Question

1). Briefly identify the main characteristics of caste systems and class systems.

2). What are the different justifications for inequality in the caste system?

3). What are the different justifications for inequality in the class system?

4). Examine the differences between the structural-functional and social-conflict analyses of stratification.


Please explain each of these questions in a couple senetces. (Based on the subject sociology).

Answer 1

1.Characteristics of class system:

1. Class system is based on occupation, wealth, education, age, sex
2. Hierarchy of status group. In general there are 3 class – upper middle & tower. Status, prestige & role is attached. Upper class are less in no in comparison to the other two whereas their status & prestige is most. This is like a pyramid. Karl max (Rich & poor) preliterate &
3. Feeling of superiority & inferiority. In these 3 classes there are such feelings the upper class people feel they are superior to the other two whereas the lower class feels it is inferior to the upper class.
4. Class consciousness – wherever a class is formed this feeling a consciousness is a must. There should be feeling of in group i.e. I belong class conflict is due to this the people of the preliterate class feel the upper class exploits them their they unite revolt. The behavior action is determined by this class consciousness.
5. Sub-classes, class is divided into different groups. Similar to caste system, the class system is divided.
6. Class system is an open system.
7. There's social restriction in this too. In general there is endogamy in a class. To maintain their status & position they mix among themselves & it is seldom that marriage between upper & lower class is wished. Distinction between Caste & class. They are the two phenomena of social stratification (Stratification is division of society on the basis of birth).

Caste system

1. A Particular Name:Every caste has a particular name though which we can identify it. Sometimes, an occupation is also associated with a particular caste. We can know the profession or occupation of a caste with the help of the name of the caste.

2. Hierarchy:Hierarchy is a ladder of command in which the lower rungs are encompassed in the higher ones in regular succession. The castes teach us a fundamental social principle of hierarchy.Castes form a hierarchy, being arranged in an order of superiority and inferiority. At the top of this hierarchy is the Brahmin caste and at the bottom is the untouchable caste. In between are the intermediate castes, the relative positions of which are not always clear. As such disputes among the members of these castes over the social precedence of their respective castes are not very uncommon.Hierarchy is viewed as the principle by which the elements of a whole are ranked in relation to the whole, it being understood that in the majority of societies it is religion which provides the view of the whole. Hence, ranking assumes religious dimension.

3. Endogamy; The most fundamental characteristic of the caste system is endogamy. All the thinkers are of the opinion that the endogamy is the chief characteristic of caste, i.e. the members of a caste or sub-caste should marry within their own caste or sub-caste. The violation of the rule of endogamy would mean ostracism and loss of caste. Although endogamy is the common rule for a caste, Anomie and Pratiloma marriage, i.e. hypergamy and hypogamy were also prevalent in exceptional cases.

4. Hereditary Status:Generally speaking, the membership of a caste is determined by birth and the man acquires the status of a caste in which he is born. In this connection, Ketkar has written that the caste is limited to only those persons who are born as the members of that caste. Thus, membership in the caste is hereditary and once membership does not undergo any change even if change takes place in his status, occupation, education and wealth etc.

5. Hereditary Occupation:

The traditional caste system is characterised by hereditary occupation. Members of a particular caste are expected to follow the occupation meant for the caste. Traditionally a Brahmin was allowed to function as a priest. In some casts the name of caste is dependent upon the very occupation as for instance, Napita (barber), Dhobi, Mochi, Mali etc.

6. Restriction on Food and Drink:

There are rules, for example, what short of food or drink can be accepted by a person and from what castes. Usually a caste would not accept cooked food from any other caste that stands lower than itself in the social scale. A person belonging to a higher caste believes that he gets polluted even by the shadow of a person belonging to the low caste or by accepting food or drink from him.

7. Cultural Difference:Since each caste has its own set of rules and regulations with regard to endogamy, pollution-purity, occupational specialization, each caste develops its own subculture since the behaviour of the individual is governed by the requirements of his caste. The doctrine says that it is better for a person to follow the ‘dharma’ (religious obligation) of his own caste, no matter how low, than the ‘dharma’ of another caste, no matter how illustrious. The result has been different ‘style of life’ for different castes. “Hence castes are”, to quote Prof. Gharya, “small and complete social worlds in themselves, marked off definitely from one another, though subsisting within the larger society.

