Page 17 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes 1.3 Evolution of Indian Society: Socio-Cultural Dimensions

Rural people, whose main occupation is agriculture, are more close to nature, have close personal
ties of kinship and friendship, and lay stress on tradition, consensus, and informality. The density
of population in villages is so low that it not only affects production and distribution but also the
total life of the community and peoples’ living standard. Both birth rate and death rate are high in
villages in comparison to cities which adversely affects the quantitative and the qualitative growth
of the rural people. Another aspect of the life of rural people which requires study is their
distribution in age and sex groups. About 45 per cent of rural people belong to productive age (15-
59) and about 55 per cent are sustained by working people (Manpower Profile, India, 1998:135). The
preponderance of children (14 –) and the aged (60 +) considerably influences the economic and the
social life of the working section of the people. Similarly, the fact that the number of females per
1,000 males is higher in the rural areas than in the urban areas and that 33 per cent of rural women
belong to the working force (against 56.1% of rural men) affects sex mores, social codes, social
rituals, and social institutions. The family structure, caste composition, religious variations, economic
life, land relations, poverty, and the standard of life in villages also affect villagers’ life. We will
describe each of these aspects separately.
The Family

Family and familism play a decisive role in the material and cultural life of villages and in moulding
the psychological characteristics of the rural collectivity. While joint family continues to be the
predominant form, nuclear family also exists as a result of the growth of market economy in the
agrarian areas, migration of youth to cities, and the impact of urban socio-economic forces on the
rural society. In spite of this change, in comparison to urban family, rural family is far more
homogeneous, integrated, and organically functioning. The ties between parents and children,
husband and wife, siblings and siblings and among affinal kin are stronger and last longer than
those in an urban family. Another characteristic of the rural family is that it is generally agriculture-
oriented, i.e., a very large majority of its members are engaged in the agricultural occupation.
Since members of the rural family form a single economic unit, cooperate with one another in
agricultural operations, hold property in common usually managed by the oldest member of the
family, and since they spend most of their time together, their beliefs, attitudes, aspirations and
values are similar. The interdependence of members on each other enables them to develop more
collectivist family consciousness and less individualistic emotion. Though the impact of
urbanisation, industrialisation, education, etc., has weakened traditional authority structure, created
centrifugal tendencies, and reduced economic homogeneity based on a single economic activity,
yet the family has not become atomistic, and family as an institution continues to be strong. It will
not be illogical to hold that though rural family is undergoing a qualitative change, the dominance
of familism is dropping off, family ego is diminishing, and the rule of custom is being replaced by
the rule of law, yet family is not disintegrating.
Caste System

There was a time (say, up to the 1940s) when the caste system in rural areas was rigid, caste
councils were very powerful, and caste determined the status and opportunities for mobility of
individuals. Even land ownership and power structure existed on caste lines. But after the 1950s,
spread of means of communication, education, growth of competitive economy, etc., have
transformed self-contained castes into mobile classes. Certain castes have been losing previous
status and functions and slowly submerg-ing into the lowest class groups of modern society,
while on the other hand, many lower castes are gaining economic and political power and emerging
as dominant castes. Scholars like A.R. Desai, Andre Beteille, Yogendra Singh, B.R. Chauhan, etc.,
have pointed out change in the caste system, its decreasing effect on people, and increasing effect
of the class system.
There is also change in the economic life including rural indebtedness based on caste system.
R.K. Nehru has vividly pointed out in his exploratory study of a few villages what close relation
existed earlier and exists today between caste and indebtedness and credit in the rural areas.

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