Page 280 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 13: Changing Dimensions of Social Stratification

Ethnicity and Class Notes
Elements of ethnicity can be perceived in class differentiation and vice versa. There is class
differentiation within and between ethnic groups. Interplay between ethnicity and class is found
in all polyethnic societies. Ethnic groups have formed associations for protection and promotion
of their interests and welfare. The people of Kerala have their voluntary associations in Chennai.
In Delhi, innumerable ethnic associations can be found from various provinces of India. Sikh
ethnicity is well known within and outside Punjab as well. In Assam, one can see Assamese and
Bengali ethnic identities as competitive cultural and political forces. Movements like SNDP, Yadava,
Akali, Jharkhand, Gorkhaland, Bodoland, Assam, Telangana, Uttaranchal, Lingayat, Sri Vaishanava,
Bhagat and Dalit movements are rooted into ethnic game in one way or other. It is not a question
of the apparent or real goals of these movements. What we see is that in all these movements
“community” or “ethnicity” was considered appropriate for mobilizing the people to support and
strengthen the declared cause and concern by the leadership.
From the above examples, we may ask : Can ethnicity be treated as a significant dimension of
social stratification just like caste, class and power ? In our view, an ethnic group is a stratum
along with class and power, hence, it has a structural basis, being a group of people in a given
society. Besides this, ethnicity is also a cultural phenomenon as it is rooted into sentiments, which
people share being a stock of people having certain common traits.
Difference between caste and ethnicity lies in the fact that caste is ascribed by birth, hence, it
remains immutable or natural. Ethnicity can also be ascribed, determined by birth in a given
ethnic community, and its characteristics, including language, religion, styles of life, etc. But it is
also mutable by a way of change in language, religion, etc. People move away to far off places,
and learn and adopt a new language and culture, and as such their ethnicity too is also transformed.
The best example is the USA, where people from different parts of the world live and share
language and culture. Thus, situational factors may change ethnic status and power.
Ethnicity and Power
There are both broad and narrow implications of ethnicity. The examples of the broad ethnic
formations are : English, Japanese, Hindus, Muslims, etc. The narrow ethnic formations may be
Bodos, Santhals, Manipuris, or abstracted entities, which are not really ethnic categories, they are
more of ethnic misnomers. These are caste clusters like AJGAR (Ahir, Jat, Gurjar and Rajput),
Forwards, Backwards, Dalits and Minorities. It has also become a common practice to express
regional identities in ethnic idiom such as Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Assamia, Marathi, Gujarati, etc.
What we need is to study sociology of ethnicity and politics of ethnicity. The two could be studied
independent of each other, and at the same time, the two seem to be intertwined phenomena of
the same reality.
“Sons of the Soil” movement, the one presently seen in Maharashtra under the leadership of Shiv
Sena and its splinter group, conversion, migration, territoriality, dual labour market, ethnic division
of labour (for example, in Assam and Punjab) have all accelerated ethnicization of economic and
political interests and aspirations, cleavages and conflicts.
To the extent, ethnicity is expressed and appropriated as a means of social protest and social
criticism, providing reasoning to moral and political ideas, and contains a critical spirit, renaissance,
humanism, etc. When ethnicity acquires the character of a tool in the hands of new status-seekers,
the pyramid climbers, it takes the shape of resource in the hands of vested interests. The need is
to see the values and norms, leaders and followers, and the nature of interaction in any given
ethnicized activity/movement/protest. Forces behind ethnicism, and also its counter-protest could
reveal the real character of ethnicization of issues and goals involved therein.

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