Notes: Social classes in India | Sociology Mains Optional for UPSC 2024 PDF Download

 Page 1


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
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Sleepy Classes 
SOCIOLOGY PAPER-2 
B-4 
Social Classes in India 
1. Agrarian Class structure 
2. Industrial Class structure 
3. Middle Classes in India  
 
Agrarian Class structure 
(In easy words -  
Agrarian - Related to agriculture  
Class -> similar eco. Position) 
 
Emergence: 
During the British period Factors were : 
• Land Tenure system , idea of individual ownership of land  
• Payment of revenue in cash led to commercialisation of agri --- moneylender landlord --- 
agri for profit purpose 
• oppressive policies of britishers---- expansion of agri labourers -- new class of 
sharecroppers ---loss of patronage for artisans 
Rk Mukherjee -> Dominant class & subordinate class increasing, because of decay of intermediary class. 
 
Thus agrarian class structure included : 
• landlords and rich tenants -- dominant class 
• middle and lower tenants -- intermediate class 
• artisans , sharecroppers --- subordinate class 
 
In post independence period : 
Factors that affected Agrarian Class structure also included:  
- LRs  
- GR  
- Democratic political system  
- Development of transport & communication. 
Page 2


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
SOCIOLOGY PAPER-2 
B-4 
Social Classes in India 
1. Agrarian Class structure 
2. Industrial Class structure 
3. Middle Classes in India  
 
Agrarian Class structure 
(In easy words -  
Agrarian - Related to agriculture  
Class -> similar eco. Position) 
 
Emergence: 
During the British period Factors were : 
• Land Tenure system , idea of individual ownership of land  
• Payment of revenue in cash led to commercialisation of agri --- moneylender landlord --- 
agri for profit purpose 
• oppressive policies of britishers---- expansion of agri labourers -- new class of 
sharecroppers ---loss of patronage for artisans 
Rk Mukherjee -> Dominant class & subordinate class increasing, because of decay of intermediary class. 
 
Thus agrarian class structure included : 
• landlords and rich tenants -- dominant class 
• middle and lower tenants -- intermediate class 
• artisans , sharecroppers --- subordinate class 
 
In post independence period : 
Factors that affected Agrarian Class structure also included:  
- LRs  
- GR  
- Democratic political system  
- Development of transport & communication. 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Hamza Alavi:  
Major Agrarian Classes :  
- Bourgeoises landowners  (Farmers high productivity) 
- Colonial landowners (Absentee, low productivity) 
- Sharecroppers (Payment in kind as were generally, subtenants) 
- Agricultural labourers (Wage payment, no land ownership) 
 
Daniel Thorner in 1973:  
(Income/ownership/use) 
One man can belong to all – 3 categories  
3 criteria for dividing agrarian population : 
1. based on income earned from land 
2. nature of rights held in land 
3. extent of field work actually performed. 
 
Based on this criteria - 3 fold classification : 
• Maliks - Owner (landlords) 
• Kisans are working peasants - Use (Tenants) 
• Mazdoors -- wage labourers or share croppers - Wage/Income (Labourers) 
 
Andre Beteille : No single way of classifying ASS... he classified based on  
• Ownership of land 
• Control over land 
• Use of land 
 
Generalised view of agrarian classes has been identified as under: 
• Rich farmers (Benefitted GR, LR| AB-> Progressive farmers | Rudolph & Rudolph -> 
Bullock capitalism) 
• Middle farmers (Erstwhile tenants | After LR) 
• Poor peasants (Landless earlier | LR Beneficiary)  
• Landless labourers (Migration | Jan Breman -> Footloose labour)  
 
Page 3


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
SOCIOLOGY PAPER-2 
B-4 
Social Classes in India 
1. Agrarian Class structure 
2. Industrial Class structure 
3. Middle Classes in India  
 
Agrarian Class structure 
(In easy words -  
Agrarian - Related to agriculture  
Class -> similar eco. Position) 
 
Emergence: 
During the British period Factors were : 
• Land Tenure system , idea of individual ownership of land  
• Payment of revenue in cash led to commercialisation of agri --- moneylender landlord --- 
agri for profit purpose 
• oppressive policies of britishers---- expansion of agri labourers -- new class of 
sharecroppers ---loss of patronage for artisans 
Rk Mukherjee -> Dominant class & subordinate class increasing, because of decay of intermediary class. 
 
