caste system, to describe by use of case studies and to analyze the plight of non-tenured faculty and their efforts to survive in an increasingly hostile environment These stories reveal the human factor, too often slighted or forgotten in discussions of the precarious place of the university in today's society

Women in India: Some Recent Perspectives

Abstract: Women in India: Some Recent Perspectives Research Note W OMEN IN INDIA traditionally were members of a stratified society characterized by the ideology and practice of inequality. Caste ideology specified privileges and sanctions according to innate attri- butes, which differed by sex as well as caste. Throughout the subcon- tinent, social, economic, and political power resided with men, even in matrilineal groups or tribal communities with female farming sys- tems. With independence in 194 7 and the subsequent promulgation of the Indian Constitution, the stated equality of all citizens promised revolutionary change for women, as for other formerly subordinate categories such as untouchables. Despite progress for some women since independence, however, revolutionary or even substantial change in the conditions governing the lives of the majority of Indian women has not been achieved. The purpose of this essay is, first, to discuss some of the major problems for women in India today. A major source of information in this regard will be the recent Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, the best single research and advocacy work available. The essay will then go on to review other current research on women in India, pointing to areas where scholarly debate is vigorous or where further research and clarification is needed. The conclusion will assess current thinking in India about the nature of the problems for women and the solutions sought for those problems. Several factors have recently intensified interest in the problems of women in India. One was International Women's Year, proclaimed by the United Nations for 1975, while Indira Gandhi was still Prime Minister. In preparation for this year-long assessment of women's participation in the social, political, and economic activities of na- tions, the government of India produced a series of outstanding re- search reports. Among the government publications taken by Indian delegates to the official United Nations conference and the unofficial but livelier (on women's issues) Women's Tribune convened in Mex- ico City in June i 975, was Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in lndia. 1 This impressive document is so well written Published by the Department of Social Welfare in December of 1974, this report was commissioned in 1971. Committee members were asked to report in two years, but the magni-

Notes sur le forgeron, la forge et les métaux en pays minyanka

Abstract: SUMMARY The status of the Minyanka blacksmith is novel and does not correspond to any other category yet studied. We dismiss the term of " caste " because the society as a whole is not organised according to a caste system. We have studied from the angle of " total " social anthropology forge work as a branch of production, the difference in status between blacksmith and agriculturist, and the role of the theme of the forge in the symbolic system. The evolution of the blacksmith's status as the influence of market economy grew illustrates vividly the overlapping of economic and social structures. We equally see a correlation between the changes in ways of knowledge and religion.

Caste Idiom for Class Conflict Case of Khanjawala

Abstract: Caste Idiom for Class Conflict: Case of Khanjawala Anjan Ghosh THE belief still persists that the caste system in India is a relic of the past which will disappear once industrialisation gets off the ground. It is not often realised that industrialisation pet se, especially in a peripheral social formation, can hardly lead to the eradication of caste discrimination. The specificity of a peripheral social formation arises from the precise nature of interaction between the capitalist and pre-capitalist elements within it. In India this interaction is manifested in the nature of caste-class configuration and conflict. In this report we hope to illustrate this specificity with the case of Khanjawala.

Hierarchy and Resources: Peasant Stratification in late Nineteenth Century Bihar

Abstract: The rural history of modern India has been and is being written for the most part within the terms of that dictum of Louis Dumont, that ‘a certain hierarchy of ideas, things and people, is indispensable to social life’. Even the scholar who has most recently questioned the distributions of power between sections of the community in North India, arguing for inter-dependence of landlords, peasantry and traders, has still emphasized village controllers, and ‘momentum towards social differentiation’, ‘to produce groups of rich peasants, or rather to continue their existence’. The identity of such rich peasants remains obscure or at least specific to the region being studied; but obviously it would be very useful to have similar generalizations about social stratification in the study of modern Bihar. Hitherto the foundation at least of political histories there has been caste or caste groups, yet economic hierarchy, that related but more enigmatic pecking-order, is surely equally important. In this paper I seek a basis for making such generalizations. Grave difficulties stand in the way. My conclusion throws doubt on the applicability to Bihar of the idea of stable hierarchies, and suggests an alternative approach.

Power in modern India: caste or class? An approach and case study

Abstract: This paper is a follow-up to a work which began with the study of power in traditional India seen through the case of Rajasthan (see Stern 1977). Here I propose to examine the implications of the change from a traditional type of sovereignty (the Hindu kingdoms) to a modern type of State in India. Put briefly, the question is as follows: have the changes brought about by British colonization and, subsequently, by Independence, caused an upheaval right throughout the traditional Indian social structure, or has the latter by and large withstood these events? Can we observe a shift away from the structural universe of caste, in which relations of hierarchy and interdependence encompass the factors of separation and opposition *

Kin, caste and kisan movement in Marwar: Some questions to the conventional sociology of kin and caste

Abstract: The basic flaw of conventional sociology in India has been that it studies caste and kinship in isolation from the economic and political structure. Consequently, it fails to understand the basis of unity in kin and caste groups. We have argued that unity between members of the same kin and caste groups depends, in the last analysis, on an identity of economic and political interest. Thus when the kisans in Marwar revolted against the thikanedars the latter could not unite with the chutbhais (their own kinsmen) nor with the bhomcharas bhomias and the Rajput tenants (their caste men). This was because, while they shared common kin and caste ties, their economic and political interests were not identical. Dumont's approach, which sees the basis of inequality in the caste system in the dichotomy of ‘Pure and Impure’ has proved sterile, since it fails to explain the inequalities within the same caste and even the same kin groups, which had their bases in unequal control over land and unequal distribution of p...