Revision summary
Symmetry meant the same groups led in caste, class, and power. Sripuram showed that land reform and democracy broke that coincidence. Class can rise without ritual rank; office can move without land. Caste remains, but it is no longer a perfect map of class and power. Disharmony is this mismatch as a historical type.
Model answer
Introduction
Andre Beteille argued that in a traditional setting caste, class, and power sat in a symmetrical stack: the same families ranked high on all three. Land reform, vote, and education made the stack asymmetrical.
Body
Symmetrical past
- In older Sripuram-type Tanjore, Brahmans could combine ritual rank, land, and village authority.
- Dumont’s encompassing purity and landlordism could look like one pyramid.
Asymmetrical present
- Caste rank did not automatically equal class after tenancy change and new occupations.
- Power shifted toward numerical dominant groups and parties, which Srinivas’s dominant caste already hinted.
- A poor Brahman, a rich non-Brahman farmer, and a Dalit with a reserved office no longer sit on one line.
Meaning
- This is disharmonic structure: equality as public value, mismatch as lived fact.
- The change is not the end of caste. It is the end of a single coincidence of the three axes.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD SY[Symmetrical stack] --> BR[Same families all high] AS[Asymmetrical] --> SP[Caste class power split] LF[Land reform vote school] --> AS
Conclusion
- Beteille’s shift from symmetrical to asymmetrical ties is the sociology of democratic India: caste, class, and power still matter, but they no longer duplicate one another.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Analyse the major components of Land Reform Acts. Show their effectiveness in curbing rural inequality.
Next question in the 2016 paper (Q2). View answer →
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Does asymmetry mean equality?
No. It means inequalities no longer pile on the same households in the old way.
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Is the Brahman still powerful?
In ritual, often. In land and vote, often not as before in that region.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
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2018 · Q1(b) · Sociology GS 2 · 10 marks
Give a critical analysis of Andre Beteille's study of Tanjore village. -
2018 · Q7(a) · Sociology GS 2 · 20 marks
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2015 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 2 · 10 marks
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