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.

Moral economies of a translocal village: Obligation and shame among South Indian transnational migrants

Abstract: In this article, we develop the concept of the translocal village as a subset of transnationalism to describe the highly circumscribed social relations that often emerge from small-scale translocalized rural villages. In the article we explore the translocal dimensions of a rural South Indian village in Tamil Nadu as a case study to advance this theoretical position. Like all transnational communities involved in the production of locality, identity and social viability, Soorapallam villagers and fellow Musuguntha Vellalar caste members now based in Singapore maintain strong social and cultural ties with their village. However, what is most interesting about this community is that its involvement in translocal practices is determined by a moral economy of obligations and responsibilities based on caste membership, which, in turn, is regulated by regimes of affect and policed through the gaze of fellow translocals. We will demonstrate the specific ways in which this moral economy is reproduced and maintained across distance.

Caste in India and the United States

Abstract: Caste in defined in such a way as to be useful cross-culturally. Comparison of race relations in the southern United States and relations between the untouchables and other castes in India demonstrates that the two systems are closely similar in operation despite differences of content. Low-caste status in India, as in America, is actively resented. Research emphasis upon the realities of structure and process as revealed by cross-cultural studies of caste interaction is more likely to lead to useful generalizations about this kind of social stratification and intergroup relations than is the more conventional emphasis upon differences of cultural content.

Creating Entrepreneurs in India

Abstract: The combination of historical factors--including the caste system, British occupation, cultural values, and government regulations--have limited innovative entrepreneurship in India. More recently, efforts have focused on changing the cultural mind set in India regarding entrepreneurship and on creating entrepreneurs by giving youth the self confidence to become high achievers. Situated in southern Asia, the Indian subcontinent has over 7,000 km. of coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The Republic of India shares land boundaries with Bangladesh (formerly Pakistan East), Bhutan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), China (PRC), Nepal, and Pakistan. India's population, officially approaching 1 billion [1], is multicultural. Ethnic groups include Indo-Nordics, Dravidians, and Mongoloids. Among India's socio-religious groups are the Baghdadi Jews, Bene Israels, Christians, Cochini Jews, Hindus, Jains, Moslems, Parsis, and Sikhs. The largest religious group is the Hindu community which is segmented into varna (classes) believed to have originated in functional occupations. The four principal higher varna are Brahmin (priests), Kshtriya (warriors), Vaishya (traders), and Shudra (artisans). The "untouchables" have been assigned the lowest social ranking. Even during the 20th century, these people have been required to maintain a physical distance of 64 feet from the Brahmins, and 30 feet from the Shudras. India's caste system, a social and religious hierarchy, is central to the people's cultural beliefs. Each individual has a dharma (duty) specific to the caste of birth. This combination of social structure and cultural values has constrained entrepreneurship in India. However, in recent years, there have been a number of efforts to shift the national mind set regarding entrepreneurship, particularly among India's youth, in whom it is hoped an entrepreneurial personality can be developed. This article gives an overview of some of these efforts. Entrepreneurship in India: An Historical Perspective Since ancient times, Indian products have made their way to markets abroad, Muslin from India was used by the Pharaohs for Egyptian mummies (Datt and Sundharam 1968). The Jains, an ascetic religious group, have long been a trading sect in India, not out of an entrepreneurial spirit based on materialism, but rather because trading was an occupation that kept them relatively free from conflict with the requirements of their religious practices. The Marwaris (formerly known as Banias) are a non-Bengali caste specializing in domestic trade. Their enterprises have complemented those of English entrepreneurs who allowed the Marwaris to become prominent in a diversified industrial economy. Under the British during the 19th century India began to industrialize, and Indian entrepreneurs were instrumental in the spread of manufacturing (Medhora 1965). In contrast, other groups of Indian entrepreneurs had experiences of another kind. During the 1800s, the British discriminated against those communities (such as the Bengalis) that competed with English entrepreneurs in international commerce. Many Indian entrepreneurs were thus forced out of the business realm. During the 1880s, local firms with established reputations were defrauded by British partners, an action which led to more withdrawals from the business sector. Regarding this, Nafziger comments, "The lack of indigenous entrepreneurship [in India]... stems in part from the discrimination and duplicity of the British in the 19th century" (1971, p.30). Between 1912 and 1945, industrial production in India doubled (Balakrishna 1961). During the 1920s and 1930s, the Jains (especially the Marwari Jains) shifted their activity from trading to manufacturing, breaking away from their scriptural teaching. India's independence, made official on August 15, 1947, was described as a "tryst with destiny," by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. …

India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation

Abstract: Much of India’s high economic growth has been due to private sector-driven capitalist market development. The social origins of India’s capitalist class lie in the institution of caste. Damodaran shows the different ways by which caste and community have contributed to India’s dynamic private sector, capturing in seven chapters the rise of Indian business firms in specific industries and locations. Historically sensitive, he traces business communities, beginning with the old mercantile families and communities (Chapter 2) that had links with Arab merchants, Central and Southeast Asians and later Europeans before and during colonialism. Next, he examines the evolution of the upper priestly and warrior castes (Brahmins and Khatris) in the North (Chapter 3), the landowning lower castes of Kammas, Reddys and Rajus in the South (Chapter 4), two other groups of Southern business communities (Naidus and Gounders) (Chapter 5), and Nadars and Ezhavas (Chapter 6). In Chapter 7, he discusses the rise of capitalists in the West (the Patidars and Marathas), who emerged from cooperative farming, and in Chapter 8 he tries to answer why the Northern farming capitalists could not transform themselves into industrial capitalists as successfully as those from the landowning communities in the South. In Chapter 9, he discusses the scheduled castes (Dalits) and Muslims, two groups that have been less successful among India’s rising capitalist classes. There are three major pathways by which industrial capitalists (factory owners) have emerged: from bazaar to factory (the old mercantile families), from office to factory (upper literati castes) and from farm to factory (landowners of various castes). Non-trading castes entered business through social relations, networks and extended families, which supported subsequent expansion. Whereas upper castes leveraged their social standing to gain access to capital, lower castes relied on kinship and social networks to promote their castebased communities and families. Trust, cemented by a common caste background, allowed mercantile families to prosper and also allowed international r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1472-4782 Asian Business & Management Vol. 11, 5, 651–654