The Conflict of Caste and class in India

•A caste is a social category whose members are assigned a permanent status within a given social hierarchy and whose contacts are restricted accordingly.

•It is the most rigid and clearly graded type of social stratification. It has also often been referred to as the extreme form of closed class system.

•Sharply contrasted with the caste system, the open class system ran be placed at the opposite end of a continuum. A social class has been defined as an abstract category of persons arranged in levels according to the social status they possess. There are no firm lines dividing one category from another.

•A social class consists of a number of individuals who share similar status often ascribed at birth but capable of being altered. Class, therefore, does not consist of organised closed groups defined by law or religion as does caste, nor are the various strata in the system as rigid and easily identifiable.

•Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden The enforcement of any disability arising out of Untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.

Note: Article 17 of the constitution abolishes the practice of untouchability. Practice of untouchability is an offence and anyone doing so is punishable by law. The Untouchability Offences Act of 1955 (renamed to Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976) provided penalties for preventing a person from entering a place of worship or from taking water from a tank or well. This act lays down that whatever is open to general public (or Hindus) should be open to the members of the scheduled castes. No shopkeeper can refuse to sell them, no person may refuse to render any service to any person on the ground of untouchability. The act made provision for imprisonment and fine.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards the untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting the rights of women and labour.

Relation between caste and class

•Caste and Class jointly determine the position of an individual in social strain. Particularly in rural communities where caste system has maintained its rigidity. It forms the basic for economic and special life.

• In a single village there may be as many as 24 castes and of these are interdependent. Even in the urban society a constant tendency to make caste distinction is observed in the upper and middle classes. Thus the castes have maintained their importance in class system of social stratification.

•According to Weber, Caste and class are both status groups. A status group is a collection of persons who share a distinctive style of life and a certain consciousness of kind. While caste is perceived as a hereditary group with a fixed ritual status, a social class is a category of people who have a similar socio-economic status in relation to other segments of their community or society.

•The individuals and families who compose a social class are relatively similar in educational, economic and prestige status. Those who are classified as part of the same social class have similar life chances. Some sociologists regard social classes as being primarily economic in nature whereas others tend to stress factors such as prestige, style of life, attitudes, etc.