Page 117 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes The institutional approach (John Rex) views caste system not only as a unique phenomenon found
in India but also in ancient Egypt, medieval Europe and present southern United States, etc. The
relational approach finds caste situations in army, business, factory management, politics, and so
forth. Caste system in these organisations is weak if mobility is normal and strong if it is barred.
The sociological perspective views caste system as a phenomenon of social inequality. Society has
certain structural aspects which distribute members in different social positions.
The reference to three different perspectives does not mean that sociologists do not take interest in
the origin and development of the caste system like indologists and social anthropologists or that
the social anthropologists do not accept caste system as resultant of social stratification as the
sociologists do.
Self-Assessment
Choose the correct options
1. The Brahmanas was written in about
(a) 700 B.C. (b) 800 B.C. (c) 900 B.C. (d) None of these
2. The Smritis was written in about
(a) 200—100 B.C. (b) 300—200 B.C. (c) 250—150 B.C. (d) None of these
3. Untouchables have been known as scheduled castes since
(a) 1913 (b) 1930 (c) 1921 (d) 1935
4. The Rigveda was written in about
(a) 4000 B.C. (b) 4500 B.C. (c) 3500 B.C. (d) None of these
5. Each caste has a council of its own, known as
(a) District (b) Tahsil (c) Caste panchayat (d) None of these

6.4 Summary

• The word caste derives from the Portuguese casta, meaning breed, race, or kind. Among the
Indian terms that are sometimes translated as caste are varna, jati, at, biradri, and samaj. All of
these terms refer to ranked groups of various sizes and breadth. Varna, or colour, actually
refers to large divisions that include various castes; the other terms include castes and
subdivisions of castes sometimes called subcastes. Many castes are traditionally associated
with an occupation, such as high-ranking Brahmans; middle-ranking farmer and artisan
groups, such as potters, barbers, and carpenters; and veiy low-ranking “Untouchable”
leatherworkers, butchers, launderers, and latrine cleaners.
• In rare cases, a person is excommunicated from the caste for gross infractions of caste rules.
An example of such an infraction might be marrying or openly cohabiting with a mate of a
caste lower than one’s own; such behaviour would usually result in the higher-caste person
dropping to the status of the lower-caste person.
• Caste is a developed form of varna which had started as a class in early India and gradually
came to have religious sanctions. It is the accepted religious principles supporting the caste
system that distinguish it from the stratification system in America and many other countries
based on ascriptive status, endogamy and low-prestige status (for example, of Negroes).
• Caste and varna are two separate concepts. It was Senart who for the first time brought to the
attention of the world the fact that a caste and a varna are not identical. The peculiarity of the
Hindu theory of social organization is its reference to Varnashram organization. Though the
varna organization and the ashram organization are two separate organizations, yet they go
together as they refer to the problems of nurture and nature of man. Ashram organization
refers to the conduct of an individual in the world (nurture) in different stages of his life and

112 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY