Page 274 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 13: Changing Dimensions of Social Stratification

engineering), and strategies indicate flexibility of Indian State and Constitution. Caste and class Notes
have surfaced in new forms. Power is socially based with new contradictions, resilience and new
patterns of domination and subjugation. Fierce competition between political parties, factions,
castes, communities, and individuals characterize power politics in contemporary India.
Gender
Earlier I wrote : “Patriarchy legitimizes culturally-backed biophysiological differences between
men and women as the basis of unequal access to resources, opportunities and rewards and to
rights. Status inequality between men and women is an age-old phenomenon reinforced through
patriarchy and its institutions, gendered division of labour, and social institutions like marriage,
dowry, property and inheritance, and subordination.” It has been observed that patriarchy is not
just a matter of the differential distribution of power, it is built into the very mechanics of production
(a patriarchal mode of production). Male-female inequalities persist in the face of development.
New forms of subordination and gender asymmetry have superseded the old, leaving patriarchal
control undisturbed in India.
Defining Patriarchy
Michael Mann observes that the social stratification theory centres around three nuclei : social
class, social status/ideology and political power. Other aspects of stratification are considered
contingental and non-structural. Gender relations are not viewed as part of the core of stratification.
Gender relations exist in a structured way. Women obtain their position in social stratification
from the dominant male of their household. Mann identifies five main areas of stratification
which influence gender and are influenced by gender. These are : (1) the individual, (2) the family
and household, (3) the division of labour between the sexes, (4) social classes, and (5) nation-
states. The relations between gender and stratification are mediated by each of these different
“nuclei”. Further, Mann argues that gender and stratification can no longer be kept in separate
compartments, as stratification is gendered and gender is stratified. There are no non-gendered
stratification relations in modern society, and despite weak patriarchy, a different form of gender
domination exists. Mann defines a patriarchal society as follows :
In the “private” sphere of the household, the patriarch enjoys arbitrary power over all junior
males, all females and all children. In the “public” sphere, power is shared between male patriarchy
according to whatever other principles of stratification operate. No female holds any formal public
position of economic, ideological, military or political power. Indeed, females are not allowed into
this “public” realm of power. Whereas many, perhaps most, men expect to be patriarchs at some
point in their life cycles, no women hold formal power. Within the household they may influence
their male patriarch informally, but this is their only access to power. Contained within patriarchy
are two fundamental nuclei of stratification : the household/family/linage and the dominance of
the male gender. These coexist in any real society with social classes and other stratification
groups.

A patriarchal society is one in which power is held by male heads of households.
There is also clear separation between the “public” and the “private” spheres of life.

Further, Mann says : “This is an ideal type. Yet it has not been so far from historical reality.” Mann
cites concrete examples, including Europe up to the 18th century AD. Three qualifications, however,
may be mentioned here : (1) customary protection of women against cruelty; (2) informal powers
of women; and (3) exploitable spaces between families. But, these are not refutations of patriarchy.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 269