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Social Stratification

Notes structural differentiation or changes from tradition to modernity in the fields of occupation, industry
and economy. Emergence of professional classes becomes a measure of social mobility in the
persisting social stratification. Navalkha (1971) reports that as compared to other Asian countries
the professional classes in India constitute a less significant proportion of all workers. Navalkha
also highlights the uneven growth of professions revealing the pattern of recruitment process
heavily biased in favour of the upper castes, urban dwelling groups and the metropolitan
population. It is evident from several other accounts as well that caste is not a rural phenomenon
alone and class is not simply found in urban India. Both have coexisted in rural and urban-
industrial formations though in different forms and proportions.
Urban-industrial social stratification consists of the following classes :
(i) upper class,
(ii) upper middle class,
(iii) lower middle class, and
(iv) working class,
These classes are generally formed on the basis of ‘income’ and ‘occupation’. However, it may be
quite difficult to know the ‘real income’ from the apparent occupational status. D’Souza (1968)
analyzes the ‘bases of social organization’ in the city of Chandigarh taking into consideration
kinship, caste, class, religion and displaced or non-placed condition of the inhabitants. D’Souza
finds that the educational, occupational and income hierarchies are significantly correlated with
each other. But the correlation of each of them with the operational caste hierarchy is not significant.
In a recent study, Mishra (1991) observes that the local institutions such as caste and kinship play
a significant role in recasting the relationship between man and machine without dislocating the
traditional social structure and also without affecting adversely the process of industrialization.
Theoretically, an industrial society is characterized by a very open view of status, role and power
allocation. Open relationship, competition, radicalism, innovation and utilitarianism-rationalism
are the main features of an industrial society. Relevant points regarding social stratification in
industrial society are as follows :
1. What is the social background of the entrepreneurs and managers ?
2. Does the hierarchy of the industrial elite correspond with the caste hierarchy ?
3. Do the values of the pre-industrial society coexist with those of the industrial society ?
4. What is the relationship between the internal structure of the factories and the caste and class
structure of the workers ?
5. Do the industrial employers, municipal councillors, the benefactors and controllers of educational
and religious institutions belong to the families which have become prominent in recent decades ?
Studies of urban-industrial social stratification in India have come up mainly as a reaction to the
studies of rural-agrarian relations, migration from rural to urban areas, social mobility and
increasing number of urban-industrial towns. The studies by D’Souza (1968), Navalkha (1971),
Sheth (1968), Saberwal (1976), Lambert (1963), Berna (1960), Sharma (1986), Sheth and Patel (1979),
Raj Bala (1986), Sheobahal Singh (1985), Krishan Lai Sharma (1981), Singer (1972), Akbar (1990),
and Philips (1990) impress upon the need to go ‘beyond the village’, and show how urban-
industrial society and its components are constituted. Studies of urban-industrial social stratification
have concentrated mainly on class and caste, occupation, income, education and class, social
mobility and elite formation, professionals and working classes, middle classes, processes of social
change and status-crystallization, dissonance and inconsistency, professional associations and
trade unions.
A detailed annotated bibliography and analysis of trends in industrial sociology in India by Sheth
and Patel (1979) and Patel (1985) examine the impact of society on industrialization and the effects

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