Social Institutions: Continuity And Change

The caste system can be defined as the combination of two sets of principle

• One is based upon difference and separation

• Other is based upon wholismand hierarchy

The hierarchical ordering of castes is based on the difference between purity and pollution. The castes that are considered ritually pure have higher status than those which are less pure or impure.

The role of ideas of separation and hierarchy in caste system are summarised below –

1) It is engendered discrimination inequality and prejudices among people.

2) As per Verna system some people undeclared brahmins, Kshatriya and Vaisya, that is the upper caste. While a majority of others as Shudra that is the lower caste.

3) This idea of separation and hierarchy has brought drastic changes in social processes since post Vedic Era to colonial and postcolonial period.

4) This ideology imposes caste by birth and compels people to compare his or her skills only to hereditary occupations, like son of barber will do hair cutting, son of cobbler will be a cobbler only, etc.

5) This ideology has divided the society and it was the only reason for existence of slavery system in India for more than two centuries in past.

6) As per caste system every person has a distinct caste and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of caste system.

7) Ideas of separation and hierarchy proved beneficial for some castes while others are condemned to a life of endless labour and subordination.

8) Each caste has its own place in the system and cannot be taken by other caste. It allows no mobility.

9) Different and separated castes do not have an individual existence and they can only exist in relation to a larger whole the totality of society consisting of all Castes.

Rules imposed by caste system are

1) Castes are determined since birth of the child, it is not a matter of choice and it was not to be changed.

2) One cannot marry a person who is not the member of his/her own caste. It is endogamy recognised under caste system.

3) Person of a particular caste shall have to strictly observe the rules of food and food sharing.

4) A person born into a caste can only practice the occupation associated with that caste, like the son of a barber will be barber, etc

5) Shudras and untouchables were born to serve the upper castes, they cannot share food with upper caste individuals.

6) Caste involves hierarchy of rank and status every person has a caste; every caste has a sub-caste and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of all castes.

7) Castes involved subdivision within themselves sometimes sub-castes also have sub-caste.

The present form of cast as a social institution has been shaped very strongly by both colonial period as well as post colonial period.

The role of colonialism is being listed below -

a) Initially the British administrators tried to understand the complexities of caste system so that they can govern the country efficiently.

b) The most important official effort to collect information on caste was through the census which first started in 1860 and then it was annually done by British Indian government from 1881 onwards.

c) The Census under the direction of Herbert Risley in 1901 was very important as it collected information on social hierarchy of caste.

d) Other interventions by colonial state like land revenue settlements and other related arrangements and law served to give legal recognition to the caste based right of the upper castes.

e) Towards the end of the colonial period the administration also took interest in the welfare of downtrodden castes referred as depressed class at that time.

f) The Government of India Act 1935 was passed and it gave legal recognition to the list or schedules of castes and tribes.

g) Castes at the bottom of the hierarchy that suffered severe discrimination including all the so-called untouchable Casts were included in the scheduled castes.

In the contemporary period the caste system as tended to become invisible for upper caste, upper middle, and upper classes because these are the groups who have enjoyed most benefits from the developmental policies of post colonial era and so the cast has appeared to decline its significance for them.

This group had all the required economical and educational resources to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by rapid development. Upper castes were able to take benefit from subsidised public education and professional education and at the same time they were also able to take advantage of expansion of state sector jobs.

As their privileged status got consolidated in the 2nd and 3rd Generation these groups began to believe that their advancement has no relation with their caste. The third generation believed that only their economic and educational capital can ensure a better living condition and not the caste system.

Tribes have been classified on the basis of - Permanent Traits and Acquired Traits.

1) Permanent Traits –

i) On the basis of language

(a) Indo-Aryan – 1% tribes speak

(b) Dravidian – 3% tribes speak

(c) Austric

(d) Tibeto to Burman – 80% tribes speak

ii) On the basis of size

(a) Andaman Nicobar Islands

(b) Gonds, Bhils, Santhals, Oraons, Minas, Bodos, and Mundas

(c) The tribals in India shared 8.2% of total population

iii) On the basis of region

(a) North East

1. Assam – 30%

2. Arunachal, Meghalya, Mozoram, Nagaland – 60%

(b) Ecological Habitat

Rest of India

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha

1. Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra

2. Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh

(c) State Population

1. Rest of India

2. North East – 11%

iv) On the basis of physical characteristics

(a) Mongloid

(b) Australoid

(c) Negroit

(d) Dravidian

(e) Aryan

2) Acquired Traits

i) Mode of livelihood

(a) Fisherman

(b) Shifting Cultivators

(c) Peasants

(d) Plantation and Industrial workers

ii) Extent of assimilation

(a) Tribes absorbed into Hindu society through sanskritisation acculturating and acceptance of Shudra fold. They were incorporated in Hindu society according to their attitudes and financial status.

The evidences are listed below

a) They have no written rules or canons on religion.

b) They are neither Hindu nor peasants.

c) They have not a state or political form of a normal kind.

d) They are engaged in primary activities like fishing, food gathering, hunting, shifting, agriculture, etc.

e) They have no motion of purity and pollution which is central to the caste system.

f) They live in inaccessible forests and rugged mountainous regions.

Tribal identities today are formed by the interactional process and not by the original or ancient characteristics peculiar to the tribes.

When the tribal identities interacted with the mainstream there have been unfavourable experiences for them due to which the tribal identities resist and oppose the overwhelming force of the non-tribal world.

The positive impact of success is moderated by continuing problems.

The states like Manipur and Nagaland are declared as disturbed areas and therefore the citizens of those States do not have same rights as the other citizens of India, this limits the civil liberties of the citizens.

Another significant development is the gradual emergence of an educated middle class among tribal communities. In conjunction with policies of reservation, education is creating and organised professional class and now the tribal societies can be differentiated as developed classes and other classes.

Family is a very important social institution whether nuclear or extended. A family could be headed by a male or female; descent could be traced from the mother or the father. This structure and composition of the family is based on various factors such as economy, polity, culture and education.

The changes in the structure of family that we see today could be

(i) Same sex marriage

(ii) Love marriage

But history and contemporary times suggest that such changes are met with violent reactions.

Nuclear Family: It consists of one set of parents and their children.

Extended Family: It consisted of more than one couple and, often, more than two generations live together. The extended family is symptomatic of India.

Diverse forms of family

(i) Matrilocal-patrilocal (based on residence)

(ii) Matrilineal and patrilineal (based on rules of inheritance)

(iii) Matriarchal and patriarchal (based on authority)

Changes in social structure lead to changes in the family structure in following ways –

a) A family can be matriarchal or patriarchal with regard to authority and dominance; for example, migration of men from villages of the Himalayan region can lead to an unusual portion of matriarchal form of families in the villages.

b) Family is linked to economic, political, cultural and educational spheres and any change in them bring changes in family composition and structure.

c) New entrepreneur opportunities change the structure of family.

d) Change in family structure takes place when war broke in the country, when people migrate in search of work, and when young people decide to choose their spouses instead of letting others decide or when same sex love is expressed openly in society.

The differences between matriliny and matriarchy are discussed below –