Page 1
Chapter 5.indd 69 9/1/2022 5:09:07 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Page 2
Chapter 5.indd 69 9/1/2022 5:09:07 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
The family, caste, tribe and the market – these are the social institutions that
have been considered in the last two chapters. These institutions were seen from
the point of view of their role in forming communities and sustaining society.
In this chapter we consider an equally important aspect of such institutions,
namely their role in creating and sustaining patterns of inequality and exclusion.
For most of us who are born and live in India, social inequality and exclusion
are facts of life. We see beggars in the streets and on railway platforms. We see
young children labouring as domestic workers, construction helpers, cleaners
and helpers in streetside restaurants (dhabas) and tea-shops. We are not
surprised at the sight of small children, who work as domestic workers in middle
class urban homes, carrying the school bags of older children to school. It does
not immediately strike us as unjust that some children are denied schooling.
Some of us read about caste discrimination against children in schools; some of
us face it. Likewise, news reports about violence against women and prejudice
against minority groups and the differently abled are part of our everyday lives.
This everydayness of social inequality and exclusion often make them
appear inevitable, almost natural. If we do sometimes recognise that inequality
and exclusion are not inevitable, we often think of them as being ‘deserved’ or
‘justified’ in some sense. Perhaps the poor and marginalised are where they
are because they are lacking in ability, or haven’t tried hard enough to improve
their situation? We thus tend to blame them for their own plight – if only they
worked harder or were more intelligent, they wouldn’t be where they are.
A closer examination will show that few work harder than those who are located
at the lower ranks of society. As a South American proverb says – “If hard labour
were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” All over
the world, back-breaking work like stone breaking, digging, carrying heavy weights,
pulling rickshaws or carts is invariably done by the poor. And yet they rarely
improve their life chances. How often do we come across a poor construction
worker who rises to become even a petty construction contractor? It is only in
films that a street child may become an industrialist, but even in films it is often
shown that such a dramatic rise requires illegal or unscrupulous methods.
Identify some of the richest and some of the poorest people in your
neigbourhood, people that you or your family are acquainted with. (For
instance a rickshawpuller or a porter or a domestic worker and a cinema hall
owner or a construction contractor or hotel owner, or doctor… It could be
something else in your context). Try to talk to one person from each group to
find out about their daily routines. For each person, organise the information
in the form of an imaginary diary detailing the activities of the person from the
time they get up to the time they go to sleep on a typical (or average) working
day. Based on these diaries, try to answer the following questions and discuss
them with your classmates.
Activity 5.1
Indian Society
70
Chapter 5.indd 70 10/6/2022 12:53:33 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Page 3
Chapter 5.indd 69 9/1/2022 5:09:07 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
The family, caste, tribe and the market – these are the social institutions that
have been considered in the last two chapters. These institutions were seen from
the point of view of their role in forming communities and sustaining society.
In this chapter we consider an equally important aspect of such institutions,
namely their role in creating and sustaining patterns of inequality and exclusion.
For most of us who are born and live in India, social inequality and exclusion
are facts of life. We see beggars in the streets and on railway platforms. We see
young children labouring as domestic workers, construction helpers, cleaners
and helpers in streetside restaurants (dhabas) and tea-shops. We are not
surprised at the sight of small children, who work as domestic workers in middle
class urban homes, carrying the school bags of older children to school. It does
not immediately strike us as unjust that some children are denied schooling.
Some of us read about caste discrimination against children in schools; some of
us face it. Likewise, news reports about violence against women and prejudice
against minority groups and the differently abled are part of our everyday lives.
This everydayness of social inequality and exclusion often make them
appear inevitable, almost natural. If we do sometimes recognise that inequality
and exclusion are not inevitable, we often think of them as being ‘deserved’ or
‘justified’ in some sense. Perhaps the poor and marginalised are where they
are because they are lacking in ability, or haven’t tried hard enough to improve
their situation? We thus tend to blame them for their own plight – if only they
worked harder or were more intelligent, they wouldn’t be where they are.
A closer examination will show that few work harder than those who are located
at the lower ranks of society. As a South American proverb says – “If hard labour
were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” All over
the world, back-breaking work like stone breaking, digging, carrying heavy weights,
pulling rickshaws or carts is invariably done by the poor. And yet they rarely
improve their life chances. How often do we come across a poor construction
worker who rises to become even a petty construction contractor? It is only in
films that a street child may become an industrialist, but even in films it is often
shown that such a dramatic rise requires illegal or unscrupulous methods.
