Page 257 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes An analytical comparison of open and closed systems of stratification

Open System Closed System

Mobility is an accepted phenomenon. Mobility is strongly discouraged.
Individual moves up and down. Group is the unit of ranking.
Hierarchy may be fixed and firm. Hierarchy is determined by ascribed
But individuals move up. considerations, such as birth. Individuals find it
difficult to move up.
Quantity is hierarchized. Quality is hierarchized.
Hierarchization is natural. Hierarchization is made out of castes, races, estates,
etc.
The principle of difference is significant. The principles of difference and hierarchy both are
important.
Class in America is an example of an Caste in India is an example of a closed
open system of stratification. system of stratification.
There is a continuous hierarchy Hierarchy is static and pre-given.
It is simple. It is elaborate.
There is a rapid movement. Mobility is slow and entails impediments.
Gradations signify the system. Relations characterize the system.

12.3 Social Mobility in India

Since the caste system has been pivotal in India, social mobility is mainly revolved arpund it.
Social mobility, by its definition, indicates either as a threat to the persisting and relatively static
system, or it implies minor changes in regard to statuses and roles of the members of a society, or
as a drastic measure, it displaces the existing system and replaces it by a new one. Adjustments
with and changes in a given system of stratification are named as horizontal mobility or positional
change. The basic changes are of vertical/structural nature posing a threat to the given system.
Indian society has witnessed both horizontal and vertical mobility. Changes in the caste system
are referred to as positional changes, and changes of the caste system are named as vertical or
structural changes. Social mobility, as characterized in terms of sanskritization, westernization,
universalization and parochialization, implies positional changes in the cultural domain of Indian
society.
Three main approaches to social mobility can be identified, namely, (1) the structural-historical,
(2) the Marxist, and (3) the modernization/culturological. The emphasis in the structural-historical
approach is on displacement of the old urban dominated people by a new set of people drawn
from the advanced rural elements. Political consciousness and democratization of politics have
brought about such a social transformation. Land reforms and massive irrigation schemes have
resulted in the embourgeoisiement of the tenants of the pre-independence period. Abolition of
landlordism has created a new social fabric in rural India. Structural change creates various new
tensions and contradictions in terms of divides between rich and poor, rural and urban, and local,
regional and national formations.
The reservation policy in education, jobs and elections has also led to the emergence of a new class
of power elite and white-collar workers among the former underdog sections of Indian society.
Modernization/culturological approach emphasizes on change in the structure of values and
norms. M.N. Srinivas and McKim Marriott have explained cultural mobility by way of the concepts

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