Sociology Optional Paper II Section A by Smriti Rao

Model Answer

Question #1. Caste system has been seen as symptomatic to India, however it is changing in structure form in the modern society. Comment.

Caste system refers to a form of stratification where different social groups are arranged in a hierarchy on the basis of an ascribed social identity deriving from the Chaturvarna classification. Caste system has been considered to be unique to India, owing to the structural features as below. 

Adopting an indological approach, GS Ghurye outlined the following characteristics of caste system
1. Principle of hierarchy
2. Segmental division
3. Restriction on commensality, social interaction
4. Endogamy
5. Disabilities and Privileges

Caste pervaded all aspects of the society and was considered as a rigid and closed system of stratification. However in contemporary Indian society, these manifest functions of the caste system have been replaced with latent functions. Due to processes such as modernization, westernisation, sanskritisation, and secularisation, the nature of caste identity in society underwent drastic changes: 

Caste has transformed structural aspects in the following way: 

Caste and Politics
Vote bank politics, political parties based on caste identities such as BSP.
Dominant castes are those that have gained political clout, or economic power and yield a higher status in the society. The agitation for caste based reservation by Jats, Gujjars, and Patidar communities is an ongoing demand that reflects casteisation of politics and politicisation of caste.

Caste in education and economy
Positive discrimination through reservations in academic and job sphere have allowed depressed castes to experience occupational mobility. Ascription based positions are being replaced with achievement based skill sets. The scope for empowerment is heightened due to globalisation and better understanding of global social inequalities.  

Caste and Class continuum
Andre Beitelle through his work on castes in rural society, particularly West Bengal, shows how castes are moving along the progression of a caste- class continuum. 

Caste and Social Issues
Caste continues to be the prime social indicator of a person in rural as well as urban areas. The identification with caste reflects through NCRB data which show that the ST and SC continue to face violence at alarming levels. The institution of marriage is also largely ridden with caste based filters, to which matrimonial websites stand testimony.  
Furthermore, social scientists reveal that the Caste system is endemic to India, however it has spread to neighbouring countries in South Asia, crosscutting different religions, beyond Hinduism. Those groups that converted to Chrisitianity from the Dalit community, are placed at the bottom. Similarly, amongst Muslims in South Asia, the Ashraf communities are placed at the top of the hierarchy while the Aljaf communities are considered to belong to the bottom rung. 

These changes have carved space for socialisation, mobility, and intermixing of castes in the public sphere. However, instances of violence, otherisation, discrimination, and honor killing are some of the ways in which dysfunctions of the caste system are still prevalent.  As Dipankar Gupta states, the caste system is marked by discrete castes and muddled hierarchies, which goes to suggest that the caste system has not vanished or disintegrated, it has only changed in form.  

Question #2. The importance of religion as an institution in India remains strong. Contextualise through a theoretical approach.

Religion is an indispensable institution that is strongly revered in Indian society. Even though the society has transitioned from traditional to modern, the grip of religion over society has remained unscathed. Sociologically, ‘Religion’ can be dissected along the lines of Functionalist, Conflict, Feminist schools of thought. 

Functionalist perspective
According to Emile Durkheim, Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices which are related to sacred things. Religion observes and differentiates between Sacred and Profane entities. Where sacred elements are those that have a certain reverence attached to them, profane refer to the commonplace everyday elements. The function of religion at large is to integrate the members of a society into social groups that give them a sense of belonging and promote social unity and stability. In the Covid pandemic, as temples and places of worship were restricted to the public, may devotional prayers were televised in the form of e-darshan. The importance of faith, belief, and worship is expressed through religious rituals.

Symbolic interactionism
The use of symbols such as a Cross, or Om are a way through which an idea of divinity is conveyed. Peter Berger elaborates on how humans create religion through symbolic meanings. Various temples across India accord meaning to the process of menstruating. A temple named the Kamakhya temple in Assam in fact worships the deity who is seen in a seated position, menstruating. Whereas, a lot of temples forbid menstruating women to enter the complex, the Sabarimala temple complex adhered to the same. Religious beliefs, rituals, and ideas, may have a range of meanings attached to them by the virtue of symbolic interpretation and could be contextualised in various ways.  

Durkheim also goes on to say that religion is nothing but a reflection of the society and that it is through religion that people worship the society. Religion is then a symbol of society.

Conflict Perspective
Championed by Karl Marx, the conflict perspective suggests that the ruling class often use religion to justify its economic, political, social advantage over the oppressed. Furthermore, humans may get irrevocably entangled in the religion they created, to the point where they defend practices that no longer serve their purpose. This leads to alienation amongst the believers. To place in context, one can draw parallels to the Dalit temple entry movement where a certain section of the society tends to get victimised, isolated, and segregated. In the present context, religion has been politicised leading to tensions among different religious communities. 

Gender and Religion
The feminist movement has largely questioned every such practice which has differentiated people on the basis of their sex. It is routinely argued that female subordination and inferiority is prominent in religious texts. At this juncture, religion intersects with gender. In the recent protests, we have witnessed women across different religions, fighting to enter the temple premises. As seen in the Haji Ali mosque, Sabarimala temple protests. Furthermore, the traditional roles played by a Hindu priest are now being taken over by women priests in solemnising modern day marriages.

 It is pertinent to note that changes in social practices are an ongoing process. The evolution of religion has been ushered with the advent of media and creation of an imagined community, leading to cultural amalgamation through processes such as urbanisation and globalisation. While law and order play an important role in analysing the changing contours, sociologists have to share the burden, as faith and belief are subjected to the moral consciousness of the society.