Page 110 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 6 : Caste

the traditional norms of caste reciprocity and enter into the arenas of conflict, a situation Notes
different from that of a caste.” Gough and Richard Fox also hold the same opinion. M.N.
Srinivas (1962 : 7) does not agree with Leach on this. He maintains : “I cannot agree with
Leach when he says that competition between caste groups is defiance of caste principles. It
is true that castewise division of labour facilitates the interdependence of castes (and this is
strikingly seen in the jajmani system), but inter-dependence is not the whole story. Castes do
compete with each other for acquiring political and economic power and high ritual position”.
(4) Caste has an organic character but class has a segmentary character where various segments
are motivated by competition.
(5) In the caste system, there is co-operation and economic inter-dependence but in the class
system, there is no economic dependence. Instead, there is competition in the class system.
In this context, Leach (Ibid : 9-10) has said that caste system is an organic system, with each
particular caste filling a distinctive functional role. It is a system of labour division from
which the element of competition among members has been largely excluded.
(6) In the caste system, upper castes compete with each other for the services of the lower-castes
but in the class system, lower- classes compete with each other for the favour of the upper
classes. Referring to this, Leach (Ibid : 5-6) has said : “It is the characteristic of the class-
organized societies that rights of ownership are the prerogative of minority groups which
form privileged elites. The capacity of the upper-class minority to exploit the services of the
lower-class majority is critically dependent upon the fact that members of the under-privileged
groups must compete among themselves for the favours of the elites. In a caste society,
however, the position is reversed”.
(7) In the caste system, status of a caste is determined not by the economic and the political
privileges but by the ritualistic legitimation of authority, that is, in the caste-based system,
ritual norms encompass the norms of power and wealth (Dumont). For example, even though
Brahmins have no economic and political power yet they are placed at the top of the caste
hierarchy. In the class system, ritual norms have no importance at all but power and wealth
alone determine one’s status. According to Dumont, in the class-based system, economic and
political ideologies encompass the ritual order. Bailey, however, does not accept Dumont’s
statement that religious ideas rather than the economic values establish the rank of each
caste. He says that if we accept this statement, it would mean that changes in control over
economic resources can take place without causing changes in rank. This is only partially
true. It may be true for Brahmins and untouchables but not for the intermediate castes. In his
own study in Bisipara, Bailey (1957 : 264-65) found that change in wealth is followed by
change in rank. Further, in the caste system, social mobility is not possible but in the class
system, change in status is possible. D.N. Majumdar (1958) in this context has even explained
caste as a closed class. This view is not accepted by M.N. Srinivas (1962-42) who thinks that
movement is always possible through the processes of sanskritization and westernization.
Andre Betaille (1965) has also said that no social system is absolutely closed. There is always
some scope, however limited, for alternative combinations. But the choice allowed for different
combinations varies from community to community.

6.2 Features of Caste System

The structure of caste could be discussed by analyzing its important features. As already pointed
out in the foregoing pages, when Bougle (1958) has postulated three elements of caste, namely,
hereditary specialization, hierarchy and repulsion or opposition, Hocart (1950) has emphasized
on ritual purity and impurity, while Risley (1915) has referred to endogamy and hereditary
occupation. Ghurye, Hutton, Ketkar, Dutt, etc. have also pointed out all these features. In giving

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 105