Identify some of the richest and some of the poorest people in your
neigbourhood, people that you or your family are acquainted with. (For
instance a rickshawpuller or a porter or a domestic worker and a cinema hall
owner or a construction contractor or hotel owner, or doctor… It could be
something else in your context). Try to talk to one person from each group to
find out about their daily routines. For each person, organise the information
in the form of an imaginary diary detailing the activities of the person from the
time they get up to the time they go to sleep on a typical (or average) working
day. Based on these diaries, try to answer the following questions and discuss
them with your classmates.
Activity 5.1
Indian Society
70
Chapter 5.indd 70 10/6/2022 12:53:33 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Activity 5.1 invites you to rethink the widely held commonsense view that
hard work alone can improve an individual’s life chances. It is true that hard
work matters, and so does individual ability. If all other things were equal,
then personal effort, talent and luck would surely account for all the differences
between individuals. But, as is almost always the case, all other things are
not equal. It is these non-individual or group differences that explain social
inequality and exclusion.
5.1 What Is Social a bout s ocIal InequalIty and e xclusIon ?
The question being asked in this section has three broad answers which may
be stated briefly as follows. First, social inequality and exclusion are social
because they are not about individuals but about groups. Second, they are
social in the sense that they are not economic, although there is usually a
strong link between social and economic inequality. Third, they are systematic
and structured – there is a definite pattern to social inqualities. These three
broad senses of the ‘social’ will be explored briefly below.
SociAl InequAlity In every society, some people have a greater share of valued resources – money,
property, education, health, and power – than others. These social resources
can be divided into three forms of capital – economic capital in the form of
material assets and income; cultural capital such as educational qualifications
and status; and social capital in the form of networks of contacts and social
associations (Bourdieu 1986). Often, these three forms of capital overlap and
one can be converted into the other. For example, a person from a well-off
? How many hours a day do each of these persons spend at work? What
kind of work do they do – in what ways is their work tiring, stressful,
pleasant or unpleasant? What kinds of relationship does it involve
with other people – do they have to take orders, give orders, seek
cooperation, enforce discipline….? Are they treated with respect by
the people they have to deal with in their work, or do they themselves
have to show respect for others?
It may be that the poorest, and in some cases even the richest, person you
know actually has no real ‘job’ or is currently ‘not working’. If this is so, do
go ahead and find out about their daily routine anyway. But in addition, try
to answer the following questions.
? Why is the person ‘unemployed’? Has he/she been looking for work?
How is he/she supporting herself/himself? In what ways are they affected
by the fact of not having any work? Is their lifestyle any different from
when they were working?
Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion
71
Chapter 5.indd 71 9/1/2022 5:09:09 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Page 4
Chapter 5.indd 69 9/1/2022 5:09:07 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
The family, caste, tribe and the market – these are the social institutions that
have been considered in the last two chapters. These institutions were seen from
the point of view of their role in forming communities and sustaining society.
In this chapter we consider an equally important aspect of such institutions,
namely their role in creating and sustaining patterns of inequality and exclusion.
For most of us who are born and live in India, social inequality and exclusion
are facts of life. We see beggars in the streets and on railway platforms. We see
young children labouring as domestic workers, construction helpers, cleaners
and helpers in streetside restaurants (dhabas) and tea-shops. We are not
surprised at the sight of small children, who work as domestic workers in middle
class urban homes, carrying the school bags of older children to school. It does
not immediately strike us as unjust that some children are denied schooling.
Some of us read about caste discrimination against children in schools; some of
us face it. Likewise, news reports about violence against women and prejudice
against minority groups and the differently abled are part of our everyday lives.
This everydayness of social inequality and exclusion often make them
appear inevitable, almost natural. If we do sometimes recognise that inequality
and exclusion are not inevitable, we often think of them as being ‘deserved’ or
‘justified’ in some sense. Perhaps the poor and marginalised are where they
are because they are lacking in ability, or haven’t tried hard enough to improve
their situation? We thus tend to blame them for their own plight – if only they
worked harder or were more intelligent, they wouldn’t be where they are.
A closer examination will show that few work harder than those who are located
at the lower ranks of society. As a South American proverb says – “If hard labour
were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” All over
the world, back-breaking work like stone breaking, digging, carrying heavy weights,
pulling rickshaws or carts is invariably done by the poor. And yet they rarely
improve their life chances. How often do we come across a poor construction
worker who rises to become even a petty construction contractor? It is only in
films that a street child may become an industrialist, but even in films it is often
shown that such a dramatic rise requires illegal or unscrupulous methods.
