Caste System and Modernization in India: An Ethnographic Review

Introduction

Among societies in South Asia, few have engaged so thoroughly and peacefully with the developed and Western worlds as India. Following its hard-fought emergence from British colonial rule in the early twentieth century, India experienced rapid ascension in its philosophical, scientific, and economic contributions to the world. Simultaneously, it has struggled to satisfy the resource needs of a widely impoverished population, worked with great difficulty to resolve its regional leadership role, and battled with varying degrees of success to overcome deep internal inequities.

These inequities are particularly marked by India's notorious caste system — a mode of explicit hierarchical division between social classes rationalized by spiritual proclamations, with significant implications for occupational opportunity, marital prospects, political representation, treatment by the legal system, and general standard of living. In many ways, the retention of this system — always declining in the face of rising modernity — has appeared to be out of step with India's development in other areas. Drawing on a text by Pauline Kolenda (1985), which reflects on the nature of the caste system in a gradually modernizing society, this paper explores the difficulty this tension represents to Indian culture as a whole.

Methods and Theoretical Framework

In order to determine the extent to which the caste system has changed, and to observe the ways in which it has sustained many of its problematic features, Kolenda immersed herself in the culture and lifestyle of Indians across four different Indian states. Conducting an ethnography of the social interactions of different caste representatives in both urban and rural environments, Kolenda reported a decline in the system's influence in urban contexts and a steady commitment to the traditional social structure in rural ones.

Accordingly, she reports that even in the face of its legal abolishment, the caste system is sustained by hereditary factors with clear connections to socioeconomic distribution and opportunity. Kolenda writes that the "endogamous birth-descent group, the jati — the basic unit of the caste system — is essentially a large-scale kin group. Despite the gradual demise of the occupational aspect of the caste system (a demise now taking place at a more rapid tempo), the solidarity of the jati is intact. Thus India presents the sociological possibility of becoming a modern society yet retains what Ibn Khaldun believed was inevitably lost with the advance of civilization." (Kolenda, i)

Here, Kolenda invites consideration of one of the primary philosophical debates persisting with respect to the caste system. She identifies it as having a deep connection to a history of Indian spiritual classification which, when undermined, may also undermine cherished aspects of Hindu and Indian heritage. At the same time, Kolenda acknowledges the clear conflict this creates for humanitarian interests. The caste system represents a hierarchical structure that, when pursued to its fullest extent, appears inherently to relegate wide cross-sections of Indian society to social and familial immobility. Moreover, the pointed inequalities within the caste system are, Kolenda argues, a direct threat to any realistic pursuit of a modern democratic society.

The Caste System as Descent Group

Kolenda begins her ethnography by examining the lives of Indians living in largely rural contexts, as the majority of the nation did in 1985 — and, to a lesser but still significant extent, as many continue to do today. She finds that caste structures were not inherently designed to socially and economically segregate members of the Indian population. Instead, she refers to castes as descent groups, distinguishing them as comprised of members of regionally specific tribes, adherents to a similar sect of Hinduism, members of a kinship group, or — as the meaning largely evolved — groups distinguished by socioeconomic status. This reveals an important condition often overlooked by outsiders reflexively critical of the caste system. As Kolenda phrases it, "the most persistent feature of Indian society is its organization into micro-communities which are large-scale descent groups." (Kolenda, 6)

These groups developed organically in many ways, with socioeconomic implications emerging thereafter. Many of the conditions of the caste structure in India were never systematically enforced from above; rather, they were the product of a society naturally splintered into many different cultural subgroups. Thus, half a century after the legal abolition of the caste system, the Kolenda text discusses the relative difficulty of using legislation to alter cultural practices across the vast expanses of rural life that comprise much of India. Kolenda reports that "about 45 million people are listed by the Census of India of 1971 as tribals. However, most of India's 580 million people continue to live in rural areas, and most still participate in some way in a traditional local caste system." (Kolenda, 9)

The focus of Kolenda's text is on the nature of the forces bringing about change to this system. She argues that in many ways, the natural forces of modernity are eroding these group distinctions — whether positive or negative from an egalitarian perspective. This pattern is most evident in urban settings, where specialized training and the entrance of global economic interests are opening new occupational opportunities for individuals, thereby diminishing the influence of cultural imperatives rooted in caste. As Kolenda phrases it, "increasing numbers of people are involuntarily losing their place in the traditional system. At the same time, a gradually increasing number of people are being integrated occupationally into a large caste-free modern occupational structure involving government, businesses, factories, schools, colleges, and services of various kinds." (Kolenda, 9)

Conclusion

Ultimately, one is left with the sense that a subject such as this would best be explored in a study with a more current context. That the selected text is now over 25 years old renders it of limited relevance with respect to the current generation of laborers, global employees, political leaders, and preeminent scholars. Moreover, its conclusions were drawn just before a major revolution in India's opening to geo-economic interests had taken hold. More in the last ten to fifteen years than ever before has Indian society been shaped by external forces.