Page 246 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 11: Social Mobility

and imitated behaviour patterns of their own caste from a nearby village. About another village Notes
Asalpur he mentions that there is no dominant caste in the village and the Raigars imitated the
Raigars who lived in Ahmedabad.
Our view is that sanskritization helps in the understanding of group mobility. But group mobility
does not encompass totality of mobility in caste structure. There is group mobility, and this is
mainly in socio-cultural aspects. The prevalence of hierarchy supports the existence of dominant
groups, castes or sub-castes, however, there may be decisively one or more dominant castes/sub
castes. The sanskritizing castes generally cannot imitate the ways of twice-born dominant castes
or other higher castes, as this is influenced by the rank of the dominant caste. The lower castes
imitate the life-ways of the immediate higher castes and this pattern applies to all the sanskritizing
castes. Sanskritization is thus a contextual phenomenon (Singh, 1968).
In the context of group mobility, sanskritization is not a futile concept. Srivastava’s argument that
the ‘progressive families’ of the Koiris and the Raigars were reference groups for their respective
castes. But from where and how these reference group families borrowed superior status indices.
Srivastava probably means that ‘complex culture’ of towns and cities provided superior contexts
to these reference families. This is not a correct view, as the reference to a Koiri family was in a
nearby village, and if this family was affected by industrial-urban complex culture, other families
of the Koiris could have also been affected by this ‘external culture’. The Raigars of Asalpur have
taken up mythical king Raghu as their ancestral figure.
These examples prove imitation of the Kshatriya and the Brahmanic cultures. Besides this, imitation
of the higher castes is not a difficult adventure in the cities. The impact of complex culture could
be observed more in terms of higher education, removal of untouchability, migration, etc. instead
of religious adaptations. What Srivastava analyzes is very much sanskritization in reality. His
reference is for socio-cultural adaptations and corporate activities which are essence of
sanskritization.
Thus, sanskritization is applicable to the understanding of group mobility vis-a-vis caste structure
particularly with reference to socio-cultural behaviour patterns. Sanskritization is to be used as a
tool of analysis regarding dominant castes or groups and caste ranking and ranks of the
sanskritizing castes. Sanskritization does not necessarily reduce ‘economic inequalities’ nor does
it challenge caste hierarchy, however, it symbolizes an increased sense of awareness among the
non-privileged sections.
Mobility of an Individual within a Family

The mobility of an individual within family implies enhancement or degradation of status of an
individual without necessarily affecting the social position of his family and caste to which he
belongs. Caste (group) mobility and family mobility are, however, interrelated, and therefore, this
distinction between family mobility and individual mobility within the context of caste is devised
mainly for analytical purposes.
Mobility at the level of individual is more concerned with psychological processes, such as
aspirations, ambitions, frustrations, etc. and therefore, it can be better explained by the theory of
reference group behaviour. Individual mobility is observable when we find that some individuals are
esteemed high irrespective of their caste, class and family statues. It is a mobility in personal
status of an individual which is a combination of his caste status and non-caste status. A particular
member in a family is highly respected, whereas his real elder brother and cousins are not,
sometimes including his own sons. The aspirations of individual members thus differ even when
they belong to the same joint family. Such examples of mobility at the individual level are a few
only, that, however, indicate a class-like pattern of mobility within an organically closed
stratification system. These individuals are invariably social workers, men of integrity and character
and generally educated. While observing these individuals, we may find individuals to whom we
could label as ‘negative’ reference individuals in Mertonian sense.

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