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.

The Family in India

Abstract: NDIA is so vast and her people seem so variegated that any generalized statement of the family in India must be subject to numerous exceptions in detail and amendments in local particular. Nevertheless, it is possible to depict Indian family organization in general terms that will have some applicability to a very large proportion of the Indian population, a population that constitutes one fifth of mankind. The classic form of the family in India is that of the joint family. It is prescribed in certain of the sacred Hindu books and has prevailed in the land for centuries. The joint family structure described here is today more characteristic of rural than of urban families, of the upper caste and wealthier strata of society than of the lower and poorer strata, of the more orthodox sectors than of those which have taken over Western traits, and of Hindu than of Muslim communities. But even among urban and Westernized and Muslim families, the patterns of interpersonal relationships set by the joint family are not wholly ignored, and the model of the orthodox, scriptural joint family still has influence everywhere in India. Families of the classic type consist of a number of married couples and their children who live together in the same household. All the men are related by blood, as a man and his sons and grandsons, or a set of brothers, their sons and grandsons. The women of the household are their wives, unmarried daugh. ters, and perhaps the widow of a deceased kinsman. At marriage a girl leaves her ancestral family and becomes a part of the joint family of her husband. The size of such families varies considerably, and the modern trend everywhere is for smaller households. But there are even now households in which four generations are to be found living under one roof, and the family group may number into the hundreds. Each married couple generally has its own bedroom, and sometimes another room for its own children, but there is a common kitchen in which food is prepared for the whole household. The life of the family goes on mainly in one or two large rooms-privacy in the Western sense is minimal.

Accessing higher education: the dilemma of schooling women, minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in contemporary India*

Abstract: This article focusses on the growth of higher education within the framework of preferential treatment and supportive measures for the benefit of different social groups, namely, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities and women. It also reviews the educational policy discourse which assigns several functions to higher education. Some of these are: equity for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes; mainstreaming for the minorities, and equality for women. It demonstrates that the educational policy fails to integrate these functions which remain sectoral aims even at the conceptual level. Further, in the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Indian society, the parametres of gender, caste, class and region are crucial in determining access to higher education. Again, gender becomes the all inclusive negative parameter conferring cumulative and competing disadvantages on women. Lastly, the educational policies and programmes are unable to encompass the complex social reality within a single framework and are, therefore, unable to bridge the gap between policy and practice.

Being Middle-Class in India: A Way of Life

Abstract: Hailed as the beneficiary, driving force and result of globalisation, India’s middle-class is puzzling in its diversity, as a multitude of traditions, social formations and political constellations manifest contribute to this project. This book looks at Indian middle-class lifestyles through a number of case studies, ranging from a historical account detailing the making of a savvy middle-class consumer in the late colonial period, to saving clubs among women in Delhi’s upmarket colonies and the dilemmas of entrepreneurial families in Tamil Nadu’s industrial towns. The book pays tribute to the diversity of regional, caste, rural and urban origins that shape middle- class lifestyles in contemporary India and highlights common themes, such as the quest for upward mobility, common consumption practices, the importance of family values, gender relations and educational trajectories. It unpacks the notion that the Indian middle-class can be understood in terms of public performances, surveys and economic markers, and emphasises how the study of middle-class culture needs to be based on detailed studies, as everyday practices and private lives create the distinctive sub-cultures and cultural politics that characterise the Indian middle class today. With its focus on private domains middleclassness appears as a carefully orchestrated and complex way of life and presents a fascinating way to understand South Asian cultures and communities through the prism of social class