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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.


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Book
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: Gupta as mentioned in this paper argues that any notion of a fixed hierarchy is arbitrary and valid only from the perspective of individual castes and that the idea of difference determines the tendency of each caste to keep alive its discrete nature and this is also seen to be true of various castes which occupy the same rank in the hierarchy.
Abstract: The caste system has conventionally been perceived by scholars as a hierarchy based on the binary opposition of purity and pollution. Challenging this position, leading sociologist Dipankar Gupta argues that any notion of a fixed hierarchy is arbitrary and valid only from the perspective of the individual castes. The idea of difference, and not hierarchy, determines the tendency of each caste to keep alive its discrete nature and this is also seen to be true of the various castes which occupy the same rank in the hierarchy. It is, in fact, the mechanics of power, both economic and political, that set the ground rules for caste behaviour, which also explains how traditionally opposed caste groups find it possible to align in the contemporary political scenario. With the help of empirical evidence from states like Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the author illustrates how any presumed correlations between caste loyalties and voting patterns are in reality quite invalid. Provocative and finely argued, Interrogating Caste is a remarkable work that provides fresh insight into caste as a social, political and economic reality.

185 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a general theory of ecological history which attempts a paradigm shift from Weberian and Marxian theories of human society, and examine infrastructures, property systems, political ideologies, religions, social idioms and the belief structures that characterize human interactions with resource bases.
Abstract: In the first part of the book, the authors present a general theory of ecological history which attempts a paradigm shift from Weberian and Marxian theories of human society. Here they ask under what conditions humans exercise prudence in their use of natural resources; they examine infrastructures, property systems, political ideologies, religions, social idioms and the belief structures that characterize human interactions with resource bases; they analyse the varieties of social conflict that appear over the exploitation of natural resources; and, finally, they explore the impact of changing patterns of resource use upon human societies. In the second part the authors provide a fresh interpretive history of pre-modern India. They also provide, in this section, an ecological interpretation of the caste system which adds a significant dimension to existing ideas on caste. In the third part the authors draw on a huge wealth of source material to offer a socioecological analysis of the modes of resources use which were introduced by the British, and which continued, with modifications, after Independence in 1947. (This is a paperback edition of the HB issued in 1992.)

184 citations

Book
01 Feb 2001
TL;DR: Osella and Osella as discussed by the authors examined how Izhavas, through repudiation of their nineteenth-century identity and search for mobility, have come into complex relationships with modernity, colonialism and globalisation.
Abstract: The Izhavas are an ex-untouchable community in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Politically and economically weak, stigmatised as ‘toddy tappers’ and ‘devil dancers’, and considered unapproachable by clean caste Hindus, a century ago Izhavas were associated with other manual-labouring untouchable castes. In recent decades they have sought to improve their position by accumulating economic, symbolic and cultural capital through employment, religion, politics, migration, marriage, education and have tried to assert their right to mobility, often in the face of opposition from their high status Christian and Nayar neighbours. This study examines how Izhavas, through repudiation of their nineteenth-century identity and search for mobility, have come into complex relationships with modernity, colonialism and globalisation. Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella highlight the complexities and contradictions of modern identity, both locally and globally. The authors’ approach builds upon and goes beyond a south Asian focus, showing how the Izhavas represent the rise of formerly stigmatised groups who remain at the same time trapped by stereotype and material disadvantage. Absolute mobility, they argue, has not led to relative mobility within a society which remains stratified and prone to new forms of social exclusion.

180 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In the highly eusocial honey bees (Apinae and stingless bees) marked caste syndromes have evolved and the trophogenic basis for caste induction is provided by the nursing workers, although in a colony brood rearing including gyne production is strongly influenced by the queen.
Abstract: In the highly eusocial honey bees (Apinae) and stingless bees (Meliponinae) marked caste syndromes have evolved. The typical queen and worker characteristics are different from one another not just with regard to the reproductive organs but include many other morphological, physiological, and behavioral differences as well. These striking caste distinctions are the result of postembryonic divergences in development which depend on ecological conditions, mainly on the external factor of larval nutrition. Caste development in social insects in general belongs to the widespread phenomena of insect polymorphism and, in accordance with environmental control, castes in bees were called ecomorphs (de Wilde and Wirtz 1974; de Wilde 1975). The trophogenic basis for caste induction is provided by the nursing workers, although in a colony brood rearing including gyne production is strongly influenced by the queen. The queen also rigidly controls all reproduction of the workers. On the other hand, her own reproductive output depends completely on the helper functions of the workers, her daughters.

180 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: This paper analyzed inequality and poverty in India within the context of caste-based discrimination and found that at least one third of the average income/probability differences between Hindu and SC/ST households was due to the unequal treatment of the latter.
Abstract: This paper analyses inequality and poverty in India within the context of caste-based discrimination. It does so by decomposing the difference between (caste) Hindu and Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households in: their average household incomes; their probabilities of being in different income percentiles; their probabilities of being at different levels of poverty into: "a discrimination effect", which stems from the fact that a household's income level, into which its (income-generating) profile translates, depends on whether it is SC/ST; an "attributes (or residual) effect" which stems from the fact that there are systematic differences between SC/ST and Hindu households in their (income-generating) profiles. The results, based on unit record data for 28,922 households, showed that at least one-third of the average income/probability differences between Hindu and SC/ST households was due to the "unequal treatment" of the latter.

178 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023585
20221,232
2021241
2020254
2019243
2018247