Page 284 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 13: Changing Dimensions of Social Stratification

reflected some elements of the concepts of “race” and “racism”. Religious identities too in a sense Notes
reflected racial elements.
A very important point is : “The relation of caste to race is not simply a question of whether the
groups are in fact racially different, but rather that there seems to be some disposition to attribute
racial difference to even the most marginal cues in caste and caste-like situations.” Why it is that
pariah groups engage in the same kinds of occupation ? Why are tanners, leather workers and
butchers frequently pariah groups ? Such a pattern of segregation and exclusion is found in both
caste and race. However, caste has been resilient, adaptive and discrete system, and as such
biological or quasi-biological elements do not matter as much as they do in race, though birth
continues to be there as significant ascriptive element in Indian society.

13.2 Emerging Patterns of Social Stratification in India

The Marx-Weber Syndrome
Studies of social stratification in India have generally been influenced by Karl Marx and Max
Weber. Marx was for a revolutionary change in the capitalist system of class and stratification,
whereas Weber advocated more for stability of the system. While for Marx, “class” was the sole
determinant of social and political power, for Weber, economic, social and political orders were
not only independent of each other but also influenced and reshaped each other. Marx characterized
a class society by contradiction between the rich and the poor or the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Capital and labour were irreconcilable entities for Marx. However, Weber thought of economic,
social and political orders as three dimensions or forms of stratification and hierarchy. Market
situation created a class situation as the competition in the market between sellers and buyers
determined success and failures of the actors, hence difference and hierarchy. For Marx, status
and power were closely related to class and, in fact, emanated from class. Class was considered as
the basis and status and power were thought of as superstructures.
Both the Marxian and Weberian approaches have echoed in the studies of caste, class and power.
However, a number of studies have been there deriving clues from the structuralist perspective as
given by C. Levi-Strauss and Louis Dumont on the one hand, and from the functionalist view of
British and the American scholars, on the other. Despite these influences, some studies have used
indological and nativistic ideas and categories in their studies of caste, kinship and class. We
would take up briefly these different viewpoints in our understanding of social stratification.
Here, we are tempted to go by Dipankar Gupta’s view. He writes : “Stratification is about both
hierarchy and difference. If hierarchy strains to establish stability, social differences constantly
pose a threat to order. To understand better the dimensions of inequality and the social trajectories
they trace, hierarchy and differences must be conjointly examined in any study of social
stratification.” By studying together hierarchy (order) and difference (change), we can better
understand change, social mobility and transformation. Closed and open systems of stratification
are concomitant with hierarchy and difference.
Operationalization of Conceptual Schemes

The indicators of status, levels of equality and inequality, occupational differentiation or degree of
homogeneity and heterogeneity of groups in status hierarchy, and interactional variables have
been used in the studies of social stratification as analysed by Yogendra Singh. As such, stratification
in India is multifaceted, multi-causal and multidisciplinary phenomenon.
There is a coexistence of social, economic, political and cultural factors in status determination,
and also any one of these can be found more effective or dominant cause than the remaining ones.
Thus, the dominance of one or two factors over others and the nature of nexus between different
factors and changes therein needs to be ascertained in a given society and at a given time.

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