Revision summary
Caste has changed through Sanskritization, land, city work, and elections. Ritual service and occupation rules have weakened in many public settings. Endogamy, honour, and atrocity show that the system has not disintegrated. Politicisation of caste is mobilisation, not disappearance. Treat change and weakening as real, disintegration as a false comfort.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
Caste in India is changing and, in some public spaces, weakening. It is not disintegrating as a system of marriage, honour, and opportunity. Srinivas, Beteille, and Ambedkar together warn against mistaking new clothes for a vanished ladder.
Body
Changing
- Sanskritization and dominant caste in Rampura showed mobility and local power without exit from jati.
- Land reform, Green Revolution, and city jobs recast which groups command surplus, as Sripuram showed when class and caste parted a little.
- Law, reservation, and the vote made caste a political resource, which Rajni Kothari called the politicisation of caste, not its death.
Weakening
- Commensality, occupation, and village service rules are weaker in towns and in many mixed workplaces.
- Public institutions speak equality. Beteille called this a disharmonic structure: values against ranked practice.
Not disintegrating
- Endogamy, honour crimes, and atrocity show the spine. Ghurye’s features of marriage and disability still bite.
- Ambedkar’s graded inequality persists in labour, housing, and worship even when the jajmani map fades.
Close
- Dipankar Gupta’s distinction of discrete communities competing is useful. Competition is not disintegration.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD CH[Sanskritization vote job] --> W[Weaker ritual service] EN[Endogamy atrocity] --> ST[System continues] DC[Dominant caste] --> CH
Conclusion
Caste is changing in work and politics and weakening as a total village ritual order. It is not disintegrating while endogamy and graded inequality organise life chances.
Quick related
Students also ask
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How far Srinivas Sanskritization is modernizing force or traditionalizing force in understanding the changes in caste system?
Next question on this syllabus topic (2015 · Q5(e)). View answer →
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Does urbanisation end caste?
It weakens some village rules. Housing, marriage, and networks often recode caste in the city.
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Is reservation proof that caste is stronger?
It is proof that inequality was recognised. It also organises caste as a political identity.
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