Page 107 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes for instance, believes that sub-caste is the ‘real’ unit of the caste system. But, in his own study of
Rampura village (in Mysore), he confined himself to the study of caste. According to Mayer (1960
: 8) : “At the level of the regional study, a sub-caste may be the unit of inter-caste as well as intra-
caste relations, though within the village, inter-caste relations can be seen in terms of castes rather
than sub-castes.” Iravati Karve (1938 : 33) considers sub-castes as ‘ultimate units’ of analysis.
Ghurye (1950 : 20) maintains that stated generally, though it is the caste that is recognized by the
society at large, it is the sub-caste that is regarded important by the particular caste and individuals.
We should, therefore, recognize sub-castes as real castes to get a sociologically correct idea of the
institution of caste. According to Stevenson (1954), however, because of the confusion between the
concepts of caste and sub-caste, the best thing is to ignore the difference between the two. But as
already stated, instead of completely forgetting the difference between the two concepts, we
should treat a group as a sub-caste in the sociological literature only if it preserves its link with the
parental caste, otherwise we should treat each endogamous group as a separate entity, that is, a
caste. Max Weber (1960 : 31) also holds : “Today one caste frequently contains several hundred
sub-castes. In such cases, these sub-castes may be related to one another exactly or almost exactly
as are different castes. If this is the case, sub-castes in reality are castes; the caste name common to
all of them has merely historical significance”.
Caste and Tribe
There is no single and accepted criterion by which to distinguish a tribe from a caste. Andre
Beteille (1977 : 7) has claimed that the concept of ‘tribe’ can be understood clearly not on the basis
of its existing definitions but by finding out the attributes and analyzing the specific conditions in
India which are distinctive of groups conventionally regarded as tribes. For example, social
anthropologists like Nadel have described tribe as “a society with a political, a linguistic, and a
cultural boundary.”
Though many tribal societies have a clear cultural and linguistic boundaries, if not the political
one, but there are several tribal societies which lack government and the centralized authority in
the ordinary sense of the term. Likewise, cultural homogeneity in a tribe is also elusive because in
this age no iron wall exists where one ‘culture’ comes to an end and another begins. A common
dialect, however, is possessed by the tribes. The prevalent definition of tribe is, therefore, inadequate.

A tribe is society, the members of which have a common government, share common
language, and hold a common culture or beliefs and practices.

Scholars like Ghurye, Naik, Bailey and Verrier Elwin, etc. have used different criteria for
distinguishing between caste and tribe. Some of these criteria used are : religion, geographical
isolation, language, economic backwardness, and political organization.
It is said that the religion of the tribal people is Animism and that of the caste people is Hinduism.
Hutton (1963) and Bailey (1960 : 263) believe that tribal people are not Hindus but are animists.
The basic tenets of Animism are : phenomena of sleep, dream and death, and belief in possession,
in spirits and ghosts, and in magic. On the other hand, the principle characteristics of Hinduism
are : dharma, bhakti, and rebirth. It will be wrong to say that the Hindus, particularly the lower
castes, do not believe in spirits and ghosts or in magic, dreams, etc. Similarly, there are many
tribals who worship Hindu gods and goddesses, celebrate Hindu festivals and fairs, and observe
Hindu customs, traditions and rituals. It is, therefore, not easy to distinguish between Animism
and Hinduism. Ahuja (1965), Verrier Elwin (1943), and Risley (1908) also maintain that the
distinction between Hinduism and Animism is artificial and meaningless. This means that because

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