Question

Examine the relationship between caste and class

Answer 1

A caste is a social group that includes people of the same economic status, occupation or rank. In India, the rigid caste system divides people by social distinctions into hereditary groups that have specific limitations and privileges, depending on where the person is on the social strata. Although it is illegal in India today to discriminate based on caste, the system traditionally prevented those in the lower castes from improving their economic and social status. class-Set or category of things having some property or attribute in common and differentiated from others by kind, type, or quality.

Answer 2

Answer:

Caste

Caste is a form of social stratification, which divides the society into various social groups, which are placed in a hierarchical order on the criteria of mainly ritual purity and pollution. It is hereditary and endogamous. It has a traditional association with an occupation and observes maximum commensality.

The main features of caste system are:

i) hierarchy,

ii) endogamy,

iii) association with a hereditary occupation,

iv) restrictions on food and social relations,

v) distinction in custom, dress and speech, and

vi) civil and religious disabilities and privileges, enjoyed by different caste groups in the society

Social class

Social class is a kind of social group, which is neither legally defined nor religiously sanctioned. It has been defined as a stratum of people who share a similar position in society. They are relatively open and anyone who satisfies the basic criteria of wealth and associated style of life, etc. can become its member.

caste and class relationship

caste and class represent, to a large extent, the same structural reality. Caste conflicts are also class conflicts as the upper and the lower castes correspond to the high and the low classes, respectively, in terms of their social placement. Castes also function as classes because they function as interest groups. Caste associations undertake several economic and political activities for their members.  The caste-class nexus as a framework goes beyond micro-transaction and alternatively filters down the macro conceptualizations to the ground reality. Caste-class nexus implies going ‘beyond caste’ and also going ‘beyond class’ for a fuller comprehension of social reality. It would define ‘nexus’ as “a set of ties in terms of connection which becomes the basis of structural and cultural changes.