Page 57 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes between caste and politics in urban areas have indicated the use of caste by Rajputs, Nadars, Jats,
Reddys, Brahmins, Yadavs, etc., for seeking votes. On the other hand, some castes have used
politics in cities for social mobility. Thus, there is doubtless continuity in the traditional principles
of social organisation, i.e., functioning of caste and kinship systems and the importance of religious
values.
However, there is some change also in the functioning of caste and kinship systems in urban
areas. In the day-to-day interaction among people in urban areas, neither caste nor kinship nor
religious values are given any importance. For economic and social help on different occasions,
people depend more on neighbours and acquaintances and office colleagues than on caste and
kin.
Urbanisation and Family
The effect of urbanisation on family structure has been pointed out by scholars like M.S. Gore,
Aileen Ross, K.M. Kapadia, and I.P.Desai. Urbanisation affects not only the family structure but
also intra and inter-family relations as well as the functions the family performs. I.P.Desai (1964)
in his study of family in a small town in Gujarat found that traditional joint families; (i.e., joint in
residence, authority, property and with members of more than three generations) are being replaced
by functionally joint families, the size of the family is shrinking; and kinship relationship is
confined to two or three generations only. Kapadia (1959) in his comparative study of rural and
urban families in Gujarat found that in the rural community, the proportion of joint families is
almost the same as that of nuclear families (49.7: 50. 3); in the urban community, there are more
joint families than nuclear families, the proportion being two nuclear families for every three joint
families. Ross in her study of middle and upper class Hindu families in Bangalore in 1957 found
change in structure and size of families as well as weakening or breaking of relations with distant
kin. Gore (1968), however, found little change in family due to urbanisation.
Urbanisation and Caste
As regards effect of urbanisation on caste, scholars like Ramu (1975), Hemlata Acharya (1976), and
D.A. Chekki (1974) have pointed out both change as well as continuity in caste and kinship
networks. A person in a city derives his status not only from caste but also from other considerations.
Broadly speaking, it will not be wrong to say that caste identity tends to diminish with urbanisation.
Urbanites participate in networks which include persons of several castes. According to Rajni
Kothari, the structure of particularistic loyalties has been overlaid by a more sophisticated system
of social and political participation with crosscutting allegiances. Andre Beteille (1966: 209-10) has
pointed out that among the westernised elite, class ties are much more important than caste ties.
The educated members of some castes with modern occupations sometimes organise themselves
as a pressure group. As such, a caste association competes as a corporate body with other pressure
groups for political and economic resources. This type of organisation represents a new kind of
solidarity. These competing units function more as social classes than as caste structures.
Yet another change we find today is the fusion of sub-castes and fusion of castes. Kolenda (1984:
150-51) has identified three kinds of fusion: (i) persons of different castes and sub-castes meet in
their work-places and in newer neighbourhoods in the city. They are usually of approximately
equal rank. Neighbourhood or office group solidarity develops. This has been generally found in
government housing colonies in big cities; (ii) intersub caste marriages take place, promoting
fusion of subcastes. This is because many a time it is difficult to find a sufficiently educated groom
for an educated daughter within one’s own sub-caste, but one may find it in neighbouring sub-
caste; and (iii) democratic politics fosters fusion of sub-castes and of adjacent castes. For example,
the Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (DMK) and the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (ADMK)
parties of Tamil Nadu composed of members of higher non-Brahmin castes.
Urbanisation and Status of Women
Status of women in urban areas is higher than that of women in rural areas. Urban women are
comparatively more educated and liberal. Against 25.1 per cent literate women in rural areas,
there are 54 per cent literate women in urban areas according to the census of 1991. Some of them

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