Some Theoretical Considerations on Caste

Bryan S. Turner (ed.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, New York: Wiley Blackwell, 2017

This entry discusses the transformation of caste in the Indian context. The entry starts with a discussion of the Indological and anthropological accounts of caste and then examines whether “caste” is essentially unique to Hinduism. Furthermore, the entry discusses the possibility of mobility within the ritual hierarchy of caste. In the final section, the entry shows how caste, once described by the Christian missionaries and the colonial state as an irrational traditional institution, has transformed into a modern entity and become a vital instrument of democratic mobilization in contemporary India.

Anthropologists do not usually demand ... exacting standards and will settle to regard as adequate whatever can yield promising explanations at any given time. But if we can be more liberal in our judgments of adequacy, we should also be more conscientious in appraising our kit of conceptual tools. All too often concepts come burdened with the connotations and implications of the past contexts that gave rise to them. Hence a periodic review of our stock of ideas is neither an exercise in antiquarian nostalgia, nor a ritual occasion for rattling the bones of our ancestors. It should be, rather, a critical evaluation of the ways we pose and answer questions, and of the limitations we might bring to that task.

PURVADEVA, Peer Revied Bilingual International Research Journal, 2022

The caste system categorizes people into various hierarchical levels, which determine and define their social, religious, and hegemonic standings within the society. The caste system has also maintained a nexus and a sense of community for caste members for more than 2,000 years. A classic example of the caste system is the one found in India, which has existed there for hundreds of years. The caste system in India was traditionally a graded hierarchy based on a purity-pollution scale; it has undergone many changes over the years. After India’s independence, there has been a de-ritualization of caste, and it has moved toward being a community based on affinity or kinship rather than representing a fixed hierarchy. The association of each caste with a distinct occupation has weakened considerably, and inter-caste marriages across different ritual strata, even crossing the Varna boundaries, are not uncommon. In present day society because of industrialization, urbanization, modern education system, modern means of transport and communication, remarkable changes have been experienced in features of caste system, such as occupation, marriage, food, drink, social intercourse etc. But at the same time there are some factors like emergence of political parties, method of election, constitutional provision for S.C., S.T. and other backward classes have gradually encouraged the problem of casteism in India. So, it is difficult to predict about the future of caste system in India. In this context, I am trying to find out the present position and future of Indian caste system. The aim of this paper is to understand the continuity and the changes in the caste system in India.

The Caste System of India has played an integral role in the shaping of Indian Society. With time and under diverse circumstances, it has changed its form and role, fulfilling different functions while evolving. The aim of this paper is to briefly track the evolution of the Caste System within Indian society focusing on how its role has changed, especially in a contemporary Indian setting.

Academia Letters, 2021

The theoretical debate on caste among social scientists has receded into the background in recent years. This is unfortunate, as scholars tend to return to older works to understand the issue, and these works do not really reflect the knowledge we have at present. I wrote a book on the subject recently (Transaction and Hierarchy, Elements for a Theory of Caste-Manohar, Delhi, 2017) and I feel it may be useful to summarize some of my findings here. In this short article, I simply state my views-references can be found in the book mentioned.. But first, let me stress that caste is in no sense disappearing: indeed, the present wave of neo-liberal policies in India, with privatisation of enterprises and education, has strengthened the importance of caste ties, as selection to posts and educational institutions is less based on merit through examinations, and increasingly on social contact as also on corruption. There is a tendency to assume that caste is as old as Indian civilization itself, but this assumption does not fit our historical knowledge. To be precise, however, we must distinguish between social stratification in general and caste as a specific form. There was considerable class difference in the Indus civilization, and there is no doubt that the urban developments of the early part of the last millennium before the Common Era were stratified societies. At the time of Buddha and Mahavir-the middle of that millennium-we can distinguish both social classes and ethnic groups: there is no doubt that ethnic and social stratification was present. But we look in vain for the term jati, which only comes to designate a caste by the time of the Guptas, at the beginning of the Common Era. It is true that the Varnas-the four-category classification of Indin society-is older than this: Brahmins are clearly distinguishable as a group in later Vedic times (ca. 1000 B.C.E.) and the Kshatriya category becomes important between that time and the time of the Buddha. But the two last categories-Vaishya and Shudra-were not constellated into groups even then.

IJISET - International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology,, 2022

Ashwini Deshpande looked at “Caste”, her interest areas talk about economics and international economics, her previous work is on “Globalization and Development”, etc. all these are aspects of economics, and now she is had chosen the core concept of sociology, i.e. social stratification, Caste in case of India. The shift from economics to sociology is a very interesting factor here. Faced with analyzing persistent underdevelopment in India, the Primary focus of empirical economic research then was on the causes of overall inequality and poverty, and their remedies. Intergroup disparity had just started coming to the fore in shaping the contour of research on inequality. Her belief was that an understanding of group disparities was essential if one wanted to gain a deeper and more nuanced insight into the complex patterns of stratification. She argues that the real key to the degree of change in the caste system is the degree of change in the conditions of those who are its worst sufferers- (ex-) untouchables. As long as the three dimensions of untouchability i.e. exclusion, humiliation, and exploitation- continue to persist, we cannot declare the caste system to be dead.

In almost all the cases, the entire gamut of writings, research papers and various other kinds of essays on the caste-system, begin with some sentences or phrases that have been so overused as to be rendered into cliché, and since even after getting thoroughly worn out these clichés present the reality to a certain extent, as such I would also use a few similar sentences to begin with.

2000

The role of caste as a constitutive element in the politics of India has been interpreted in a variety of ways in the period since Independence. Early views about the negative effects of caste gave way to a positive appreciation of its contribution to the process of democratization and political inclusion. However casteism is now once again used widely as a pejorative term. This paper reviews the history of ideas about the relationship of caste and politics in India. It also examines the political importance of caste today in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and asks if the contemporary criticisms of the influence of caste in politics are justified.

Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1996

It presents a discussion of some issues of caste that are not well understood.

Economic and Political Weekly , 2016

An evolutionary and historical method has not helped us to understand the Caste System and its exploitative nature in Indian Society. Therefore, we need to analyse it from a new perspective , that is, from a contemporary perspective which on the one hand highlights the domination and monopolization of secular institutions of governance, production, education etc. by so-called upper castes. And exclusion and simultaneous assertion of the so-called lower- castes Dalits. The paper has deliberately avoided the status and assertion of the intermediary and Other Backward (Shudra) Castes because paucity of space.