CASTE, CLASS AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN INDIA

Abstract

The sociology of social stratification in society has been reviewed with special reference to the contribution that studies in this field have made in theory, method and substantive domains (Tumin, 1953; Bendix, Lipset, 1966). Most contemporary societies, whether developed or developing, give evidence of a high order of stratification at various levels and of various kinds (Lenski, 1966). There is the question of inequality of course, that looms large in much of our thinking of stratification, but there is also the issue of cultural diversity (Giddens, 2006). The prevalence of tensions between diverse languages, religions, colours and sects arise because of the conflicting ways by which each community wants to rank the others in real operational terms.