Page 285 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes “Change” and “process” have become focal points of analysis in social stratification. Focus on the
study of differentiation, evolution and change in caste, class and power may hold the key to our
understanding of social stratification. The Marxist scholars as well as activists look at the origin
and evolution of caste from the point of economic relations. Caste is seen as a mechanism of
exploitation in the hands of the upper castes. Modes of production is the key to the theory of
stratification. The essence of the Marxist analysis is that explanation emanates from the structure
of social reality, and it is not static. The Marxist approach is not only evolutionary, it is also
emancipatory and hermeneutic in its essence. Several scholars have studied nationalism, caste,
class, land relations, etc., from the viewpoint of Marxism.
Following the Marxian view, it can be stated emphatically that the existential conditions determine
hierarchy and inequality. To quote Marx and Engels, “As individuals, express their life, so they
are. What they are, therefore, coincides with their production, both with what they produce and
how they produce.” Thus, Marx speaks of both the structure of existential conditions, and also of
the process of change in these conditions. Through his analysis of evolution of society, state and
forces of production, Marx provides a vivid account of socio-economic differentiation.
Innumerable studies of caste and class reveal that caste has acquired a new form, and a different
system of relations. The immutable and rigid system has become quite flexible. The inevitable
phenomena have become optional or they have disappeared. Similarly, the class character of
Indian society has also considerably changed due to the emergence of the middle class,
disproportionate to the upper and the lower classes. “The emergence of the new middle class,
disproportionate to the forces of production, and also to the size (s) of the upper and lower classes,
has forged a new nexus between caste and class. The embourgeousiement of the principal
agricultural castes has established a new direction between caste, class and politics. The divide
between the traditionally dominant and the emerging sections has acquired a new character.”

Antagonism and contradictions are the causes of differentiation and change in stratification
in India.

Thus, according to the Marxian approach, structuring of social inequality is a continuous process.
It is a life process of the placement of individuals, families and groups. What people do as members
of their families and collectivities (castes and communities) is not independent of their existential
conditions. What they do in structural terms is their social life. What is its mode of production ?
What units (classes, groups, collectivities) are produced as a result of certain social (material)
conditions ? What is the nature of social interaction between the groups produced through this
social and historical process ? A key to find answers to these questions may be found in the
proposition: each generation continues the traditional activity in completely changed circumstances,
and modifies the old circumstances with a completely changed activity. As such, the Marxian
perspective can explain the following :
1. continuity of tradition and emergence of modernity side by side in the field of social stratification;
2. determination of social relations by the direction of social change; and
3. coexistence of the structure and process of social stratification.
The Marxist approach has often been applied in the agricultural and industrial domains with a
view to know the nature of production relations and the class structure emanating from them.
Some important conclusions drawn from the studies of agrarian relations are :
1. The proletarianization of the poor peasantry with the increasing concentration of village
resources in few hands,

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