Stratification on caste and class

Types of the social stratification

Social stratification based on the class

Social class has been the principle type of the social stratification since the emergence of the class based society, especially with the end of the primitive communism in its evolutionary process which was explained and analyzed by Karl Marx and Engels in the later part of the 19^th century .The term therefore has taken the important place in the literature. If the caste system is found to be unique in the India then the class system is universal in nature. Social class is a segment of the society including all of the members of all the ages and both of the sexes who share the same general status.

Social stratification is based upon the different types of the classes, a class is the open and the flexible systems thus, we have the societies which are characterized as the open system as opposed to the closed system. This form of the social class is common in the industrialized, modern and the heterogeneous, and the literate societies. In a class system, social stratification is based on the individuals talents, intelligence, property and the achievement and also the positions.

According to the Karl Marx,

The Ruling ideas of any epoch or the period are the ideas of the ruling class because they control the mental means of the production. Class system may function in helping to classify and rank the roles according to the merit and the importance and it encourages the individuals to attempt invest time and effort in the education and skills acquisition for the functionally more important roles. Society is divided into its components including the individuals into various class such as

1. Higher class
2. Middle class.

3.Lower class

If a people are born in the labor class, it is not necessary for them to remain in that class for entire life but he can change it through the up liftmen in the achievements. People can change the social class through the social mobility. 

Nature and  characteristics of the social class

1. A social class is essentially a status group.
2. Status in case of the class system is achieved and not ascribed.
3. The class system is universal.
4. Each social class has its own status in the society; status is associated with the prestige.
5. In a class system, we may observe the three modes of the feeling.
6. A social class is relatively a stable group.
7. A social class is distinguished from the other classes by the customary modes of the behavior or the mode of behaving.
8. Social classes are the open groups.
9. Social classes are the economic classes.
10. There is the classification of the social classes: Upper classes, middle classes, and the lower classes.
11. Class system is associated with the class consciousness.

According to the Weber,  more division of the labor made the class more heterogeneous. In contrast to the simple income – property hierarchies and to structural class schemes like the Webers or the Marx.At time the social class can be related to elitism and those in the higher classes are usually known as the social elite.

Social Stratification based on the caste

The term caste is derived from the Spanish word casta meaning breed or the lineage. The sanskrit word varna of the caste is color. The caste stratification of the Indian society has had its origin in the chatuvarna system. According to the chatuvarna doctrine, the Hindu society was divided into four main Varna namely: The Brahmin, The Kashtriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras. The Varna system which was prevalent during the vedic period was mainly based upon the division of the labor and the occupation. The caste system owes its origin to the varna system. The present caste system can be degenerated form of the original varna System caste is the complex phenomenon which is difficult to define .

According to C.H. Cooley:"When the class is some what strictly heredity, we may call it as class."

According to sir Herbert:Caste is the collection of families , bearing a common name and calming a common descent from a mythical ancestors human and the divine, professing to follow the same hereditary calling and regarded by those who are competent to give opinion as forming a single homogenous community.

Characteristics of the caste

1. Caste is a hierarchical division of the society.
2. Caste is the segmental division of the society.
3. The caste system has imposed the certain restrictions in the food habits of the members and they differ from caste to caste.
4. The caste system puts the restrictions on the range of the social relations too.
5. Social and the religious disabilities of the certain caste are clearly exhibited in the orthodox caste system.
6. Restriction on the occupational choice is the another features of the orthodox caste system.

7 .Caste systems impose restriction in the marriage too.

A caste system is the type of the social system or the structure which divides the people on the basis of the inherited social status. People within the class are expected to marry and carry the relation and interact with people of the same caste.Nepal has the well-known examples of the caste system but it is also found in every type of the society.

According to the evolutionary theory, the following factors among the others contributed to the development of the present caste system:

1. Heredity occupations.
2. Desire of the Brahmins to keep them pure.
3.  Lack of the rigid unitary control of the state.
4. The geographical isolation of the Indian peninsula.
5. Beliefs in the reincarnation and to devotion in karma.
6. Static nature of the Hindu society.

As the caste system consists of the fixed arrangement of the strata from the most to the least privileges, with a person's positions firmed inflexibility by the birth. Social stratification based on the caste is 

1. The Brahmin
2. The kshettri
3. The Vaisyas
4. The Shudras

Brahmin is regarded as the superior caste and are mostly devoted to the religious activities and the kshetri are also devoted to the warrior and the soldiers. The Shudras are regarded as untouchables .The vaishyas are devoted to the business and the merchant. People are not allowed for the inter-caste marriage in past days and it is considered as illegal while at present it is legal. The caste system is believed to have been established based on the hold of religious belief. The Hindu caste structure may have risen out of the subjection or the dependence accompanying with the occupation and perhaps also out of the subordination of the endogamous community to another.

In nutshell, Caste is the hierarchical division of the society based upon the Chaturvarna doctrine of the Hindu philosophy dividing the society into four Varnas: Brahmin, Chhetry, Vaishyas and Shudras. It is originated first in the Indian societies and deeply rooted there. Various restrictions in the social taboos are pertinent to the caste system. In Nepal, its emergences connote to the arrival of the Hindu Aryan at the different period of the history.

References

Bhandari, Laxman p.Fundamental of sociology. kathmandu: budddha publication, 2015.

Sabin , E (1987)’ Hidden jobs:Good News for sociologists,The american sociologists.

Pinker,R The idea of the welfare. London :heinemann Educational Books, 1979

Social Class,values and behaviour in schools in craft ,1970