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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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01 Oct 2006
TL;DR: A generation ago Americans undertook a revolutionary experiment to redefine marriage and the results of this experiment separating marriage from childrearing are in, and they are bad news for children and for the country as a whole as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A generation ago Americans undertook a revolutionary experiment to redefine marriage. The results of this experiment separating marriage from childrearing are in, and they are bad news for children and for the country as a whole. The family upheaval has hit African-Americans especially hard. We forgot what American marriage was designed to do: it ordered lives by giving the young a meaningful life script. It supported middle-class foresight, planning, and self-sufficiency. And it organized men and women around The Mission-nurturing their children's cognitive, emotional, and physical development. It is The Mission that separates middle-class kids from their less-parented and lower-achieving peers. In fact our great family experiment threatens to turn what the founders imagined as an opportunity-rich republic of equal citizens into a hereditary caste society.

23 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze Nepal's past to derive guidelines for the future in the context of a planned new constitution through a Constituent Assembly, and seek answers to the questions: Why did Nepal encounter multiple conflicts and crises during the 1990-2002 democratic period? And what can be done to avoid similar conflicts and crisis in the future?
Abstract: Executive SummaryThis monograph analyzes Nepal's past to derive guidelines for the future in the context of a planned new constitution through a Constituent Assembly. It seeks answers to the questions: Why did Nepal encounter multiple conflicts and crises during the 1990-2002 democratic period? And what can be done to avoid similar conflicts and crises in the future?From 1990 to 2002, Nepal witnessed a Maoist insurgency, exclusion of national, ethnic, and caste groups and women, and governance crises (corruption, governmental instability, etc.). The conflicts and crises contributed to the erosion of democracy, which was further undermined by King Gyanendra's intervention in 2002. Democracy was finally dismantled in 2005 under the pretext of addressing the crisis and instability that plagued Nepal.The study argues that overcentralization of the polity was the underlying cause of the multiple violent and nonviolent conflicts and crises confronting Nepal. Governance structures (majoritarian political institutions like the first-past-the-post electoral system and the unitary structure) and the centralizing political culture concentrated power in the center. Furthermore, centralized power was mostly concentrated in the executive and accessed largely by caste hill Hindu elite males. Overcentralization contributed to abuse of power, corruption, erosion of democratic institutions, and governmental instability. These anomalies occurred partly due to nonexistent or weak horizontal accountability. Different branches of government and central agencies were not sufficiently independent and powerful to hold the executive accountable. Centralization also contributed to ethnic exclusion and conflicts. The first-past-the-post electoral system undermined representation of marginalized groups, while the unitary state allowed the dominant group to impose public policies based on its values over all groups. The hierarchical caste system instilled values that maintained superiority of "upper caste" groups, concentrated privileges in the upper castes, and contributed to discrimination of marginalized groups. The post-1990 years also witnessed violent identity-based conflicts, although these were overshadowed by the Maoist insurgency.Centralization contributed to the initiation and growth of the Maoist insurgency. The Maoists were excluded from governance by majoritarian institutions, and repression by the central government pushed them to insurgency. The overcentralized state had a weak presence in rural areas. Unhealthy competition for power further weakened the state and contributed to the rapid growth of the Maoist insurgency.The years between 1990 and 2002, however, also saw some positive developments. Print and electronic media flourished. People could access information from alternate sources; debates became vigorous; social issues began to be raised; and the media held the elite accountable to a certain degree. The hills were reforested after the government returned the forests to communities and resources from the forests became available to the communities. Nepali civil society became more vibrant. Social justice movements of the Madhesi people of the southern Tarai Region, the Dalit, indigenous nationalities, and women's groups raised their issues and sensitized society to the discrimination and inequalities confronting them. Liberalization made available cheaper and efficient goods and services. Local governments performed better with the devolution of more power and funds to them. Devolution of power to different sectors and agencies and allowing them to operate autonomously were the key factors underlying these successes.Weak accountability mechanisms, however, limited these successes. For instance, abuse of power by the media often went unpunished. Weak or nonexistent accountability mechanisms also caused many of the crises Nepal encountered during this period. Weak social accountability also resulted in continued exclusion of marginalized groups from government and influential societal sectors, even in successful sectors. …

23 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2000-Americas
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a portrait of colonial Afro-Mexicans, focusing on occupational and marriage patterns of free-colored populations in Spanish America, including pardos, morenos, and mulattos, who were found throughout the major urban centers, coastal zones, rural areas, and in selected portions of the northern frontier.
Abstract: Late colonial Mexico possessed one of the largest free-colored populations in Spanish America, numbering around 370,000 in 1793. The colony's pardos, morenos, and mulattos were highly dispersed, being found throughout the major urban centers, coastal zones, rural areas, and in selected portions of the northern frontier. Studies conducted over the past two decades have assisted enormously in reconstructing the free-colored demographic profile, with particular emphasis on occupational and marriage patterns. Much of this research has resulted from sustained examinations of the caste vs. class debate, which has attempted to understand the manner in which the caste system worked in structuring colonial social relations. Broader, regional histories have added even more to our understanding by situating Blacks within the economic, cultural, and social context of important towns and their hinterlands. Institutional studies have also referenced the Afro-Mexican presence and contributions. However, numerous gaps still exist in our portrait of colonial Afro-Mexicans. Notably, the Pacific coastal regions have received proportionately little attention in comparison to the area of Veracruz. This is surprising since the Costa Chica, occupying portions of the modern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, remains home to some of the more significant concentrations of Afro-Mexicans.

23 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the role of class politics in shaping the outcomes of social protection interventions and highlight the ways in which class politics is constituted by the interaction of class relations and the balance of substantive class power in a polity.
Abstract: In this paper, I direct attention to the role of class politics in shaping the outcomes of social protection interventions. I highlight the ways in which class politics is constituted by the interaction of class relations and the balance of substantive class power in a polity. I demonstrate the ways in which variations in class politics influence outcomes of a large social protection programme in India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In localities where either of the elite classes has successfully co-opted or eliminated the other, their stark contradictions against the interests of agricultural labourers result in them sabotaging the labour-friendly MGNREGA or implementing it half-heartedly. On the other hand, in localities characterised by an overarching framework of contest between the precarious classes and the entrenched classes, dominant class hostility to agricultural labourers is dissipated and labour-friendly programmes such as the MGNREGA have a chance of being implemented. However, the transformative aspect of the programme’s intent, in terms of dissolving the relations of power that bolster poverty, appears to be more in evidence in localities where emergent classes with precarious surpluses, together with agricultural labourers, challenge the influence of the entrenched classes. In these localities, the implementation of the programme, even where fraught with difficulties, contributes to dissolving hierarchical relations and establishing egalitarian ones.

23 citations


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