CHAPTER 3

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS; CONTINUITY

AND CHANGE

1. CASTE AND THE CASTE SYSTEM

l A population is made up of inter-related classes and communities. These

are sustained and regulated by social institutions and social relationships.

l Three institutions, Caste, Tribe and Family are central to Indian Society.

l “Caste” is a social institution that has been in existence for thousands of

years.

2. Definition of Caste:

l “Caste”, an English word is derived from a Portuguese word “Casta”,

meaning pure breed. In Indian language it is referred to two distinct
terms, Varna and jati.

3. Varna & Jati

l Varna which literally means ‘colour’ refers is a fourfold division of society

into Brahmana, kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. It is an all India aggregative
classification.

l Jati, is a regional or local sub-classification term consisting of hundreds

or thousands of castes and sub castes. (It is generic term referring species
or kinds of anything ranging from inanimate objects to plants, animals &
human beings.)

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4. Vedic & post Vedic period

l During the Vedic period the caste system was elaborate, very rigid or
determind by birth.

l But, in. post Vedic period it became very rigid with certain defining features
such as caste being determined by birth, membership of caste adhering
to strict rules of marriage, rules regarding food.& food sharing, caste
being traditionally linked to occupations and it being arranged in a hierarchy
of rank and status.

5. Features of caste.

l Caste is determined by birth

l Membership in a caste involves strict rules about marriage. Caste

groups are “endogamous”, i.e. marriage is restricted to members of the
group.

l Caste membership also involves rules about food and food-sharing.

l Caste involves a system consisting of many castes arranged in a

hierarchy of rank and status

l Castes also involve sub-divisions within themselves

l Castes were traditionally linked to occupations.

6. Theoretical interpretation of caste

l Caste is a combination of two sets of principles —

l (1) Difference and separation. The scriptural rules ranging from marriage,
food sharing to occupation prevents the mixing of castes.

l (2) Wholism and hierarchy: the hierarchical division of caste, on the other
hand is based on the distinction between “purity and pollution”.

7. In the caste system, Endogamy is the practice of marrying within the caste.
Exogamy is the practice of marrying outside the clan or gotra.

8. A proprietary caste group is a group that owns most of the resources and
can command labor to work for them.

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9. Caste panchayats are panchayats which are controlled by the dominant
group and represent their interests, needs & demands. Primarily decision making
is controlled by the upper caste, rich landlords and landed peasants.

10. Caste in Present day

l In the contemporary period the caste system has become ‘invisible’ for
the upper caste, urban middle and upper classes. Because it has already
benefited these groups .’’

l caste has been shaped as a result of the influence of the colonial period
and changes brought about in independent India.

l The British undertook methodical and intensive surveys of various tribes

and castes in order to learn how to govern the country effectively.

l The first such survey was carried out by Herbert Risley in 1901 and thus
caste began to be counted and recorded.

l Other institutions like the land revenue settlement gave legal recognition
to the customary rights of the upper caste.

11. The Govt. India Act of 1935 gave legal recognition to the lists of ‘schedules’
of castes and tribes.

l Gradually, towards the end of the colonial period the welfare of

downtrodden caste was looked after by the administration.

12. In Post Independent India, programs were undertaken for the upliftment of
depressed classes. Social reformers like Jyotiba Phule, Periyar etc. worked towards
lower caste upliftment, abolition of caste distinctions and other restrictions.

13. The abolition of caste was explicitly incorporated in the Constitution by the
state. During this period some of the steps undertaken were reservation of seats
for SC & ST’s, no caste rules in the jobs created in the modern industry,
urbanization & collective living in cities and stress on meritocracy.

14. In the cultural & domestic spheres, caste has remained unaffected by
modernization and change while in the sphere of politics it has been deeply
conditioned by caste as formation of caste based political parties.

15. New concepts were coined to understand the process of change. The terms
were sanskritization and dominant caste by M.N. Srinivas.

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16. Sanskritization is a process whereby members of a caste (usually middle
a lower) attempt to raise their social status by adopting the rituals & social
practices of the higher castes.

17. Dominant caste was those which had a large population and were granted
landrights. They were politically, socially and economically dominant in their regions
for example: the Yadavs of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Vokkaligas of Karnataka,
the Reddys and Khammas of Andhra Pradesh, the Marathas of Maharashtra,
the Jats of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and the Patidars of
Gujarat .

18. In the contemporary period caste has tended to become invisible for the
upper caste, urban middle and upper classes and more visible for the lower
caste.

19. TRIBAL COMMUNITIES

Definition of tribes.

l The oldest inhabitants of the sub-continent.

l Tribes were communities that did not practice a religion with a written
text;

l did not have a state or political form of the formal kind;

l did not have sharp class divisions; and,

l they did not have caste distinctions.

