Assess the role of caste in Indian Society.
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Caste politics. Caste in Indian society refers to a social group where membership is decided by birth. Members of such local group are endogamous, i.e. they tend to enter into marital relationships among themselves. They often have related political preferences.
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Caste, a uniquely Indian social institution has been a central influence on the lives of Indians and their communities for millennia. A complex, heterogenous system of community relations (or non-relations) with obscure origins, it has dogged the Republican Indian state and modern Indian society in one way or another. I myself grew up in middle class Mumbai with little knowledge or understanding of caste. In fact, I was not made aware of what my caste was till I started graduate school in America. However, my readings and interactions with people have allowed me to develop some understanding of the role caste plays in India today. I am not out to prove anything about caste or about any particular community, I simply want to discuss how caste enters into the life of modern Indians.
First, we recognize caste as a label, an indicator of lineage or membership of a community. The last name of most Indians will usually tell one what his/her caste is in addition to their state of ancestry. We can identify a person as Brahmin, Dalit, Vaishya, Kshatriya, Yadav etc. For a lot of urban Indians, especially my generation, this is all caste seems to be, a simple label which has no bearing otherwise on individuals. There is mostly no obvious correlation between a person’s caste as determined from his/her last name and their occupation in today’s urban economy1. In cities, caste still has some role to play in the arranged marriage system, but even there its relevance is based on the personal belief that a person from the same caste is similar in culture, rather than the ‘impurity’ or ‘rank’ of other castes. In rural India, however these labels are very powerful and play a crucial role in politics and everyday interactions.
First, we recognize caste as a label, an indicator of lineage or membership of a community. The last name of most Indians will usually tell one what his/her caste is in addition to their state of ancestry. We can identify a person as Brahmin, Dalit, Vaishya, Kshatriya, Yadav etc. For a lot of urban Indians, especially my generation, this is all caste seems to be, a simple label which has no bearing otherwise on individuals. There is mostly no obvious correlation between a person’s caste as determined from his/her last name and their occupation in today’s urban economy1. In cities, caste still has some role to play in the arranged marriage system, but even there its relevance is based on the personal belief that a person from the same caste is similar in culture, rather than the ‘impurity’ or ‘rank’ of other castes. In rural India, however these labels are very powerful and play a crucial role in politics and everyday interactions.
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