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Unit 11: Social Mobility

industrial society. This theory argues that the rate of mobility and the degree of equality tend to Notes
increase over lime. Theorists like P.M. Blau and O.D. Duncan are the propounders of this theory.

11.3 Patterns of Mobility in Caste and Class

Four viewpoints about mobility in caste structure could be ascertained. Firstly, Srinivas (1966) has
emphasized the need for sanskritization and westernization as conceptual tools for understanding
mobility in caste system. He holds that ‘corporate mobility’ still remains basic at the caste or jati
level, as familial mobility does not obtain public recognition. Secondly, on the contrary, Stein
(1968) points out that the mobility of families and individuals was pronounced in medieval South
India, and this should help to analyze and understand the present-day mobility in caste structure.
Thirdly, Marriott (1968) thinks that caste could be understood within the frames of reference, such
as the rural versus metropolitan and traditional varna versus modern national frames of reference
for ranking. And fourthly, Lynch (1968) and Damle (1968) apply reference group theory to understand
caste and individual mobilities in India.
These approaches to caste mobility are singularistic and do not encompass the totality of mobility
taking place today in caste system. One would agree with Lynch’s observation that there was no
agreement about the conception of caste and the units that structure it. If such an ambiguity
persists, then the units which move, remain unclear. I would further agree with Lynch that mobility
within the caste system is not really distinguished from change of the system. Change within or
between castes does not necessarily constitute mobility within the caste system, unless one accepts
mobility as the only significant kind of change in Indian society. A more meaningful form of
mobility should entail changes in ritual hierarchy than the enhanced power position of a particular
caste.
The above approaches to caste mobility are inadequate as none of them is singularly adequate
enough to explain the entire gamut of mobility in the caste system. Sanskritization covers only
socio-cultural aspects of change and confines to ‘group mobility’ of a caste. It does not take a note
of individual frontiers of mobility and the motives and factors that underlie such mobility. Stein’s
analysis of mobility in medieval India is no doubt quite meaningful and adds a new dimension to
the understanding of caste system, but it has undermined the strength of caste ethnocentrism or
group solidarity based on caste allegiance. Marriott’s approach is, in fact, ‘confusing’, and its
application remains ununderstandable in terms of rural versus metropolitan caste categories. The
analyses of Lynch and Damle are undoubtedly an addition to the analysis of caste mobility, but
how to transform a ‘culture bound’, ad–hoc concept of sanskritization into a structural one, and
how to explain structural changes and their implicit and explicit repercussions on caste mobility
through the reference group theory, remain unclear.
Here it could be proposed that mobility in caste structure could be understood better if we analyze
it at different levels namely, family, group and individual. This would also remove the ambiguity
about the units which move or do not move. This further helps in delineating the extent of
mobility and also the quality and quantum of mobility. A distinction between caste and non-caste
structures (Heibert, 1969) also becomes relevant in this context, and their interrelationship becomes
understandable. These three levels of mobility encompass the entirety of mobility in the caste
system. Mobility at the familial level could be better explained in terms of repercussions of structural
reforms. Reference group theory helps in the analysis of mobility at the level of individual, and
corporate mobility is better understandable by the concept of sanskritization and other related
concepts.
Levels of Mobility
There are three important levels at which mobility takes place in caste structure : (1) mobility of
one or a minority of families within a caste to a higher/lower position; (2) mobility of a group or

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