Caste and Politics1

8/10/2019 Caste and Politics1

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Caste and Politics

The relationship between caste and politics in Indian society has been subjectof intensive study for many years. Many sociologists including Andre Beteille,Rajni Kothari, and Anil Bhatt have highlighted various aspects. According toM.N Srinivas the role played by caste in politics is in close approximation tothat of the pressure group. The modernizing forces will however reduce theinfluence of caste over the politics. However Andre Beteille holds that whilewesternization is taking individual away from caste identity the role of caste inpolitics is taking the people towards the caste identity and therebystrengthening it.Rajni Kothari studied the nature of relationship between casteand politics.

He has also examined the type of changes that have taken place in thepolitical system as a result of the involvement of caste organization. Castehas three important indigenous elements -secular which refers to relevance ofcaste in politics in terms of the relations within and between castes.Integrative which refers to castes being relevant to politics throughdifferentiation and integration and ideological which is heightened by its valuestructure. The analysis of Dominant Caste and political process by Anil Bhattreveals the crucial role played by castes in politics and awareness of thelower castes of their political gains. He found that the higher caste groups hadlower political interest and low castes higher political interests. Politicalawareness was high among the higher castes and was low among the lower

castes. Lower castes by organizing themselves in pursuit of collective interestwere able to emerge successfully. The involvement of these castesorganization in politics has changed their position in hierarchical pattern ofHindu society. Caste solidarity and political power helped them to achievehigher social, economic and political success. This was highlighted by thestudies conducted by Rudolf and Rudolf. The same was highlighted by AndreBeteille's study of Tanjore district in Tamil Nadu.Caste has become one of themost formidable element of group formation within political parties in India.The patronage and pecuniary resources available to the political leadersenable them to create a coalition of factions on caste basis, whose leadersare bound to political elites in power in a complex network of personal

obligational ties. Each of these leaders had a group of followers tied to him inaccordance with the same set of caste principles. The personnel of thesecastes factions may vary but whatever may be their social composition theydemand and to a higher degree receive from their members full support.Political parties mobilize caste support in various ways. According to AndreBeteille two kinds of changes seem to be taking place in relation betweencaste and politics - power shifts from one dominant caste to another and thefocus of power shifts from one caste itself to another on caste basis. Hemaintains that loyalties of castes are exploited in voting. New alliances cuttingacross castes are also formed. Rudolph is of the opinion that casteassociation has given caste a new vitality and democracy has enabled caste

to play an important political role in India. Caste federations are formed not ofone caste but many. His further observation pointed out that caste enters the


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political process by making appeals to caste loyalties in a general way. Alsoby activating networks of inter-personal relation both during elections and atother times for mobilizing support along caste lines and by articulating casteinterests in an organized manner.Beteille has also pointed that the politicalprocess has a dual effect on the caste system. To the extent that caste and

sub-caste loyalties are consistently exploited, the traditional structure isstrengthened and to the extent that it leads to new alliance cutting acrosscaste, it loosens the traditional structure. Political parties utilize the support ofcaste for their functioning and seek their support in winning elections. Grass-root political arenas as well as political parties have always remained andcontinue to remain dominated by elites of castes which compete with eachother to form caste coalitions of supporters strong enough to maximize controlover local resources and enhance opportunities to become players in politicalsystem.

Political modernization in India

Almost all the political systems have set before themselves the goal ofmodernization. The political trends in India since independence have largelybeen a series of reconciliations with demands articulated by regional interestgroups: linguistic formation of states in the political realm, emphasis on mixedeconomy in the sphere of economic policy, secularism and neutrality ininternational relationship are all reflections of the predominantly reconciliatorypattern of political modernization in India. The same pattern is true in case of

traditional institutions role in politics, caste associations, kin groups and ethnicsolidarities have adapted themselves to the need of a modern democraticpolitical culture successfully. Due to the impact of modern forces certainchanges have been witnessed in the political sphere of society. Regulation ofcourt laws, establishment of village panchayats and local autonomy haschanged the traditional Indian political system. In villages there is decline ofcaste panchayats and their functions are being transferred to courts.

