Some Theoretical Considerations on Caste
Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 7, 2013
|51
Some Theoretical Considerations on Caste
Madhusudan Subedi
Abstract
Caste as a system of social stratification was an encompassing system in the past. There was reciprocal system of exchange goods and services. With time, occupation and mode of generation of livelihood of various caste groups changed, and the traditional form of jajmani system fizzled out. This paper provides an account of changing perspectives of caste relations in social science writing and political discourse. The discourse of caste has been shifted from ritual hierarchy and social discrimination to an instrument to mobilize people for economic and political gain.
52 | Madhusudan Subedi
resources '. In this article, I mainly focus on some key theoretical debates on caste and its changing context.
Caste has been discussed in classical Hindu texts, in micro level ethnographic accounts, and in large-scale surveys of attitudes and perceptions, and caste-based mobilizations. What is caste and how can it be defined? What are its core descriptive dimensions? How could it survive for so long and what keeps it going even in modern, contemporary times (Jodhka 2012)? Although these questions appear to be rather simple and obvious, the rich literature dealing with these issues do not offer any straightforward answers.
Social stratification is the ordering of social differences based on a set of criteria or just one single criterion (Gupta 2000). Caste, class, race, ethnicity, and gender are some of the pertinent categories of social hierarchy and differentiation in many societies. The term 'caste ' means different things when used by different people in a variety of situations. What people mean by caste in everyday life is different from its meaning in the traditional literature or from what people consider to be its traditional and orthodox meaning (Béteille
1965, p. 45). Sometimes people mean
|51
Some Theoretical Considerations on Caste
Madhusudan Subedi
Abstract
Caste as a system of social stratification was an encompassing system in the past. There was reciprocal system of exchange goods and services. With time, occupation and mode of generation of livelihood of various caste groups changed, and the traditional form of jajmani system fizzled out. This paper provides an account of changing perspectives of caste relations in social science writing and political discourse. The discourse of caste has been shifted from ritual hierarchy and social discrimination to an instrument to mobilize people for economic and political gain.
52 | Madhusudan Subedi
resources '. In this article, I mainly focus on some key theoretical debates on caste and its changing context.
Caste has been discussed in classical Hindu texts, in micro level ethnographic accounts, and in large-scale surveys of attitudes and perceptions, and caste-based mobilizations. What is caste and how can it be defined? What are its core descriptive dimensions? How could it survive for so long and what keeps it going even in modern, contemporary times (Jodhka 2012)? Although these questions appear to be rather simple and obvious, the rich literature dealing with these issues do not offer any straightforward answers.
Social stratification is the ordering of social differences based on a set of criteria or just one single criterion (Gupta 2000). Caste, class, race, ethnicity, and gender are some of the pertinent categories of social hierarchy and differentiation in many societies. The term 'caste ' means different things when used by different people in a variety of situations. What people mean by caste in everyday life is different from its meaning in the traditional literature or from what people consider to be its traditional and orthodox meaning (Béteille
1965, p. 45). Sometimes people mean
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