08-02-2006, 07:54 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The long shadow
Tuesday, August 01, 2006Â 21:06 IST
André Béteille
Caste has become an obsession with the media. They turn their eyes in every direction for signs of caste bias. Where it does exist, caste
bias is largely a matter of the mind, and when more and more people
become convinced about its open or hidden operation, it begins to rear
its head even where it did not exist. Today caste bias in our public
institutions is on its way to becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy.
The prevalent view among educated Indians in the early years of
independence was that caste was in decline:Â it had its importance in
India's past but it would have little importance in its future. This
was the general opinion in Calcutta where I was a student in the
mid-fifties and among economists, historians and political scientists
in Delhi where I came to teach in 1959. The only academics who took
caste seriously were the sociologists, and since I was one myself, I
became the target of much light-hearted banter from the economists in
the Delhi School of Economics.
When N Srinivas pointed out in his address to the archaeology and
anthropology section of the Indian Science Congress in January 1957
that caste was acquiring a new lease of life in independent India, The
Times of India commented that he was exaggerating its importance. Now
newspaper writers are falling over each other to show how important
caste is in contemporary India. Their newfound zeal and enthusiasm
leaves serious students of the subject nonplussed.
What actually is happening to caste today? A sober assessment of the
evidence will show that, while caste has probably become more
important in certain domains, it has also become less important in
many others. In the prevailing circumstances it becomes difficult to
determine whether caste as a whole is becoming stronger or weaker.
But those benign optimists who had hoped at the time of independence
that caste would disappear by the end of the century have been proved
wrong.
If we turn back to discussions of caste in the 50 years prior to
Independence, we will find that those who wrote about it pointed to
three different kinds of factors as being fundamental to its
persistence. One set of authors stressed the ritual basis of caste
with its roots in the opposition of purity and pollution. They
pointed to the innumerable restrictions on the acceptance of food and
water, and the elaborate procedures devised for the maintenance of
purity. These rules and restrictions have steadily declined in
strength, with several becoming obsolete.
A second set of authors maintained that caste constituted the social
basis of the economic division of labour in India. While the lowest
castes are still concentrated in ill-paid manual occupations and the
upper castes are more prominent in better paid non-manual ones, the
association between caste and occupation has definitely weakened.
Many traditional occupations have become obsolete and they have been
replaced by new 'caste-free' occupations. With rapid changes in the
occupational system, the association between caste and occupation will
weaken further.
Finally, there are those who argued that the real strength of caste
lay in the rules of marriage prescribed by it. These rules were rigid
and elaborate, and, among the Hindus, they enjoyed the sanctions of
both shastric and customary law. While caste endogamy, or marriage
within the caste, is still the general practice particularly in the
rural areas, departures from it are taking place with increasing
frequency. Particularly in the growing educated middle class.
There is one domain in which the slow but unmistakable decline of
caste is contradicted, and that is in politics. When Srinivas argued
that caste was acquiring a new lease of life, all the evidence that he
marshalled in support of his argument came from the domain of
politics. In the decades since then politicians of all shades and
complexions have learned to make increasing use of caste for the
mobilisation of electoral support. No doubt there are regional
variations in this, and, hopefully, not irreversible. But if caste
has acquired an increasing hold on the public imagination, we have
mainly our politicians to thank.
All political parties promote caste consciousness by putting forward
claims in the name of caste pretending to safeguard social justice.
Even the left parties have become champions of caste quotas, using the
disingenuous argument that in India caste is the form taken by class,
a theoretical innovation that must make Marx and Engels turn in their
graves.
The writer is a sociologist.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1044913
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Tuesday, August 01, 2006Â 21:06 IST
André Béteille
Caste has become an obsession with the media. They turn their eyes in every direction for signs of caste bias. Where it does exist, caste
bias is largely a matter of the mind, and when more and more people
become convinced about its open or hidden operation, it begins to rear
its head even where it did not exist. Today caste bias in our public
institutions is on its way to becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy.
The prevalent view among educated Indians in the early years of
independence was that caste was in decline:Â it had its importance in
India's past but it would have little importance in its future. This
was the general opinion in Calcutta where I was a student in the
mid-fifties and among economists, historians and political scientists
in Delhi where I came to teach in 1959. The only academics who took
caste seriously were the sociologists, and since I was one myself, I
became the target of much light-hearted banter from the economists in
the Delhi School of Economics.
When N Srinivas pointed out in his address to the archaeology and
anthropology section of the Indian Science Congress in January 1957
that caste was acquiring a new lease of life in independent India, The
Times of India commented that he was exaggerating its importance. Now
newspaper writers are falling over each other to show how important
caste is in contemporary India. Their newfound zeal and enthusiasm
leaves serious students of the subject nonplussed.
What actually is happening to caste today? A sober assessment of the
evidence will show that, while caste has probably become more
important in certain domains, it has also become less important in
many others. In the prevailing circumstances it becomes difficult to
determine whether caste as a whole is becoming stronger or weaker.
But those benign optimists who had hoped at the time of independence
that caste would disappear by the end of the century have been proved
wrong.
If we turn back to discussions of caste in the 50 years prior to
Independence, we will find that those who wrote about it pointed to
three different kinds of factors as being fundamental to its
persistence. One set of authors stressed the ritual basis of caste
with its roots in the opposition of purity and pollution. They
pointed to the innumerable restrictions on the acceptance of food and
water, and the elaborate procedures devised for the maintenance of
purity. These rules and restrictions have steadily declined in
strength, with several becoming obsolete.
A second set of authors maintained that caste constituted the social
basis of the economic division of labour in India. While the lowest
castes are still concentrated in ill-paid manual occupations and the
upper castes are more prominent in better paid non-manual ones, the
association between caste and occupation has definitely weakened.
Many traditional occupations have become obsolete and they have been
replaced by new 'caste-free' occupations. With rapid changes in the
occupational system, the association between caste and occupation will
weaken further.
Finally, there are those who argued that the real strength of caste
lay in the rules of marriage prescribed by it. These rules were rigid
and elaborate, and, among the Hindus, they enjoyed the sanctions of
both shastric and customary law. While caste endogamy, or marriage
within the caste, is still the general practice particularly in the
rural areas, departures from it are taking place with increasing
frequency. Particularly in the growing educated middle class.
There is one domain in which the slow but unmistakable decline of
caste is contradicted, and that is in politics. When Srinivas argued
that caste was acquiring a new lease of life, all the evidence that he
marshalled in support of his argument came from the domain of
politics. In the decades since then politicians of all shades and
complexions have learned to make increasing use of caste for the
mobilisation of electoral support. No doubt there are regional
variations in this, and, hopefully, not irreversible. But if caste
has acquired an increasing hold on the public imagination, we have
mainly our politicians to thank.
All political parties promote caste consciousness by putting forward
claims in the name of caste pretending to safeguard social justice.
Even the left parties have become champions of caste quotas, using the
disingenuous argument that in India caste is the form taken by class,
a theoretical innovation that must make Marx and Engels turn in their
graves.
The writer is a sociologist.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1044913
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->