2. Inequality is at the core of the caste system.

Those who fall outside the caste system are considered “lesser human beings”, “impure” and thus “polluting” to other caste groups. They are known to be “untouchable” and subjected to so-called “untouchability practices” in both public and private spheres.

“Untouchables” are often forcibly assigned the most dirty, menial and hazardous jobs, such as cleaning human waste. The work they do adds to the stigmatisation they face from the surrounding society.The exclusion of ‘caste-affected communities’ by other groups in society and the inherent structural inequality in these social relationships lead to high levels of poverty among affected population groups and exclusion from, or reduced benefits from development processes, and generally precludes their involvement in decision making and meaningful participation in public and civil life.The division of a society into castes is a global phenomenon not exclusively practised within any particular religion or belief system.In South Asia, caste discrimination is traditionally rooted in the Hindu caste system. Supported by philosophical elements, the caste system constructs the moral, social and legal foundations of Hindu society. Dalits are ‘outcastes’ or people who fall outside the four-fold caste system consisting of the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vysya and Sudra. Dalits are also referred to as Panchamas or people of the fifth order. However caste systems and the ensuing caste discrimination have spread into Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Sikh communities.Caste systems are also found in Africa, other parts of Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific and in Diaspora communities around the world. In Japan association is made with Shinto beliefs concerning purity and impurity, and in marginalized African groups the justification is based on myths.

3.Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It is the differentiation preference of access of social goods in the society brought about by power, religion, kinship, prestige, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. The social rights include labor market, the source of income, health care, and freedom of speech, education, political representation, and participation. Social inequality linked to Economic inequality, usually described on the basis of the unequal distribution of income or wealth, is a frequently studied type of social inequality. Though the disciplines of economics and sociology generally use different theoretical approaches to examine and explain economic inequality, both fields are actively involved in researching this inequality. However, social and natural resources other than purely economic resources are also unevenly distributed in most societies and may contribute to social status. Norms of allocation can also affect the distribution of rights and privileges, social power, access to public goods such as education or the judicial system, adequate housing, transportation, credit and financial services such as banking and other social goods and services. Many societies worldwide claim to be meritocracies—that is, that their societies exclusively distribute resources on the basis of merit. The term "meritocracy" was coined by Michael Young in his 1958 dystopian essay "The Rise of the Meritocracy" to demonstrate the social dysfunctions that he anticipated arising in societies where the elites believe that they are successful entirely on the basis of merit, so the adoption of this term into English sans negative connotations is ironic;^[2] Young was concerned that the Tripartite System of education being practiced in the United Kingdom at the time he wrote the essay considered merit to be "intelligence-plus-effort, its possessors ... identified at an early age and selected for appropriate intensive education" and that the "obsession with quantification, test-scoring, and qualifications" it supported would create an educated middle-class elite at the expense of the education of the working class, inevitably resulting in injustice and – eventually – revolution.^[3] A modern representation of the sort of "meritocracy" Young feared may be seen in the series 3%. Although merit matters to some degree in many societies, research shows that the distribution of resources in societies often follows hierarchical social categorizations of persons to a degree too significant to warrant calling these societies "meritocratic", since even exceptional intelligence, talent, or other forms of merit may not be compensatory for the social disadvantages people face. In many cases, social inequality is linked to racial inequality, ethnic inequality, and gender inequality, as well as other social statuses and these forms can be related to corruption.

4. Social stratification is a kind of social differentiation whereby a society groups people into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit. In modern Western societies, social stratification typically is distinguished as three social classes: (i) the upper class, (ii) the middle class, and (iii) the lower class; in turn, each class can be subdivided into strata, e.g. the upper-stratum, the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum. Moreover, a social stratum can be formed upon the bases of kinship, clan, tribe or caste, or all four. The categorization of people by social strata occurs in all societies, ranging from the complex, state-based or polycentric societies to tribal and feudal societies, which are based upon socio-economic relations among classes of nobility and classes of peasants. Historically, whether or not hunter-gatherer societies can be defined as socially stratified or if social stratification began with agriculture and common acts of social exchange, remains a debated matter in the social sciences. Determining the structures of social stratification arises from inequalities of status among persons, therefore, the degree of social inequalitydetermines a person's social stratum. Generally, the greater the social complexity of a society, the more social strata exist, by way of social differentiation