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caste based hierarchies

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5 views

caste based hierarchies

Uploaded by

mirza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Caste system can be the perfect example of how uneven power distribution in any social structure can

prove to be implosive to the dynamics of any ethnic formations. Caste is a defining feature of our Indian
society. The progress of India to a large extent is determined by the extent of the abolition of the caste
system. Our society has withstood a wide range of movements across a wide range of ideological
spectrum in different points of history but the caste system remains a dominant force in the social life of
people from the time of birth to death. The idea of an individual identity was of a very little relevance in
the traditional communitarian mode of social organization. Thus the collective identity of the group
mattered more and the urge to belong among the people around gave rise to these structures of caste.

Though caste and race are self-attributive aspects, unlike race determined by color and colored dogma,
caste is governed by social, cultural, religious and economic factors. Though caste as a social
organization is deeply inculcated in core socio-cultural and spiritual life of Indians for thousands of
years, it has undergone some functional changes throughout ancient, medieval and modern India. Some
activists promoted a belief that cast based discriminations are equivalent the racial or color based
discrimination but this argument proved to be a baseless one because the proponents of caste system
has no comparison with the atrociousness of race. While caste was an Indian societal creation, ‘race’
was a reproductions of inbuilt prejudice against that specific ‘other’ which can be affiliated with any
possible kind of difference among the majority and minority.

There was a belief among scholars that structures like these will disintegrate by themselves with time as
the process of modernization will engulf India but it still remains there among the people, standing firm
and perfectly rigid. One of the reasons of its survival is the result of the rejection of foreign ideas and
acceptance of these ideas as the symbol of ‘Indianness’ with pride. Though the traditional ideologies of
caste and its institutional hold has weakened, including the decline of untouchability, the violence
against the Dalits appears to be increasing. Also there has been an observable consideration where the
respondents clearly show preference for candidates that belong to a specific social strata and rejection
of those belonging to lower social origin. The response to the question about their family background
gave the recruiters a clear idea about their caste and this easily facilitated them to reject them indirectly
accusing them of their incompetency against their ‘prestigious’ institution.

Caste-specific discrimination based on cultural norms, beliefs, practices, and customs deriving its
legitimacy from the principles of the caste system and religion. Thus, graded inequality embedded in the
caste system classifies certain occupations such as priesthood, teaching-learning, and agriculture as pure
and superior enables upper strata to enjoy social and moral rights whereas the impure occupations such
as scavenging, sweeping, shoemaking, and haircutting assigned to lower castes. Though the constitution
of India guarantees the right to equality and liberty, this principle is limited to formal organizations but
socio-religious institutions such as family and marriage to a large extent are governed by cultural
patterns of the respective religions and castes. As marriage is considered as the social union between
two families, not two individuals, whenever, young men and women try to assert their individual choice,
they are bound to face resistance from their families and communities.

Though there are evidences of that caste based hierarchies and the economical dependency has
particularly weakened over the years, but still there remain these structures of social inequalities.
Despite the secularization those at the upper end of the caste hierarchy are less likely to indulge among
those located at the lower end. To view this system and its origin as an ideological system that belongs
only to the Hindus can be erroneous. Instead the societal psychology enforces this kind of hierarchy
even among those institutions that never included these kinds of differential treatment among their
people.

There is a recognizable pattern of escalation of prejudice and stereotypes when there is a feeling of
competitions in the economic, political or educational fields. With a growing participation of Dalits and
other backward communities has resulted into a rise in the resentful behavior directed towards them
from the upper class. With the inclusion of reservation, these communities has also entered the
administrative systems and are aspiring to participate in the growing economy to get their fair share of
respect and recognition. But there remains a fight that is out there for them in this world and the path is
laid with hatred and violence, still there remains a hope of betterment and harmony.

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