Topics
Indian Society
Structural Change
Introducing Indian Society
Demographic Structure and Indian Society
Social Change and Development in India
Cultural Change
The Story of Indian Democracy
Social Institutions - Continuity and Change
Market as a Social Institution
Change and Development in Rural Society
Pattern of Social Inquality and Exclusion
Change and Development in Industrial Society
The Challenges of Cultural Diversity
Globalisation and Social Change
Mass Media and Communication Process
Suggestions for Project Work
Social Movements
- Introduction of Caste
- Definitions of Caste
- Caste in the Past
- Colonialism and Caste
- Caste in the Present
Definition
H. H. Risley: “Caste is collection of families or group of families bearing a common name, claiming a common descent from a mythical ancestor, human or divine; professing to follow the same hereditary calling and regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a single homogeneous community.”
George Lundberg: “A caste is merely a rigid social class into which members are born and from which they can withdraw or escape only with extreme difficulty.”
S. V. Ketkar: “A caste is a group having two characteristics- i) membership is confined to those who are born of members and include all persons so born, ii) the membership is forbidden by an inexorable social law to men outside the group.”
Notes
Introduction of Caste:
In traditional Indian society, different castes formed a hierarchy of social preference. Each position in the caste structure is defined in terms of its ‘purity and pollution.’ In a caste stratification system, an individual’s position depends on the status attributes ascribed by birth. Therefore, caste is the closed form of social stratification. It is specifically a pan-Indian characteristic. The word ‘caste’ owes its origin to the Spanish word ‘casta’ which means breed or race. The Portuguese applied this term to the classes of people in India, known by the name of ‘jati’. Caste is an example of a closed system of stratification. In contemporary societies, caste system is changing.
Definitions of Caste:
H. H. Risley: “Caste is collection of families or group of families bearing a common name, claiming common descent from a mythical ancestor, human or divine; professing to follow the same hereditary calling and regarded by those who are competent to give an opinion as forming a single homogeneous community.”
George Lundberg: “A caste is merely a rigid social class into which members are born and from which they can withdraw or escape only with extreme difficulty.”
S. V. Ketkar: “A caste is a group having two characteristics- i) membership is confined to those who are born of members and include all persons so born, ii) the membership is forbidden by inexorable social law to men outside the group.”
