Homo hierarchicus: the caste system and its implications

OXFO RD PRESS UNIVERSIT Y

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Preface to the Complete English Edition Preface to the First French Edition Brief Note on Translite ration of Indian Words INTRODU CTION

Published in India By Oxford Univefsity Press, New Delhi

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The individual and sociology 3 Individualism and holism

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Preface and Postface © 1980 the University of Chicago © 1970 George Weidenfie ld and Nicholson Ltd and the Univ~rsity of Chicago Licensed by the University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 1970 Oxford India Paperback s 1998 Second impressio n 1999 All rights reserved. No part of this publicatio n may be reproduce d, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitte d, in any form or by any means, without the prior permissio n in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under tenus agreed with the appropriat e reprograph ics rights 0rganizati on. Enquiries concernin g reproduct ion outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Departme nt, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate rhis book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 019 564 5472

TI1is edition is for sale mily in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanm
Castes and ourselves

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Rousseau on equality

5 Tocqueville on equality 6 Tocqueville on individualism 7 Necessity of hierarchy CH,\PTER I: HISTORY OF IDEAS I I

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Definition : the word (caste' Main attitudes

3 Voluntarist explanation I 4 Caste as the limiting case of known institutions I

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'Histori.c al' explanaft ons Composit e explanati ons

I7 The period I90o-I945 I8 Mter r945 CHAPTER II: FROM SYSTEM TO STRUCTU RE: THE PURE AND THE IMPURE

Element and system The place of ideology 23 The notion of structure 24 The fundamental opposition 2 5 Pure and impure

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,PREFACE TO THE COMPLETE ENGLISHEDITI.QN

sive discussion that has centred on H,H" as I shall abbreviate the title and of the subsequent development of the research, The nonspe~ialist reader may have found strange or even shocking some particular viewpoint or statement found m the work, What are the opinions of the author'scolleagues? Should the pomt be taken as scientifically established or as a gratuItouS construct? Where does the matter stand today?

PREFACE TO THE GOMPLETE ENGLISH EDITION

,an egalitarian theory of castes, or at least of varnas) - younger than Hutton, but like him watched for by death, Professor Bose, having read the book in the English translation, sent word of his support in the form of a long review, written for his journal, Man in India, and published in a Calcutta newspaper by his friends, in which he expressed reservations only with respect to details. 2 H.H. can take pride in these two endorsements, and sometimes one would like to find more of the openmindedness shown by these two veterans in their perhaps more modern, but often less experienced, successors.

Most anthropological criticism of HH. mixes praise and blame. Later we shall try to separate the arguments that are (more or less generally) accepted from the ones that are rejected" but what is distinctive is the mixture of opposite opinions addressing the work as a whole. It is not completely impossible to praise an author while condemning his work, and one also can, and often does, dissociate the theory from its application in order to favour one or the other.' Still, the work - condemned, not to say caricatured, here; extolled there (and sometimes meeting both reactions in the same spot)has been granted an honourable place in the history of caste studies. Let us interpret 'this observation: all these pa"adoxes express the fact that the special study of India and, more broadly, the discipline of anthropology are deeply divided in their basic orientations. 4 A major factor in this division lies in the endemic materialist tendency, strongly reinforced by Marxism's hold over many minds. Here, French Marxist dogmatism has been slow to react. At first, serious authors silenced their preferences and surrendered. Eventually, it took an Africanist to give form - in fact, caricatural form - to the 'necessary refutation. 5 Three facts. govern both the level and the limits of what can be said here of H.H.'s place yesterday and today in the social anthropology of India. The scope of the controversy which H.H. has aroused calls for some explanation and makes simplification and selection necessary. Moreover, the field has evolved in the past ten years, and certain attituqes are outmoded. Finally, the author himself has moved away from Indian studies and he must take this into account. Let us take up these three points. H.H. has been the subject of numerous reviews, of:
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