Recasting Caste: From The Sacred To The Profane
by Hira Singh /
2014 / English / PDF
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Recasting
Caste
Recasting
Caste confronts the mainstream sociology of caste
at its root: Louis Dumont’s Homo Hierarchicus and its main
source, Max Weber’s distinction between class and status.
Conventional wisdom on caste is idealist, and most students of
the subject therefore exaggerate ritual homogeneity and deflect
attention from intracaste differentiation and inequality. In
contrast, by focusing on intracaste differences, Professor Singh
demonstrates that caste hierarchy is grounded in a monopoly of
land rights and political power supported by religious and
secular ideology. Drawing on the sociological, anthropological
and historical literature, as well as primary
sources,
confronts the mainstream sociology of caste
at its root: Louis Dumont’s Homo Hierarchicus and its main
source, Max Weber’s distinction between class and status.
Conventional wisdom on caste is idealist, and most students of
the subject therefore exaggerate ritual homogeneity and deflect
attention from intracaste differentiation and inequality. In
contrast, by focusing on intracaste differences, Professor Singh
demonstrates that caste hierarchy is grounded in a monopoly of
land rights and political power supported by religious and
secular ideology. Drawing on the sociological, anthropological
and historical literature, as well as primary
sources,Recasting
Caste
Recasting
Caste refutes the widespread claim that, in India,
caste consciousness always trumps class consciousness. It
questions the twin myths that caste is a product of Hinduism and
that caste is essential to the survival of Hinduism. It thereby
reorients the entire field of study.
refutes the widespread claim that, in India,
caste consciousness always trumps class consciousness. It
questions the twin myths that caste is a product of Hinduism and
that caste is essential to the survival of Hinduism. It thereby
reorients the entire field of study.