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Unit 8: Changing Trends and Future of Caste System

until modern times. Individualism was subordinated to collectivism. The caste loyalty was the Notes
result of absence of competition which enabled the strong to exploit the weak. No wonder,
Hinduism always exalted the static caste and the welfare of all its conformist members.
5. Caste status lessened maladjustment of individuals in the society
The caste system did not permit personal choice of any type to individuals. Their occupation,
marriage, and social status was pre-determined. Sons followed their fathers in career aspirations
and daughters followed their mothers’ footsteps of ministering to husband and children. Even
friends and companions for the individuals were decided by their birth. The caste system thus
helped individuals in all respects in their adjustment in society. Since every path of an individual
was prefixed, it lessened his maladjustment in different situations and obviated his frustrations,
though it hampered his broad personality development.

8.6 Present Structure of the Caste System

The caste system has neither disintegrated nor is it disappearing in present India despite many
modifications. It continues to perform important functions legitimized by religion. Harold Gould
(1987: 156) is of the opinion that in contemporary urban India, caste persists in the form of complex
networks of interest groups while in the rural India, it functions as a system of social strata which are
hierarchically graded, endogamous, and occupationally and ritually specialized. In both communities
(rural and urban), caste remains an extremely viable social institution.
During the last four and a half decades, that is, between 1947 and 1993, caste structure has considerably
changed. Though the two important features of hereditary membership and hierarchy have not
changed at all but we do find some change in the endogamy characteristic and a significant change in
the characteristics of traditional occupation, in commensal restrictions, in the idea of purity and
pollution, in restrictions on social relationships, and in the powers enjoyed by the caste councils. The
most important change we find nowadays in the caste system is that there has grown a desire among
the lower castes to improve their lot and as a consequence, the higher castes keep on attempting to
make them stick to their societal position. This has led to prejudices and conflicts among different
castes. The conflict is between those who demand rapid improvement of their lot and those who find
too much is demanded too fast.
The question that naturally needs to be examined is: Is caste system changing or weakening or
disintegrating? There are two views: one view is that caste system is fast changing and is weakening
though it is not being disintegrated or abolished. To this school belonged early scholars of 1950s,
1960s and 1970s like D.N. Majumdar, Kuppuswami, Kali Prasad, Gardner Murphy, and Max Weber,
and scholars of 1980s and early 1990s like R.K. Mukherjee, E.J. Miller, and M.N. Srinivas. The other
view is that caste system is not transforming itself so fast and the changes are gradual. To this school
belong early scholars like I.P. Desai, Ghurye, Narmadeshwar Prasad and Kapadia and present scholars
like Damle, Dumont, Andre Beteille, Harold Gould, Yogendra Singh, S.C. Dube and T.N. Madan.
D.N. Majumdar, while explaining how the caste system has fastly changed, has referred to the fusion
and fission of castes and assimilation of tribes. Kuppuswami and Kali Prasad pointed out some basic
changes in the caste system. They did this by pointing out separately to the rural and the urban
societies and the radical changes found at these two levels. Kuppuswami in his study of attitudes of
students in Madras (see Kapadia, Sociological Bulletin, September 1962) pointed out that a large
proportion of students asserted that they looked upon the caste system as intolerable and were
prepared to abolish it. Kali Prasad (Social Integration Research: A Study in Inter-Caste Relationship,
Lucknow University, 1954: 3) conducted a study on communal tensions in 1952 in which he
incorporated a study of intercaste relations also. The lower castes were represented by Harijans. His
results revealed that 90.0 per cent of the upper caste people accepted the lower caste people as their
fellow diners. Another study of Kali Prasad (1954) also presented similar results. His findings
supported the statement that caste cleavages are levelled up fastly. Gardner Murphy (In the Minds of
Men, 1953: 65), who conducted UNESCO’s social tension studies in India during 1950-52 concluded
that caste system has come to a challenge. Max Weber’s view was that all caste relations have been
shaken and the intellectuals are the bearers of specific nationalism. Ram Krishna Mukherjee (1957)

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