Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities
Year : 2014, Volume : 4, Issue : 7
First page : ( 182) Last page : ( 191)
Online ISSN : 2249-7315.

Caste, Class, Hierarchy and Power; Deconstructing Mainstream Discourses

Guha Ayan

Doctoral Scholar, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, India

Online published on 5 July, 2014.

Abstract

The dominant academic discourse on Indian caste system presented by Louis Dumont has overlooked the important dimension of power in the caste hierarchy. This essay gives an overview of major perspectives on caste to make the point that in Indian society caste status is nothing but a manifestation of power, being one of its core dimensions. In Indian society power and ritual status far from remaining apart as water-tight compartments, as suggested by Dumont have always reinforced each other. However, the empirical reality that caste structure and power structure are often found to be more or less identical should not lead us to conflate caste with class. Therefore, it has been argued in this essay that, though the rules of the caste system at an empirical level are reproduced at the behest of the economically and politically dominant class to secure their class interests, the important religious and cultural aspects of caste make it a distinctive social organization characteristically different from that of class.

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Keywords

Caste, Class, Power, Hierarchy, Dumont, Status, jati.

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