Indian Social Structure: Caste, Class, Tribe and Gender
Domain 7: Indian Social Structure - Caste, Class, Tribe and Gender
This domain tests Indian specifics: the difference between varna and jati, the changing caste system, class formation, tribal policy, and gender as an intersecting structure.
Core rules
- Caste: varna is a four-fold textual model; jati is the actual local endogamous group. Features include hierarchy, purity-pollution, endogamy, hereditary occupation and caste panchayats. Caste has changed but persists in politics, marriage and networks.
- Class: a stratum based on occupation, income, education and lifestyle. India has an expanding middle class alongside informal labour, agrarian distress and persistent poverty.
- Tribe: constitutionally listed Scheduled Tribes, with distinct languages, kinship, forest-based livelihoods and relative territorial concentration. Fifth and Sixth Schedule provisions and PESA recognise autonomy in specified areas. Tribe is not a caste.
- Gender: a social organisation of masculinity and femininity, not merely sex difference. Patriarchy operates through division of labour, control over sexuality, property and political representation. Gender intersects with caste, class and region.
Worked example
A tribal woman in a mining belt faces displacement. Her tribe's customary land rights, her gender roles in collecting fuel and water, and her class position as a wage labourer all shape the impact. A single-axis 'tribal problem' or 'women's problem' analysis misses the intersection.
Traps
Do not equate varna with jati. Do not treat tribe as a backward caste. Do not reduce class to poverty. Do not treat gender as synonymous with women only. Do not assume reservation has eliminated caste or gender inequality.