Page 189 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes Industrialization
The growth of industries destroyed the old crafts and provided unheard of ways to earn a livelihood.
Occupational mobility and movement from the compact ancestral village started breaking down
those caste norms which did not concern marriage. Industrialization also created new transportation
facilities, specially crowded trains and buses, which threw together millions of people of all castes
and left little room for the niceties of ceremonial purity. Taboos against some foods and against
accepting food and water from persons of other castes also gradually started weakening when
industrial workers belonging to various castes started living together in the same house, leaving
their families behind in the villages.
However, the impact of industrialization has not been uniform and absolute on all the salient features
of the caste system. For example, it has no effect on marriage customs or belief in caste norms. Perhaps,
this is because of the deep-rooted social values. But there is no doubt that industrialization does have
its impact on the structure of caste.
It was believed by some scholars that industrialization would lead to the automatic dissolution of the
caste system and its progressive replacement by a class system analogous to that found in the advanced
industrial societies of the west. To a large extent this expectation or visualization arose from the belief
that the application of mechanical forces and nationality to the production of goods and services
inspires social change. But this thesis about social change presents only the economic perspective.
There are the socio-structural and demographic concomitants too of social change. Industrial society
need not be a fully ‘rational’ society.
Urbanization
The growth of cities and the developed means of transport and communication considerably changed
the functioning of caste in India. Not only the commensal inhibitions have been relaxed but the
authority of Brahmins has also come to be questioned. Referring to this, M.N Srinivas (1962: 85-86)
has stated that due to the migration of Brahmins to the towns, the non-Brahmins refuse to show the
same respect which they showed before, and inter-caste eating and drinking taboos are also somewhat
weakened. Ghurye (1961: 202) also accepted the changes in the rigidities of the caste system due to
the growth of city life with its migratory population. Kingsley Davis (1951) too held that the anonymity,
congestion, mobility, secularism and changeability of the city makes the operation of the caste virtually
impossible.
Narmadeshwar Prasad made an investigation of five castes in Bihar to find out the impact of urban-
industrial forces on caste relations. He studied a village in Chhapra district on the one hand and proper
Chhapra town—an urban industrial area—on the other hand. The five castes studied were: Brahmins,
Rajputs, Ahirs, Dhobis and Chamars. He selected twenty persons from each caste both from the rural
and the urban-industrial areas. Thus, in all he studied two hundred persons for comparing the functioning
of castes in a village and a city. He found (1956: 130-134) that in the village, each caste is a well-knit
homogeneous group, inter-dining is tabooed, jati panchayat is all powerful, jati-bhoj is compulsory, all
castes co-operate in social and religious functions, castes continue to be endogamous and caste hierarchy
exists. On the other hand, in the city, caste solidarity is absent, people of different castes take food
together in the common room, caste panchayat is casual and temporary, jati-bhoj is not universal and no
caste co-operation exists in socio-religious functions. Studying the change in the traditional occupations
of the five castes, he found that while there was complete deviation in the urban-industrial area, it was
partial in the rural areas. Out of one hundred persons studied in the village, only 19 per cent (Ahir: 9,
Rajput: 7 and Brahmins: 3) had deviated from their traditional occupations. This shows that the traditional
functions assigned by castes no longer operate in an urban-industrial situation. Comparing the attitudes
of the respondents towards the inter-caste marriages, he found that in both the rural and urban areas,
the majority of respondents (87% in rural area and 75% in urban area) disliked it. All this shows the
impact of urban situation on the caste system.
Post-independence Period (1947-1993 A.D.)
After the political independence of the country, the important factors, besides industrialization and
urbanization, which have affected the caste system are: the merger of varios states, enactment of

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