Page 279 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes distribution and redistribution of resources and opportunities in a given society. Ethnicity becomes
an issue in everyday discourse as the politics of group identification and advantage. Collective
interests and actions are geared to extract maximum share in societal resources. Such a situation
may also result into ethnic conflicts. In some societies the vulgarization of ethnic game has invited
“ethnic cleansing”. “Groupness” as characterized by “distinctive cultural traits” is thus another
way of defining ethnicity. The trajectory today implies from “race” to “culture” to “ethnicity”. The
word “tribe” is giving way to the use of the term “ethnic group”. Regional linguistic groups are
being labelled as “nations” or distinct cultural formations. The dimension of hegemony of the
dominant group or numerical strength of a given group vis-a-vis a small linguistic/regional entity
is referred to as majority-minority syndrome.
Ethnicization
F. Barth talks of ethnic groups and boundaries as “the cultural stuff”, and a processual phenomenon.
Barth relates ethnicity with boundaries of identification and differentiation between ethnic
collectivities. He refers to ethnicity as a materialist, individualist and narrowly instrumentalist
phenomenon. It has entered deep into politics, decision-making and goal orientation. The following
points may be noted in the context of ethnicity and ethnicization :
1. Cultural differentiation
2. Shared meaning
3. Not fixed or unchaning nature
4. Social identity - collective and individual
Thus, ethnic groups are characterized by self-perception, others’ perception, and participation in
shared activities. Some scholars consider ethnicity as both source of strength and conflict. Such a
dualism becomes the basis of its stability and change as a socio-cultural phenomenon.
Ethnic Consciousness and Conflict
Another issue is related to ethnic consciousness and conflict. Sri Lanka is an appropriate example
of ethnic conflict between Tamils led by the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Ealam (LTTE) and the
government led by the dominant Sinhalese community. The ethnic strife has continued for nearly
three decades. Behind the ethnic conflict are economic, political and cultural issues. The Tamils
are discriminated against the Sinhalese as alleged by the LTTE. The questions are : Are ethnic
groups classes ? Is the ethnic stratification the same as the class stratification ? Can a given ethnic
group be seen as a dominant or ruling class and the other as a subservient class ? Recently, in May
2009, during a prolonged battle with the government forces and the LTTE, Prabhakaran, the
strongman of the LTTE was killed. The LTTE has virtually acceded the defeat, and demand for a
separate Tamil nation has died down, at least at present.
Answers to these questions are : Today, human society is polyethnic and multiethnic. Interethnic
cleavages, competition and conflict have become a common tendency. Ethnic demands are made
in the name of interests of a religious, linguistic and regional community. Ethnic community is
projected as a nation. We may ask, for example, are Dalits an ethnic category ? Are tribes ethnic
entities ?
With regard to the Jharkhand movement in Bihar it was observed that the tribes were moving
from ethnicity to regionalism by way of a demand for the state of Jharkhand. Now, the question
is : Have tribes merged into a single entity, which may be called Jharkhandi ? Are they no more
concerned about themselves as Mundas, Oraons, Hos, Santhals, etc. ? It seems that with the
realization of the goal of the formation of the Jharkhand state, the tribais are today more of socio-
cultural entities rather than political fora as they were mobilized to be so before the formation of
the state of Jharkhand.

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