Caste

About: Caste is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5681 publications have been published within this topic receiving 91330 citations. The topic is also known as: caste system.

Sanskritization: The career of an anthropological theory:

Abstract: The paper sketches the origins and development of one of the most widely influential of anthropological contributions to thinking about Indian society, 'Sanskritization', tracing its sources and its evolution in the thought of M.N. Srinivas, its author. As a process, he identified it first in his work as a student of G.S. Ghurye on 1930's rural Mysore. The roots and the form of this identification are examined. The theory was named and proclaimed in his classic Religion and society among the Coorgs, based on his Ph.D. work for Ghurye which he had reworked under the influence of Radcliffe-Brown's structural functionalism. Appearing thus, its original limited base was hidden: it was no longer a theory about Mysore society but about India in general, and indeed India resurgent in the era of Independence. Two diverging theses developed, linked by the centrality of the Brahman. One, seminal for future theoretical development, introduced social mobility into caste analysis; the other, more politically significa...

Corporate Boards in India Blocked by Caste

Abstract: An examination of the caste diversity of Indian corporate boards of a thousand top Indian companies – accounting for four-fi fths of market capitalisation of all companies listed in the major stock indices in India – measured by the Blau index shows that their median score for 2010 is zero, indicating that there is no diversity at all. Indian corporate boards continue to remain “old boys clubs” based on caste affi liation rather than on other considerations (like merit or experience). E conomic disparities between various ethnic and racial groups brought the issue under the spotlight globally. In India, this debate is centred on the issue of how caste-based systems foster social discrimination and economic inequality (Srinivas 1962; Beteille 1992, 2012). Caste is an important determinant of social, economic, corporate and political power in contemporary India. There are a number of studies on caste differentials in consumption, income, education, occupation and development indices (Deshpande 2011; Siddique 2011; Thorat and Newman 2007, 2010; Munshi

Gendering colour: identity femininity and marriage in Kerala.

Abstract: This paper uses ethnographic material on the Christian middle class in the South Indian state of Kerala to explore the significance of skin colour as symbolic capital for marriage and dowry negotiations. Within the social contours of caste community and marriage circles fair-skin colour and other female embellishments operate as "boundary markers" to accentuate marital caste and class positions and feminine gender identity. South Indian and South Asian perceptions of "fair skin colour" as a defining feature of female beauty ideals and feminine gender identity incorporate other related qualities such as health and moral conduct. Skin colour along with dowry negotiations serves to disempower women both symbolically and materially in the matter of their own marriages. (authors)

‘First Our Jobs Then Our Girls’: The Dominant Caste Perceptions on the ‘Rising’ Dalits

Abstract: In the post-colonial shifting of material, legal and ideological bases, some of the given patterns of relationships between individuals and caste groups have changed and weakened because of the introduction of new, parallel and alternative structures of relationships. This change has left the dominant caste groups feeling palpably insecure in relation to the dalits. While delineating this relationship, this article seeks to argue that the cases of dalit and dominant/upper caste members' elopement and marriage represent a high point in the ongoing conflictual relationship between them, as these are viewed as forms of dalit assertion. Although many caste groups and communities are involved in inter-caste marriages and associations that defy customary norms and caste practices and have no social acceptance, it is in relation to a dalit and non-dalit association or marriage that certain aspects, which impinge on wider issues, come to the surface more pronouncedly. For the dominant caste groups such associations remain the most viable and potent issues to garner a wider collective support, cutting across class/caste/community and age divides. These cases are selectively made a public spectacle by the dominant caste groups to settle wider issues at stake verging on contemporary political and economic interests.