On the other hand caste is developing on political lines. There is change inthe pattern of leadership. This leadership is now available to low incomegroups as well. The predominance of all India parties indicates the extent to

which political unity is firmly established. Regional differences of culture andlanguage have found political expression in debates on the number anddelimitation of states It is evident from various sources that intellectuals in abroad sense have dominated political life in India since independence andthat active participation in politics by the mass of the population such asoccurred in the independence movement has recently begun to revive on alimited scale with the emergence of peasant movements in some states.Students are the principal source of recruitment to the political work and thisshows prevalence of factionalism in the major parties. Some studies havefound the prevalence of factionalism to be characteristic of the traditionalvillage culture itself. The reservation of seats for scheduled castes and tribes

has led to emergence of parties catering exclusively this section of society .Inrecent years they have made huge gains both in term of vote share and role


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in the national politics. There are conflicts between traditional socialarrangements, caste system and religion and new relationships brought outby economic growth.

Elite Theory

Elite theory developed in part as a reaction to Marxism. It rejected the Marxianidea that a classless society having an egalitarian structure could be realizedafter class struggle in every society. It regards Marxism as an ideology ratherthan an objective analysis of social systems. According to Elite theory mancan never be liberated from the subjugation of an elite structure. The termElite refers to those who excel. The classical elite theorists identify thegoverning elite in terms of superior personal qualities of those who exercisepower. However, later versions of elite theory places less emphasis on the

personal qualities of the powerful and more on the institutional framework ofthe society.

They argued that the hierarchical organization of social institutions allows aminority to monopolize power. Another criticism of the elite theories againstthe Marxian view of distribution of power is that the rulingclass too large andamorphous a group to be able to effectively wield power. In their view poweris always exercised by a small cohesive group of the elite. Elite theory arguesthat all societies are divided into two main groups a ruling minority and theruled. This situation is inevitable. If the proletarian revolution occurs it willmerely result in the replacement of one ruling elite by another. Classical elite

theory was propounded by Pareto and Mosca.

Power of the unorganized Masses

Power refers to the ability of an individual or a group to attain its objectives inspite of the opposition from other individuals or groups. According to WeberParty is the basis of access to power. Party is an associative type oforganizational structure built around a common interest. It may be a classbased interest, a status based interest or ethnicity based interest, or any other

type of interest. The ability of the individuals acting to attain their interest isvery limited. Quite often they might act at cross purposes and reduce eachother's chances of attaining their goals. On the other hand the organizationalstructure of the party helps in channelizing their energies towards thecommon goal. Thus enhancing their ability to attain that goal or in other wordsin enhancing their power.

Karl Marx had stated that class-in-itself will not be successful in bringing outchange in capitalist system. Only when it is transformed into class for itself itshall be able to fight for the interest of the proletariat and capture power forthe proletariat class. The members of the working class should acquire an

awareness of common interest and also an organizational structure shouldcome into existence to pursue those interests. Thus according to Marx


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unorganized masses would remain powerless.

In modern industrial societies with the increasing fragmentation of the workingclass the possibility of the workers becoming a class for itself has disappearedand accordingly have disappeared the chances of workers being able to

capture power for themselves through revolution. Thus so long as the massesremain unorganized either due to the lack of awareness of common interestsor due to the diversity of interests they will not be able to exercise power.However sometimes under special circumstances the masses may come toshare a sense of deprivation and leadership and ideology and anorganizational structure may also come into existence.

In such situations mass movements may develop and the masses mayacquire power. The various backward class movements like Dravidianmovement in Tamil Nadu, Mahar movement illustrate as how the growth oforganization enables masses to exercise power. On the other hand most of

the agricultural labour in India remains unorganized and are therefore unableto achieve their legitimate interests. The barriers of caste, ethnicity, languageand religion continue to act as hindrances to the growth of any viableorganization. However being deprived of legitimate access to powersometimes the unorganized masses may acquire short lived power throughillegitimate means. In case of mob violence based on common grievance theunorganized masses may develop a short-lived spontaneous organizationalstructure of a mob and may give expression to their sense of frustrationthrough violent and destructive activities.

Voting BehaviourElections and voting are an indispensable part of the democratic politicalsystem. One of the major tasks of the political parties is to contest elections.They select such candidates who have greater chances of winning.Candidates who have greater influence on voters and who have greater vote-catching capacity are an asset to any political party.

Voting like a party system is the means to select the representatives of peoplewho perform the functions of a government in a democracy. Through theprocess of voting an unpopular government can removed from the power by

the people. The opposition can also bring down a party in power through avote of no confidence in the Assembly or Parliament. The voting has its ownpattern. Generally educated and educated electorate feels more involved. Therural and illiterate lower classes are somewhat apathetic to it.

