Study Notes on Indian Sociologists

FEATURES OF CASTE, (1.) Segmental Divisions

this means caste in divided into number of mutually exclusive segments or compartments, which are decided on birth and do not allow mobility among them.

2) Hierarchical Division

Each caste is strictly unequal to every other caste, there are no two castes which are equal .

3) Restrictions on social interactions

mainly followed for sharing of food, there are prescribed rules on what kind of food may be shared between which groups, these rules are governed by the ideas of purity and pollutions

4) Differential rights and duties

rights and Duties pertain not only to religious practices but extent to the secular world, as ethnographic accounts everyday life in a caste society , are shown through daily life interactions between people of different castes.

5) Restricts choice of occupation

caste itself is based on birth and hierarchy, likewise the division of labour with specific occupation, to specific castes

6) restrictions on marriage

caste “ endogamy “ or marriage only within the same caste is often accompanied by rules about “ exogamy “, or whom one may not marry. this combination of rules about eligibs and non eligibe groups helps reproduce the caste system .