Page 119 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes • Caste and class are both status groups. A status group is a collection of individuals who
share a distinctive style of life and a certain consciousness of kind. However, castes are
perceived as hereditary groups with a fixed ritual status while classes are defined in terms
of the relations of production. The members of a class have a similar socio-economic status
in relation to other classes in the society, while the members of a caste have eluner a high or
a low ritual status in relation to other castes.
• 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.
• 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).
• No two castes have an equal status. One caste has either a low or a high status in relation to
other castes. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the exact or even the approximate
place of each caste in the hierarchical system. Two methods have mainly been used in
assessing the hierarchy : observational method and opinion-assessing method. In the former,
either the attributional method or the interactional method has been used for ranking the
castes. The attributional method determines the rank of a caste by its behaviour, for example,
its customs, practice of degrading occupation, vegetarianism, habits of liquor-drinking, etc.
, the interactional method evaluates ranks of two given castes in relationship to each other
by observing the commensal interaction and marital relations, etc. between the two castes.
• In the ‘opinion-assessing’ method, the ranks of various castes in the collective caste hierarchy
are assessed on the basis of the opinions of various respondents from different castes. The
advantage in the ‘opinion-assessing’ method over the ‘observational’ method is that in the
former, it is possible to regard hierarchy and interaction as two variables and study their
relationship.
• Restrictions on social interaction have been imposed because of the belief that pollution can
be carried by mere bodily contact. It is because of such beliefs that the low caste people
engaged in inferior occupations are avoided by the upper caste people. Likewise, the chamars,
dhobis, doms and hundreds of beef-eating low castes, commonly known as untouchables, are
shunned by the high caste Hindus. There are also specific rules for greeting and interacting
with members of high or intermediate castes, for sharing common cot (charpoi) with others,
and for day-to-day as well as ritual interaction.
• Castes engaged in defiling or menial or polluting occupations are treated as untouchables.
They are called outcastes, depressed classes or scheduled castes. These castes are believed to
have descended from the races originally inhabiting India before the invasion of the Aryans.
Later they accepted servitude on the lowest fringes of Hindu society. They mostly live
outside the village and eke out their existence by labour like scavenging, shoe-making,
tanning, etc. They are not permitted to draw water from wells used by the uppercaste
people. They are even debarred from the use of public roads, schools, temples, cremation
grounds, hotels and tea-shops. They sacrifice animals to appease the dreaded demons that
dominate their lives. Their presence and their touch is thought to contaminate others.
• The membership of an individual in a caste is determined by his birth. Since each caste has
its own rank in relation to other castes, the high or low status of an individual depends upon
the ritual status of the caste in which he is born. In fact, every aspect of the life of an orthodox
Hindu hinges on his birth. His domestic ceremonies and customs, temple worship, circle of
fniends and occupation, all depend upon the level of the caste into which he is born.

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