Some people follow the tradition and vote for the same party. Election system,campaigning and voting depends upon the political culture. Moderndemocracies have introduced universal adult franchise. The right to vote hasbeen conferred on all the citizens without any kind of discrimination. In Indiaalso all the citizens irrespective of their caste, color, creed, religion, region orsex are given the right to vote. The right to vote is a fundamental right

guaranteed by the constitutional law of the country.


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Political Participation

Political participation is necessary ingredient of every political system. Allpolitical systems encouraged political participation through varying degrees.By involving the people in the matters of state, political participation fostersstability and order by reinforcing the legitimacy of political authority. Peopleliving in a particular society participate in the political system, which theydevelop. There are many forms of participation and democracy in the form ofgovernment that encourages maximum participation in governmentalprocesses. Participation does not mean more exercise of political rights likefranchise, by the people.

It means their active involvement, which in a real manner influences thedecision-making activity of the government. Democratic theory considerscitizens as rational, independent, and interested political persons capable of

expressing their opinion regarding the persons aspiring for holding offices andalso competent in electing some persons who deal with the policies ofgovernment in a way conducive to the interest of the mass. "Perhaps the mostpervasive participation is simply living in a democratic community and whereall government action and policy are publicized in press, radio, and television.In this situation those in position of authority must conduct themselves in sucha fashion as to as appear to the sensible people.

Thus the great public in a democracy serves a sort of sounding board forpublic policy deliberations and discussion. Thus even a passive participationis a constructive part of democratic process." The most obvious way of

political participation in democracy is voting. Other ways include suchbehaviors as reading or listening or watching the mass media ofcommunications, taking part in political discussions, listening to politicalspeeches, attending party meetings, giving contribution to political parties,writing petitions or letters to public officials or newspaper editors, trying toinfluence the voters, contesting the election for office etc. Lipset has pointedout that high-level participation cannot always be treated as good fordemocracy. It may indicate the decline of social cohesion and breakdown ofdemocratic process. "A principle problem for a theory of democratic system isunder what conditions a society can have sufficient participation to maintainthe democratic system without introducing sources of cleavage which will

determine cohesion".

Some other political theorists are of the opinion that when majority of thepeople in a society are contended, participation is small. This should be takenas a favorable rather than unfavorable sign because it indicates stability andconsensus within the society and also absence of broad cleavages.

Depending on the intensity and degree of participation Lester Milbraithhas categorized political participation in three forms:

Gladiators represent that small number of party activists, whose active


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association with political parties keeps them engaged in series of directparty activities like holding party offices, fighting the election ascandidates.

Transitional activities include attending party meetings party spectators orparty sympathizers making contributions to the party fund and

maintaining contacts with public officials or party personnel. Spectator activities on the other hand include voting, influencing others to

vote in a particular way, joining political discussions or exposingoneself to the political stimuli.

Power

Power implies the ability of an individual or a group to influence or change thebehavior of other individuals or groups. Weber defines power as the chance ofa man or a number of men to realize their own will in a communal action evenagainst the resistance of others who are participating in the action. Power isan aspect of social relationships. An individual or a group does not hold powerin isolation. They hold it in relation to others. To say that power is relational isalso to imply it is behavioral. For if power consists in an inter-relationshipbetween two actors. Then that inter relationship can only be understood interms of one actor's manifest behavior as affecting the manifest behavior ofothers. Further power is also situational. To know power one has necessarily

to relate it to a specific situation or a specific role and an actor's power in oneparticular situation or role may vary from that in another.

Weber's concept of power implies that those who hold power do so at theexpense of others. It suggests that there is a fixed amount of power andtherefore if some hold power others do not. This view is sometimes known asconstant-sum concept of power.Talcott Parsons rejects this view and seespower as something possessed by society as a whole. According to himpower is a generalized facility or resource in the society. In particular it is acapacity to mobilize the resources of the society for the attainment of goals forwhich a general public commitment has been made. In this sense the amount

of power in society is measured by the degree to which collective goals arerealized. Thus greater the efficiency of a social system for achieving the goalsdefined by its members more the power that exists in society. This view issometimes known as variable -sum concept of power, since power in societyis not seen as fixed or constant. Instead it is variable in the sense that it canincrease or decrease. Alvin Gouldner has defined Power as among otherthings the ability to enforce one's moral claims. The powerful can thusconventionalize their moral defaults. According to David Lockwood powermust not only refer to the capacity to realize one's ends in a conflict situationagainst the will of others, it must also include the capacity to preventopposition arising in the first place.


