Why does Cox think that caste is a deficient way of describing racial hierarchies that derive from the intersection of class and democracy? It is believed that a person’s own bed, garments, wife, child and water pot are pure for his own self and family and for others they are impure. Here he identifies hierarchy as the essential value underlying the caste system supported by Hinduism. Dumont felt that the study of the caste system is useful for the knowledge of India, and it is an important task of general sociology. An inventory of sources of change in the caste system lists judicial and political changes, social-religious reforms, westernization, and growth of modern professionals, urbanization, spatial mobility and the growth of market economy. Caste system can be defined as a social structure according to class of people, which gets decided by their birth. India is composed of many small territories and castes; Every caste is limited to particular and definite geographic area; and, Marrying outside one’s own caste is not possible in the caste system. The higher 1s or that of the Brahmins or priest, below them are the Kshatriyas or warriors, then the Vaishyas, in modern usage merchants, and finally, the Shudras, the servants or have-nots. By Dumont - Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications (Nature of Human Society) (Revised edition): Books - Amazon.ca Caste and Varna are to be understood with relationship of hierarchy and power. Kane writes that a man’s nearest relatives and his best friends become untouchable for him for a certain time as a result of these events. Even, the objects are considered as pure and impure; silk is purer than cotton, gold than silver, than bronze, than copper. Questions: Why does Cox think that caste and class are antithetical systems? In the 1970’s somewhere Dumont’s study of caste system provoked interest in other scholars. Why is this distinction applied to hereditary groups? This principle also underlies separation which means pure and impure must be kept separate. He focused on the need to understand the ideology of caste as reflected in the classical texts, historical examples etc.He advocated the use of an Indological and structuralist approach to the study of caste system and village social structure in India. According to Dumont caste divides the whole Indian society into a larger number of hereditary groups distinguished from one another and connected together by three characteristics: 1. UN Summit on Non- UN Report on Domestic Violence, HIV/AIDS and Mobility in South Asia- UNDP Report 2010, India's Development Report Card vis-a-vis MDG, Sociological Perspectives on Health and Illness, Scientific Method in Sociological Research. The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Home >> Indian Thinkers >> Dumont's perspective on caste system. Separation on the basis of rules of the caste in matters of marriage and contact, whether direct or indirect (food); Interdependent of work or div1s1on of labour, each group having, in theory or by tradition, a profession from which their members can depart only within certain limits; and. Gradation of status or hierarchy which ranks the groups as relatively superior or inferior to one another. He did not answer these questions directly. Now-a-days, a new garment or vessel can be received from anybody. For him, caste is a set of relationships of economic, political and kinship systems, sustained by certain ‘values’, which are mostly religious in nature. Louis Dumont (1970) Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System. But, the opposite has always been two extreme categories, i.e., Brahmin and untouchables. Untouchabilitywas considered illegal: Gandhi renamed untouchables as ‘Harijan’s or ‘Sons of Hari’, that is, creatures of God. Its a private initiative & has no relation or affiliation with any government organisation. From this perspective, Dumont himself, in his Homo Hierarchicus, has built up a model of Indian civilization, which is based on a noncompetitive ritual hierarchical system. His understanding of caste lays emphasis on attributes of caste that is why; he is put in the category of those following the attributional approach to the caste system. His analysis is based on a single principle-the opposition of pure and impure. Finally gradation of status or hierarchy, which ranks the groups as relatively superior to inferior to one another. Questions: why does Cox think that caste is a deficient way of describing racial hierarchies that derive from intersection! Reflected in the casts examples etc groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of.... 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