Identify some of the richest and some of the poorest people in your
neigbourhood, people that you or your family are acquainted with. (For
instance a rickshawpuller or a porter or a domestic worker and a cinema hall
owner or a construction contractor or hotel owner, or doctor… It could be
something else in your context). Try to talk to one person from each group to
find out about their daily routines. For each person, organise the information
in the form of an imaginary diary detailing the activities of the person from the
time they get up to the time they go to sleep on a typical (or average) working
day. Based on these diaries, try to answer the following questions and discuss
them with your classmates.
Activity 5.1
Indian Society
70
Chapter 5.indd 70 10/6/2022 12:53:33 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Activity 5.1 invites you to rethink the widely held commonsense view that
hard work alone can improve an individual’s life chances. It is true that hard
work matters, and so does individual ability. If all other things were equal,
then personal effort, talent and luck would surely account for all the differences
between individuals. But, as is almost always the case, all other things are
not equal. It is these non-individual or group differences that explain social
inequality and exclusion.
5.1 What Is Social a bout s ocIal InequalIty and e xclusIon ?
The question being asked in this section has three broad answers which may
be stated briefly as follows. First, social inequality and exclusion are social
because they are not about individuals but about groups. Second, they are
social in the sense that they are not economic, although there is usually a
strong link between social and economic inequality. Third, they are systematic
and structured – there is a definite pattern to social inqualities. These three
broad senses of the ‘social’ will be explored briefly below.
SociAl InequAlity In every society, some people have a greater share of valued resources – money,
property, education, health, and power – than others. These social resources
can be divided into three forms of capital – economic capital in the form of
material assets and income; cultural capital such as educational qualifications
and status; and social capital in the form of networks of contacts and social
associations (Bourdieu 1986). Often, these three forms of capital overlap and
one can be converted into the other. For example, a person from a well-off
? How many hours a day do each of these persons spend at work? What
kind of work do they do – in what ways is their work tiring, stressful,
pleasant or unpleasant? What kinds of relationship does it involve
with other people – do they have to take orders, give orders, seek
cooperation, enforce discipline….? Are they treated with respect by
the people they have to deal with in their work, or do they themselves
have to show respect for others?
It may be that the poorest, and in some cases even the richest, person you
know actually has no real ‘job’ or is currently ‘not working’. If this is so, do
go ahead and find out about their daily routine anyway. But in addition, try
to answer the following questions.
? Why is the person ‘unemployed’? Has he/she been looking for work?
How is he/she supporting herself/himself? In what ways are they affected
by the fact of not having any work? Is their lifestyle any different from
when they were working?
Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion
71
Chapter 5.indd 71 9/1/2022 5:09:09 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
family (economic capital) can afford expensive higher education, and so can
acquire cultural or educational capital. Someone with influential relatives and
friends (social capital) may – through access to good advice, recommendations
or information – manage to get a well-paid job.
Patterns of unequal access to social resources are commonly called social
inequality. Some social inequality reflects innate differences between individuals
for example, their varying abilities and efforts. Someone may be endowed with
exceptional intelligence or talent, or may have worked very hard to achieve their
wealth and status. However, by and large, social inequality is not the outcome
of innate or ‘natural’ differences between people, but is produced by the society
in which they live. Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a
system by which categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy.
This hierarchy then shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations
with others, as well as their access to resources and opportunities. Three key
principles help explain social stratification:
1. Social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a function of
individual differences. Social stratification is a society-wide system that
unequally distributes social resources among categories of people. In the
most technologically primitive societies – hunting and gathering societies, for
instance – little was produced so only rudimentary social stratification could
exist. In more technologically advanced societies where people produce a
surplus over and above their basic needs, however, social resources are
unequally distributed to various social categories regardless of people’s
innate individual abilities.
2. Social stratification persists over generations. It is closely linked to the
family and to the inheritance of social resources from one generation to
the next. A person’s social position is ascribed. That is, children assume
the social positions of their parents. Within the caste system, birth dictates
occupational opportunities. The ascribed aspect of social inequality is
reinforced by the practice of endogamy. That is, marriage is usually restricted
to members of the same caste, ruling out the potential for blurring caste
lines through inter-caste marriage.
3. Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief, or ideology. No
system of social stratification is likely to persist over generations unless
it is widely viewed as being either fair or inevitable. The caste system, for
example, is justified in terms of the opposition of purity and pollution,
with the Brahmins designated as the most superior and Dalits as the most
inferior by virtue of their birth and occupation. Not everyone, though,
thinks of a system of inequality as legitimate. Typically, people with the
greatest social privileges express the strongest support for systems of
stratification such as caste and race. Those who have experienced the
exploitation and humiliation of being at the bottom of the hierarchy are
most likely to challenge it.