Thus agrarian class structure included : 
• landlords and rich tenants -- dominant class 
• middle and lower tenants -- intermediate class 
• artisans , sharecroppers --- subordinate class 
 
In post independence period : 
Factors that affected Agrarian Class structure also included:  
- LRs  
- GR  
- Democratic political system  
- Development of transport & communication. 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Hamza Alavi:  
Major Agrarian Classes :  
- Bourgeoises landowners  (Farmers high productivity) 
- Colonial landowners (Absentee, low productivity) 
- Sharecroppers (Payment in kind as were generally, subtenants) 
- Agricultural labourers (Wage payment, no land ownership) 
 
Daniel Thorner in 1973:  
(Income/ownership/use) 
One man can belong to all – 3 categories  
3 criteria for dividing agrarian population : 
1. based on income earned from land 
2. nature of rights held in land 
3. extent of field work actually performed. 
 
Based on this criteria - 3 fold classification : 
• Maliks - Owner (landlords) 
• Kisans are working peasants - Use (Tenants) 
• Mazdoors -- wage labourers or share croppers - Wage/Income (Labourers) 
 
Andre Beteille : No single way of classifying ASS... he classified based on  
• Ownership of land 
• Control over land 
• Use of land 
 
Generalised view of agrarian classes has been identified as under: 
• Rich farmers (Benefitted GR, LR| AB-> Progressive farmers | Rudolph & Rudolph -> 
Bullock capitalism) 
• Middle farmers (Erstwhile tenants | After LR) 
• Poor peasants (Landless earlier | LR Beneficiary)  
• Landless labourers (Migration | Jan Breman -> Footloose labour)  
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Bardhan and Rudra: 2 types of agri labourers - 
 
Unattached : casual labourers without any bondage 
Attached : association with a particular employer 
- Extremely Attached : complete bondage without any specific boundaries 
- Fully attached : specific sphere of activity 
- Semi attached : seasonal association  
 
Bondage : Indiactes different degrees of attachment of a person with the other within the sphere 
of work. 
(Report 2013 -> Most no. of slaves in India)  
 
Bonded Labour : Indicates a particular situation in which  a person is under a compulsion to be 
associated with other person .  
This compulsion is enforced by coercion.  
Extremely attached bondage indicates bonded labour. 
 
However these are only broad framework.  
The actual agrarian class relations differ from region to region.  
The agrarian history of different regions in india has been quite different and the trajectories of 
development during post independence period (like abolition of zamindari , land tenure , GR 
etc.) have also been different. 
 
ASS is not static but changes with changing nature of society at large. 
  
Recent trends : 
 
• Due to overall increase in wage level --- cost of labour input increased --- low profitability 
---generating tensions b/w dominant and subordinate AC 
• Improving economic conditions in non-GR areas---shortage of labourers in GR areas-- 
migration decreased 
• trend towards developing policies for workers in the organised sectors.  
  
Page 4


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
SOCIOLOGY PAPER-2 
B-4 
Social Classes in India 
1. Agrarian Class structure 
2. Industrial Class structure 
3. Middle Classes in India  
 
Agrarian Class structure 
(In easy words -  
Agrarian - Related to agriculture  
Class -> similar eco. Position) 
 
Emergence: 
During the British period Factors were : 
• Land Tenure system , idea of individual ownership of land  
• Payment of revenue in cash led to commercialisation of agri --- moneylender landlord --- 
agri for profit purpose 
• oppressive policies of britishers---- expansion of agri labourers -- new class of 
sharecroppers ---loss of patronage for artisans 
Rk Mukherjee -> Dominant class & subordinate class increasing, because of decay of intermediary class. 
 
Thus agrarian class structure included : 
• landlords and rich tenants -- dominant class 
• middle and lower tenants -- intermediate class 
• artisans , sharecroppers --- subordinate class 
 
In post independence period : 
Factors that affected Agrarian Class structure also included:  
- LRs  
- GR  
- Democratic political system  
- Development of transport & communication. 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Hamza Alavi:  
Major Agrarian Classes :  
- Bourgeoises landowners  (Farmers high productivity) 
- Colonial landowners (Absentee, low productivity) 
- Sharecroppers (Payment in kind as were generally, subtenants) 
- Agricultural labourers (Wage payment, no land ownership) 
 
Daniel Thorner in 1973:  
(Income/ownership/use) 
One man can belong to all – 3 categories  
3 criteria for dividing agrarian population : 
1. based on income earned from land 
2. nature of rights held in land 
3. extent of field work actually performed. 
 