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Pressure Groups

Groups play a direct role in political life. People organize social movements,interest groups and pressure groups in order to influence the government.Ethnic and racial groups, religious and linguistic minority groups have alsoacted collectively to influence governmental decisions. Thus a pressure grouprefers to an interest group which tries to safe-guard and promotes theinterests of its members. It is not a political group seeking to capture politicalpower though it may have a political character of its own.

A pressure group can be understood as an association of persons with acommon economic interest who try to influence governmental decisions.These pressure groups also known as interest groups pursue their politicalgoals through lobbying- the process by which individuals and groupscommunicate with public officials in order to influence decisions ofgovernment. They also distribute persuasive literature and launch publiccampaigns to build grass -root support for their political objectives. Accordingto Functionalists such groups play a constructive role in decision-making.They prepare the ground for the orderly political participation. Conflicttheorists on the other hand argue that although a few organizations work onbehalf of the poor and disadvantaged most of the pressure groups representthe vested interests of the business leaders, the lobbies of multinationalcompanies, rich professionals and political leaders. They further assert thatthese powerful lobbies discourage political participation by the individual

citizens. The pressure groups have greater say in democracy than in thetotalitarian setup.Inspite of their limitations and defects they have become anessential part of the modern democratic process.

People's Particiation

Peoples participation is becoming the central issue of current period.Participation means that people are closely involved in the economic, socialand cultural and political processes that affect their lives. People may in some

cases have complete and direct control over these processesin other casesthe control may be partial or indirect. People have constant access to decisionmaking and power. Participation in this sense is an essential element ofhuman development. It generally refers to peoples involvement in particularprojects or programmes. But today participation means an overalldevelopment strategy focusing on the central role that people should play inall spheres of life. Human development involves widening their choice andgreater participation enables people to gain for themselves access to a muchbroader range of opportunities.

People can participate as individuals or groups.As individuals in a democracythey may participate as voters or political activists or in the market asentrepreneurs or workers.Often they participate more and more effectively


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through group action as members of a community organization or a tradeunion or a political party.

Since participation requires increased influence and control,it also demandsincreased empowerment in economic,social and political terms.In economic

terms this means being able to engage freely in any economic activity. Insocial terms it means being able to join fully in all forms of community lifewithout regard to religion,colour or sex or race.In political terms it means thefreedom to choose and change governance at every level from top tobottom.All these forms of participation are intimately linked.Without one theothers will be incomplete.

Participation from the human development perspective is both a means andan end.Human development stresses the need to invest in human capabilitiesand then ensure that those capabilities are used for benefit of all.Greaterparticipation has an important part to play there.It helps to maximize the use

of human capabilities and is thus a means of increasing levels of social andeconomic development.But human development is also concerned withpersonal fulfillment.So active participation which allows people to realize theirfull potential and make their best contribution to society is also an end in itself.

Many new windows of opportunity are opening. The cold war in East-Westrelations is over and there is a good chance of phasing it out in the developingworld. The ideological battles of the past are being replaced by a morepragmatic partnership between market efficiency and social compassion. Therising environmental threat is reminding humanity of both its vulnerability andits compulsion for common survival on a fragile planet.

Many old concepts must now be radically revised. Security should beinterpreted as security for people, not security for land. Development shouldbe woven around people not people around development. It should empowerpeople and groups rather than take away power from them. Many of the oldinstitutions of civil society need to be rebuilt and many new ones created. Thefuture conflicts may well be between people rather than between states,national and international institutions will need to accommodate much morediversity and difference and to open many more avenues for constructiveparticipation. Participation is a process and not a event. It will proceed atdifferent levels for different regions and countries and its forms and extent

may vary from one stage of development to another.

The implications of widespread participation are profound embracing everyaspect of development. Markets need to be reformed to offer everyoneaccess to the benefits they can bring. Governance needs to be decentralizedto allow greater access to decision making. Community organizations need tobe allowed to exert growing influence on national and international issues. Wemust realize the fact that human development is the development of thepeople and for the people.

Caste and Politics1

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