The article ‘Reinterpreting Dalit Movements in Colonial and Post Colonial India’ by Raj Sekhar Basu discusses the study Dalit activism and identity, and its relevance in the 20th century. Caste is and always has been an integral part of the functioning of Indian society. However, it was the Mandal commission that first led to questions about the effect of caste consciousness in modern day India. There have been varying opinions on how caste affects other social institutes such as economy and politics. The constituting of India as a ‘casteless democratic society’ led to the reluctance of educated sections to acknowledge caste as an identity even while they may at the same time perpetuate it.
Caste and class have been a determining factor of a person’s status, place and position in the social hierarchy from the ancient Vedic times, to the modern era. The caste system, which was said to be introduced in ancient period to regulate and discipline the society and its smooth functioning, has paved way to discrimination and degradation. The four Varnas: Brahmin, Kshtriya, Vaishya and Shudra not only provided social stratification in a hierarchical manner but also assigned people an identity by their work and limited their social mobility. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar said that “caste system is not merely division of labourers- which is quite different from division of labour – it is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers’ are graded one
In a broader view it is about how language works to maintain and change power relations in the society, and how understanding these processes can enable people to resist and change them. Huge changes in social life have taken place and changed them from the historic past, and likewise the power of language has become greater. The power of the English language for example, has grown exemplary as the language of education, law and business management. Furthermore, change politically has also contributed to the power changes. In propaganda it has been used creatively to communicate vast number of ideas for particular objectives and
And also due to an upsurge in caste based parties that made the politics of lower caste empowerment a central part of their political agenda. It should be pointed out that these new political parties emerged not on a national level but on a village and regional level, and were most dominant in North India. This also weakened the influence of caste and clientelism on Indian politics (Chapaitkar, 2013). The Indian Caste System is historically one of the main dimensions where people in India are socially differentiated through class, religion, region, tribe, gender, and language. The Indian Caste System is considered a closed system of stratification, which means that a person’s social status is obligated to which caste they were born into.
Elections in Kenya from 1992 to 2013 have shown how determined the political class is to cling to power not minding the cost implication to the political system . Ethnic clashes are thus a product of manipulation from both sides of the political divide in order to settle scores of old hatred and rivalries. The reality of the situation system reveals that the mobilization of ethnic identities has brought negative forms of ethnicity to the forefront, to the extent that virtually everything came to be defined in terms of ‘we’ versus ‘them’ or the disruptive power of competing ethnicities
Accordingly, the social environment plays a crucial role in formulating identities that are formed by ideas, values, and institutionalized norms, the social/political actor interests are “endogenous to such interaction, as a consequence of identity acquisition, as learned through processes of communication, reflection on experience and role enactment” (Reus-Smit, p. 199). Consequently, nativism plays a crucial role in the US political discourse, as the US prides itself that democracy is a unique experience of the US and on the surface prides itself of being a “state of immigrants” (Mudde, The Far Right in America, p. 90) – how did nativism embed itself in the sociopolitical realm? That’s when the ideational structure of constructivism provides an alternative perspective to underline the importance of interactional communications, ideas, and values that shape and influence political actions. The recent anti-immigration policies embody nativism in a country that was composed of
Elites and the Educational Change: An Exploratory Study of Perceptions of Policy-Elites in India The elite by its manner of acting and thinking, sets the standard for the whole society. As the anthropologist, Nadel (2006) points out, ‘its influence or power being that of a model accepted and considered worth following’ (p.35). Conceptually, the elite control key material, symbolic and political resources within a society. However, operationally, they can be identified in institutional terms (Reis and Moore 2005: 2), that is, they are powerful individuals who command key positions in various institutions- political parties, bureaucracy, military and police, large companies and business organizations, large land-owners, trade unions, mass media,
Power distribution index is about the feelings the less powerful individuals in a country accept and desire that control is distributed equally without discrimination. This dimension aims to address issues of inequality in the society. Countries, where people accept Power distance, are distributing authority to individuals according to a hierarchy and try to eliminate instances where a certain community wills feel that they have been neglected by not being given power positions. Power is the ability an individual has which they can use to influence other people’s decisions and behavior. The power that an individual in the society can exert towards influencing the decisions of others is what creates different innovation and creativity dimensions.
Electoral method is one amongst the foremost variables that may contribute in determining the role of various castes teams in politics. During
The plurality of the population and the contrast of the economic status being distributed within the ethnic segregation, and established the fundamental underlying basis, then shaped the political interactions of Malaysia as what we can see in the current situation (Noraini M Noor 2007). Barisan Nasional (National Front, thereupon BN) is the major political party in Malaysia as the successor to the Alliance, comprises by United Malays National Organisation (Umno), followed by Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), and some other communal political parties. Umno, the biggest dominant partner in the BN coalition was formed to