Based on this criteria - 3 fold classification : 
• Maliks - Owner (landlords) 
• Kisans are working peasants - Use (Tenants) 
• Mazdoors -- wage labourers or share croppers - Wage/Income (Labourers) 
 
Andre Beteille : No single way of classifying ASS... he classified based on  
• Ownership of land 
• Control over land 
• Use of land 
 
Generalised view of agrarian classes has been identified as under: 
• Rich farmers (Benefitted GR, LR| AB-> Progressive farmers | Rudolph & Rudolph -> 
Bullock capitalism) 
• Middle farmers (Erstwhile tenants | After LR) 
• Poor peasants (Landless earlier | LR Beneficiary)  
• Landless labourers (Migration | Jan Breman -> Footloose labour)  
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Bardhan and Rudra: 2 types of agri labourers - 
 
Unattached : casual labourers without any bondage 
Attached : association with a particular employer 
- Extremely Attached : complete bondage without any specific boundaries 
- Fully attached : specific sphere of activity 
- Semi attached : seasonal association  
 
Bondage : Indiactes different degrees of attachment of a person with the other within the sphere 
of work. 
(Report 2013 -> Most no. of slaves in India)  
 
Bonded Labour : Indicates a particular situation in which  a person is under a compulsion to be 
associated with other person .  
This compulsion is enforced by coercion.  
Extremely attached bondage indicates bonded labour. 
 
However these are only broad framework.  
The actual agrarian class relations differ from region to region.  
The agrarian history of different regions in india has been quite different and the trajectories of 
development during post independence period (like abolition of zamindari , land tenure , GR 
etc.) have also been different. 
 
ASS is not static but changes with changing nature of society at large. 
  
Recent trends : 
 
• Due to overall increase in wage level --- cost of labour input increased --- low profitability 
---generating tensions b/w dominant and subordinate AC 
• Improving economic conditions in non-GR areas---shortage of labourers in GR areas-- 
migration decreased 
• trend towards developing policies for workers in the organised sectors.  
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Industrial Class Structure 
(It is pattern of relationship that exists b/w diff. classes in an Industrial society)  
We’ll study the ideas of - Bottomore, Marx, Weber, Daniel Bell  
 
Bottomore : Social classes are characteristic feature of industrial societies . With the emergence 
of industrialisation , variously classes emerged , especially in urban areas , as : 
 
• Capitalist 
• educated classes 
• petty traders and shopkeepers 
• working classes 
 
Marx : Bourgeoise and proletariat 
 
Weber (used by AB): 
• Propertied Upper Class 
• White Collared Workers 
• Petty Bourgeoise 
• Manual Labourers 
 
Impact on caste : 
- Harold Goulds study of rickshaw wallah of lucknow : class structure has weakened caste 
structure in india. Cities provide them anonymity (upper caste doing menial jobs) 
- AB : higher caste does not always imply higher class . This disharmony is found in indian cities 
where new jobs are opening. However this doesnot mean that caste system is disintegrating. 
Earlier cumulative privileges. Now, dispersed. 
Developed cracks but not collapsed.  
- Caste has also become a basis for organisation of trade union 
- Caste or kinship is used as a criteria for alloting seats or selecting people for jobs - i.e. a 
phenomena of sponsored mobility rather than contested mobility. 
- In India with NIP and Globalisation this class structure is subjected to the most dynamic change 
- entrepreneurship. 
 
Page 5


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
SOCIOLOGY PAPER-2 
B-4 
Social Classes in India 
1. Agrarian Class structure 
2. Industrial Class structure 
3. Middle Classes in India  
 
Agrarian Class structure 
(In easy words -  
Agrarian - Related to agriculture  
Class -> similar eco. Position) 
 
Emergence: 
During the British period Factors were : 
• Land Tenure system , idea of individual ownership of land  
• Payment of revenue in cash led to commercialisation of agri --- moneylender landlord --- 
agri for profit purpose 
• oppressive policies of britishers---- expansion of agri labourers -- new class of 
sharecroppers ---loss of patronage for artisans 
Rk Mukherjee -> Dominant class & subordinate class increasing, because of decay of intermediary class. 
 
Thus agrarian class structure included : 
• landlords and rich tenants -- dominant class 
• middle and lower tenants -- intermediate class 
• artisans , sharecroppers --- subordinate class 
 
In post independence period : 
Factors that affected Agrarian Class structure also included:  
- LRs  
- GR  
- Democratic political system  
- Development of transport & communication. 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Hamza Alavi:  
Major Agrarian Classes :  
- Bourgeoises landowners  (Farmers high productivity) 
- Colonial landowners (Absentee, low productivity) 
- Sharecroppers (Payment in kind as were generally, subtenants) 
- Agricultural labourers (Wage payment, no land ownership) 
 
Daniel Thorner in 1973:  
(Income/ownership/use) 
One man can belong to all – 3 categories  
3 criteria for dividing agrarian population : 
1. based on income earned from land 
2. nature of rights held in land 
3. extent of field work actually performed. 
 