Indian Society
72
Chapter 5.indd 72 9/1/2022 5:09:09 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Page 5
Chapter 5.indd 69 9/1/2022 5:09:07 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
The family, caste, tribe and the market – these are the social institutions that
have been considered in the last two chapters. These institutions were seen from
the point of view of their role in forming communities and sustaining society.
In this chapter we consider an equally important aspect of such institutions,
namely their role in creating and sustaining patterns of inequality and exclusion.
For most of us who are born and live in India, social inequality and exclusion
are facts of life. We see beggars in the streets and on railway platforms. We see
young children labouring as domestic workers, construction helpers, cleaners
and helpers in streetside restaurants (dhabas) and tea-shops. We are not
surprised at the sight of small children, who work as domestic workers in middle
class urban homes, carrying the school bags of older children to school. It does
not immediately strike us as unjust that some children are denied schooling.
Some of us read about caste discrimination against children in schools; some of
us face it. Likewise, news reports about violence against women and prejudice
against minority groups and the differently abled are part of our everyday lives.
This everydayness of social inequality and exclusion often make them
appear inevitable, almost natural. If we do sometimes recognise that inequality
and exclusion are not inevitable, we often think of them as being ‘deserved’ or
‘justified’ in some sense. Perhaps the poor and marginalised are where they
are because they are lacking in ability, or haven’t tried hard enough to improve
their situation? We thus tend to blame them for their own plight – if only they
worked harder or were more intelligent, they wouldn’t be where they are.
A closer examination will show that few work harder than those who are located
at the lower ranks of society. As a South American proverb says – “If hard labour
were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” All over
the world, back-breaking work like stone breaking, digging, carrying heavy weights,
pulling rickshaws or carts is invariably done by the poor. And yet they rarely
improve their life chances. How often do we come across a poor construction
worker who rises to become even a petty construction contractor? It is only in
films that a street child may become an industrialist, but even in films it is often
shown that such a dramatic rise requires illegal or unscrupulous methods.
Identify some of the richest and some of the poorest people in your
neigbourhood, people that you or your family are acquainted with. (For
instance a rickshawpuller or a porter or a domestic worker and a cinema hall
owner or a construction contractor or hotel owner, or doctor… It could be
something else in your context). Try to talk to one person from each group to
find out about their daily routines. For each person, organise the information
in the form of an imaginary diary detailing the activities of the person from the
time they get up to the time they go to sleep on a typical (or average) working
day. Based on these diaries, try to answer the following questions and discuss
them with your classmates.
Activity 5.1
Indian Society
70
Chapter 5.indd 70 10/6/2022 12:53:33 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Activity 5.1 invites you to rethink the widely held commonsense view that
hard work alone can improve an individual’s life chances. It is true that hard
work matters, and so does individual ability. If all other things were equal,
then personal effort, talent and luck would surely account for all the differences
between individuals. But, as is almost always the case, all other things are
not equal. It is these non-individual or group differences that explain social
inequality and exclusion.
5.1 What Is Social a bout s ocIal InequalIty and e xclusIon ?
The question being asked in this section has three broad answers which may
be stated briefly as follows. First, social inequality and exclusion are social
because they are not about individuals but about groups. Second, they are
social in the sense that they are not economic, although there is usually a
strong link between social and economic inequality. Third, they are systematic
and structured – there is a definite pattern to social inqualities. These three
broad senses of the ‘social’ will be explored briefly below.
SociAl InequAlity In every society, some people have a greater share of valued resources – money,
property, education, health, and power – than others. These social resources
can be divided into three forms of capital – economic capital in the form of
material assets and income; cultural capital such as educational qualifications
and status; and social capital in the form of networks of contacts and social
associations (Bourdieu 1986). Often, these three forms of capital overlap and
one can be converted into the other. For example, a person from a well-off
? How many hours a day do each of these persons spend at work? What
kind of work do they do – in what ways is their work tiring, stressful,
pleasant or unpleasant? What kinds of relationship does it involve
with other people – do they have to take orders, give orders, seek
cooperation, enforce discipline….? Are they treated with respect by
the people they have to deal with in their work, or do they themselves
have to show respect for others?
It may be that the poorest, and in some cases even the richest, person you
know actually has no real ‘job’ or is currently ‘not working’. If this is so, do
go ahead and find out about their daily routine anyway. But in addition, try
to answer the following questions.
? Why is the person ‘unemployed’? Has he/she been looking for work?
How is he/she supporting herself/himself? In what ways are they affected
by the fact of not having any work? Is their lifestyle any different from
when they were working?
Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion
71
Chapter 5.indd 71 9/1/2022 5:09:09 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
family (economic capital) can afford expensive higher education, and so can
acquire cultural or educational capital. Someone with influential relatives and
friends (social capital) may – through access to good advice, recommendations
or information – manage to get a well-paid job.
Patterns of unequal access to social resources are commonly called social
inequality. Some social inequality reflects innate differences between individuals
for example, their varying abilities and efforts. Someone may be endowed with
exceptional intelligence or talent, or may have worked very hard to achieve their
wealth and status. However, by and large, social inequality is not the outcome
of innate or ‘natural’ differences between people, but is produced by the society
in which they live. Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a
system by which categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy.
This hierarchy then shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations
with others, as well as their access to resources and opportunities. Three key
principles help explain social stratification:
1. Social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a function of
individual differences. Social stratification is a society-wide system that
unequally distributes social resources among categories of people. In the
most technologically primitive societies – hunting and gathering societies, for
instance – little was produced so only rudimentary social stratification could
exist. In more technologically advanced societies where people produce a
surplus over and above their basic needs, however, social resources are
unequally distributed to various social categories regardless of people’s
innate individual abilities.
2. Social stratification persists over generations. It is closely linked to the
family and to the inheritance of social resources from one generation to
the next. A person’s social position is ascribed. That is, children assume
the social positions of their parents. Within the caste system, birth dictates
occupational opportunities. The ascribed aspect of social inequality is
reinforced by the practice of endogamy. That is, marriage is usually restricted
to members of the same caste, ruling out the potential for blurring caste
lines through inter-caste marriage.
3. Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief, or ideology. No
system of social stratification is likely to persist over generations unless
it is widely viewed as being either fair or inevitable. The caste system, for
example, is justified in terms of the opposition of purity and pollution,
with the Brahmins designated as the most superior and Dalits as the most
inferior by virtue of their birth and occupation. Not everyone, though,
thinks of a system of inequality as legitimate. Typically, people with the
greatest social privileges express the strongest support for systems of
stratification such as caste and race. Those who have experienced the
exploitation and humiliation of being at the bottom of the hierarchy are
most likely to challenge it.
Indian Society
72
Chapter 5.indd 72 9/1/2022 5:09:09 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they
pertain to differential economic resources alone. This however is only partially
true. People often face discrimination and exclusion because of their gender,
religion, ethnicity, language, caste and disability. Thus, women from a privileged
background may face sexual harassment in public places. A middle class
professional from a minority religious or ethnic group may find it difficult to
get accommodation in a middle class colony even in a metropolitan city. People
often harbour prejudices about other social groups. Each of us grows up as
a member of a community from which we acquire ideas not just about our
‘community’, our ‘caste’ or ‘class’ our ‘gender’ but also about others. Often
these ideas reflect prejudices.
Prejudices refer to pre-conceived opinions or attitudes held by members
of one group towards another. The word literally means ‘pre-judgement’, that
is, an opinion formed in advance of any familiarity with the subject, before
considering any available evidence. A prejudiced person’s preconceived
views are often based on hearsay rather than on direct evidence, and are
resistant to change even in the face of new information. Prejudice may be
either positive or negative. Although the word is generally used for negative
pre-judgements, it can also apply to favourable pre-judgement. For example,
a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own caste or
group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to members
of other castes or groups.
Prejudices are often grounded in stereotypes, fixed and inflexible
characterisations of a group of people. Stereotypes are often applied to
ethnic and racial groups and to women. In a country such as India, which
was colonised for a long time, many of these stereotypes are partly colonial
creations. Some communities were characterised as ‘martial races’, some others
as effeminate or cowardly, yet others as untrustworthy. In both English and
Indian fictional writings we often encounter an entire group of people classified
as ‘lazy’ or ‘cunning’. It may indeed be true that some individuals are sometimes
lazy or cunning, brave or cowardly. But such a general statement is true of
individuals in every group. Even for such individuals, it is not true all the time
– the same individual may be both lazy and hardworking at different times.
Stereotypes fix whole groups into single, homogenous categories; they refuse to
recognise the variation across individuals and across contexts or across time.
They treat an entire community as though it were a single person with a single
all-encompassing trait or characteristic.
If prejudice describes attitudes and opinions, discrimination refers to
actual behaviour towards another group or individual. Discrimination can
be seen in practices that disqualify members of one group from opportunities
open to others, as when a person is refused a job because of their gender or
religion. Discrimination can be very hard to prove because it may not be open
or explicitly stated. Discriminatory behaviour or practices may be presented
as motivated by other, more justifiable, reasons rather than prejudice. For
Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion
73
Chapter 5.indd 73 9/1/2022 5:09:09 PM
Rationalised-2023-24
Read More