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20. Discuss the classification of tribes

Classification of Fribes

85% live in middle India (Gujarat to Odisha)

Permanent Traits Acquired traits

15% NE States

11% NE States 3% Rest of India

Language Size

Indo Dravidian Austric Tibet Biggest : Gonds

Anyan Burman Santhals
Oraons
Minas

Physical/Racial

Negrito Austartord Mongoloid Dravidian

Aryan

Mode of Livelihood
Extent of
incorporation into
Hindu society
Fisherman/ hunters food Peasants Shifting
industrial gatherers Cultivators l in Politics
workers l Public affairs

21. The ‘Isolation’ and ‘Integration’ debate on tribes is based upon tribal
societies as isolated wholes. The isolationist believe that tribals needed protection
from traders, moneylenders and Hindu and Christian missionaries, all of whom
try to reduce tribals’ to detribalised landless labour. The integrationists, believe
that tribal’s are merely backward Hindus, and their problems had to be addressed
within the same framework as that of other backward classes.

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22. National development involving the building of large dams, factories and
mines were undertaken at the expense of the tribes. Eg Narmada Bachao
Aandolan.

23. Tribal identities today are centered on idea’s of resistance and opposition
to the force exercised by the non-tribal world. The formation of Jharkhand and
Chhattisgarh has been a result of this assertion of tribal identity but the political
system is still not autonomous.

24. Tribal movements emerged to tackle issues relating to control over vital
economic resources, matters of cultural identity. All this has been made possible
due to the gradual emergence of an educated middle class among tribal
communities, though the assertion of identity of tribal middle class maybe different
from a poor and uneducated one.

22. FAMILY AND KINSHIP

A. Family can be nuclear or extended. Modern family consists of only one set
parents and their children unlike extended family where that is more than one
couple and after more than two generations living together.

B Diverse forms of family

→ Nuclear
=

▼ ▼

→ and Joint family

▼ ▼
= =

▼ ▼

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® Other forms of family are:
Local archal Lineal

(residence) (authority) (descent)

▼ ▼ ▼

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

Matrilocal Patrilocal Patriarchal Matriarchal Patrilineal Matrilineal

(mother’s (Father’ (father’ (Mother’s (Father’s (Mother’s
residence) residence) authority) authority) side) side

23. Kinship are connections between individuals, established either through

marriage or through the lines of descent that connect blood relatives (mothers,
fathers, siblings, offspring, etc.)

Marriage (the legally or formally recognized union of a

man and a woman)
▼

▼ ▼
Monogamy Polygamy

(at one time a man can have only (practice or custom of

one wife And a women can have having more than one wife
only one husband) or husband at the same time)

▼ ▼ ▼

polygyny - wherein a polyandry - wherein a group marriage - wherein

man has multiple woman has multiple the family unit consists of
simultaneous wives simultaneous husbands ; multiple husbands and
multiple wives

24. The Khasi matriliny highlights the distinction between matriliny and
matriarchy.

l There is an inherent disagreement in matrilineal systems. On the one

hand, the line of descent and inheritance, where a woman inherits
property from her mother and passes it on to her daughter and the other

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 structure of authority and control where a man controls his sister’s property
and passes on control to his sister’s son. The former, which links the
mother to the daughter, comes in conflict with the latter, which links the
mother’s brother to the sister’s son.

l Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men. They are torn
between their responsibilities to their natal house on the one hand, and
to their wife and children on the other.

l The tension generated by such role conflict affects Khasi women more
intensely. A woman can never be fully assured that her husband does not
find his sister’s house a more pleasant place than her own.

l The women are more badly affected than men, by the role conflict
generated in the Khasi malrilineal system, not only because men wield
power and women are deprived of it, but also because the system is
more lenient to men

l Thus, men are the power holders in Khasi society; the only difference is
that a man’s relatives on his mother’s side matter more than his relatives
on his father’s side.

2 MARKS QUESTIONS

1. What is caste?

2. What is dominant Caste?

3. Distinguish between Verna & Jati.

4. Mention any 4 dominant caste.

5. Define Tribes.

6. Mention the isolation and integration debate on tribes.

7. Mention the two broad sets of issues most important in giving rise to
tribal movements.

8. Distinguish between Nuclear and Joint Family.

9. Define Kinship.

10. Distinguish between Endogamy and Exogamy

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 4 MARKS QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the features of caste.

2. Explain the role of caste panchayats.

3. Differentiate between tribe & Caste.

4. Explain the main factors influencing the formation of tribal identity today.

5. Explain the meaning of Sanskritization.

6. What is the role of the ideas of separation and hierarchy in the caste
system?

7. What are the rules that the caste system imposes?

8. How have tribes’ been classified in India?

9. In what ways can change in social structure lead to changes in the family
structure.

10. Differentiate between tribe and caste.

11. Explain the different forms of family.

6 MARKS QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the theoretical interpretation / or principles of the caste system.

2. Discuss the ways that strengthened the institution of caste in India under
colonial rule.

3. Highlight the sources of conflict between national development and tribal

development.

4. Write a note on tribal movement with special reference to Jharkhand.

5. Discuss the classification of tribes based on their traits.

6. Discuss the features of the Caste System.

7. Differentiate between Matriliny and matriarchy, in the context of the Khasi

matriliny system.

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