Based on this criteria - 3 fold classification : 
• Maliks - Owner (landlords) 
• Kisans are working peasants - Use (Tenants) 
• Mazdoors -- wage labourers or share croppers - Wage/Income (Labourers) 
 
Andre Beteille : No single way of classifying ASS... he classified based on  
• Ownership of land 
• Control over land 
• Use of land 
 
Generalised view of agrarian classes has been identified as under: 
• Rich farmers (Benefitted GR, LR| AB-> Progressive farmers | Rudolph & Rudolph -> 
Bullock capitalism) 
• Middle farmers (Erstwhile tenants | After LR) 
• Poor peasants (Landless earlier | LR Beneficiary)  
• Landless labourers (Migration | Jan Breman -> Footloose labour)  
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Bardhan and Rudra: 2 types of agri labourers - 
 
Unattached : casual labourers without any bondage 
Attached : association with a particular employer 
- Extremely Attached : complete bondage without any specific boundaries 
- Fully attached : specific sphere of activity 
- Semi attached : seasonal association  
 
Bondage : Indiactes different degrees of attachment of a person with the other within the sphere 
of work. 
(Report 2013 -> Most no. of slaves in India)  
 
Bonded Labour : Indicates a particular situation in which  a person is under a compulsion to be 
associated with other person .  
This compulsion is enforced by coercion.  
Extremely attached bondage indicates bonded labour. 
 
However these are only broad framework.  
The actual agrarian class relations differ from region to region.  
The agrarian history of different regions in india has been quite different and the trajectories of 
development during post independence period (like abolition of zamindari , land tenure , GR 
etc.) have also been different. 
 
ASS is not static but changes with changing nature of society at large. 
  
Recent trends : 
 
• Due to overall increase in wage level --- cost of labour input increased --- low profitability 
---generating tensions b/w dominant and subordinate AC 
• Improving economic conditions in non-GR areas---shortage of labourers in GR areas-- 
migration decreased 
• trend towards developing policies for workers in the organised sectors.  
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
Industrial Class Structure 
(It is pattern of relationship that exists b/w diff. classes in an Industrial society)  
We’ll study the ideas of - Bottomore, Marx, Weber, Daniel Bell  
 
Bottomore : Social classes are characteristic feature of industrial societies . With the emergence 
of industrialisation , variously classes emerged , especially in urban areas , as : 
 
• Capitalist 
• educated classes 
• petty traders and shopkeepers 
• working classes 
 
Marx : Bourgeoise and proletariat 
 
Weber (used by AB): 
• Propertied Upper Class 
• White Collared Workers 
• Petty Bourgeoise 
• Manual Labourers 
 
Impact on caste : 
- Harold Goulds study of rickshaw wallah of lucknow : class structure has weakened caste 
structure in india. Cities provide them anonymity (upper caste doing menial jobs) 
- AB : higher caste does not always imply higher class . This disharmony is found in indian cities 
where new jobs are opening. However this doesnot mean that caste system is disintegrating. 
Earlier cumulative privileges. Now, dispersed. 
Developed cracks but not collapsed.  
- Caste has also become a basis for organisation of trade union 
- Caste or kinship is used as a criteria for alloting seats or selecting people for jobs - i.e. a 
phenomena of sponsored mobility rather than contested mobility. 
- In India with NIP and Globalisation this class structure is subjected to the most dynamic change 
- entrepreneurship. 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
https://testseries.sleepyclasses.com/ 
Sleepy Classes 
 
Post - Industrial Society 
 
 
Daniel Bell : Book "Post-Industrial Society (1973)"  
Bell predicted that we are fast moving towards a society where services and knowledge 
related technologies would dominate rather than industrial production that was 
conventionally viewed. He held that postindustrial 
society would replace the industrial society as dominant mode.  
There are three components to a post-industrial society, according to Bell: 
• a shift from manufacturing to services 
• the centrality of the new science-based industries 
• the rise of new technical elites and the advent of a new principle of stratification 
Term used for post-industrial society is ‘information age’, as another characteristic feature of 
post-industrial societies is the domination of information technologies and industries related to it. 
 
Bells prediction of post-industrial society was based on already emerging patterns in America in 
the 1970s as: 
 
1) Employment figures in 1950’s: US became the first country to have a majority of its working 
population in services 
2) Evidence showed that contribution to service sector to GNP was steadily mounting. 
3) Increase in Financial allocation towards higher education i.e. theoretical knowledge 
 
To bell post industrialization offers a solution to many problems in industrial society such as : 
(Reform in MR TLC Alienation, creativity) 
 
 Individual talks to individual rather than interacting with machines. 
 Vision of new worker 
 Performs interesting and varied jobs in pleasant surroundings 
 Is engaged in production of a service and not in production of good. 
 Interacts with life people and not mindless machines. 
 As customer demands vary, offers personalized service