Village community, family and caste are the basic components of the rural
social structure and they bind the economic and social life of people in rural
areas. In order to understand this social structure, it is necessary to
understand the nature of society. Each society consists of different parts,
such as individuals, groups, institutions, associations, and communities. The
simplest analogy one can think of at this point is that of an organism that has
different components working together as a whole. Society is a system like any
other system, such as the solar system, the chemical system, a mechanical
system or an organic system. Of these the most suitable analogy for elaborating
the concept of society is that of an organism. This is usually known as the
‘organic analogy’.
WE are perhaps aware that the basic unit of an
organism is the cell; similarly the basic unit of a society is the individual.
As cells combine, a tissue is formed. In the same way, an individual exists in
relationship with other individuals. A collection of individuals is called a
group, and the smallest group comprises two individuals; it is known as the dyad.
In an organism, the tissues aggregate and the resultant entity is an organ. In
the case of human society, like the individual, no group exists in isolation.
The collectivity of the
groups is termed the community. In an organism, the organs combine to form the
organism, which is the whole. In a similar fashion, the aggregation of several
communities makes the whole called society.
Here the main question What
is social structure?
As per study the Sociologists
use the word ‘social structure’ to refer to the inter-relationship,
inter-connectedness, and inter-dependence of the different parts of society. In
terms of their form, all societies have the same parts. Thus, there are groups
and communities in all societies, but the nature and substance of these groups and
communities differ from one society to another. For instance, an Indian village
is unthinkable without the caste system, while a Chinese village does not have
castes. Its units are the people of different families and occupational groups.
The sense of identity that the people of different groups have is also seen at
the level of the people of different
families and occupational groups in Chinese villages. The inter-relationship of
the different units constitutes the structure of the society.
All the units of a society
are supposed to be important, for each one of them makes a contribution to the
functioning of society. In other words, none of them can be dispensed with.
But, in each society, some of its elements are regarded as crucial, because the
society is structured around them. Sociologists think that for defining an Indian
village, its population, physical structure, and modes of production are
definitely important. Usually, a village has less than five thousand
individuals. As a physical entity, it is an aggregation of houses of mixed
architecture (some of mud and thatch and some of cement) in the midst of
surrounding agricultural fields—the mainstay of village life is agriculture. Of
course, there may be some exceptions to the image of village that is presented
here: for instance, a village may have more than ten thousand people, as is the
case in Kerala. Or, the village may be a conglomeration of beautifully built cement
houses inhabited by people who may predominantly be in service or may be
self-employed non-agriculturalists, as is the case in a number of villages
situated near towns and cities in Himachal Pradesh.
In addition to these
indices, sociologists think that the social structure of an Indian village is
understood best in terms of the interrelationship of different castes, as a common
proposition is that the caste system has weakened in urban areas, but not in
the rural areas, where even the members of non-Hindu communities, which have opposed
the caste system, have continued to be treated as ‘castes’. In the section that
follows, we shall discuss the caste system in detail.
The Indian rural society
has undergone considerable change in the
recent past, particularly since the Independence as a result of a series
of the land reform legislations that have accelerated the pace of this change.
This explains why the changing agrarian relations constitute one of the basic intellectual concerns of social
scientists, including
sociologists in India. The
present survey of the agrarian social structure and class relations in two
villages of Jalpaiguri district is an attempt to deepen our understanding of
the complex agrarian social reality and change in India. It is a comparative survey
of two villages – one from the
‘subsistence’ and the other from the ‘plantation’ setting in Jalpaiguri
district of West Bengal. Jalpaiguri has certain distinctive features which set it apart from other districts. The most
important of these features is the coexistence of plantation (sector of
large-scale capitalist agriculture) and subsistence (sector of predominantly
subsistence oriented agriculture) economies.
A society is a
collection of people who are sufficiently organised to create conditions
necessary to live together
with a common identification. It is an organised network of
social interactions and
patterned behaviour. Every society has its own identity based on
the nature
of its sociak institutions. India has a rich cultural heritage and is a land
of
diversities. The diversity in social life is reflected in multi-social, multi-lingual, multi-
religious and multi-caste
nature of the society. The important
features of the Indian
social structure are:
predominant rural habitation in small
villages; multi-religious and
multi-caste social
identities and important role of family in the social life. We shall have a detailed discussion on
these institutions and their
impact on administration in the
following sections.
Rural habitation
India is a land of
villages. A great majority of villages
are small with only around five
hundred population
each. Mahatma Gandhi's view that India lives in villages still holds
good, at least from the
demographic point of view.
The village social life
has its own peculiar characteristics. Stanley J. Heginbotham, in his
book, Cultures
in Conflict, (1975) discusses
in detail the nature of village life and its
influence on the
nature of bureaucracy.
The village social life
norms strengthen the
authoritarian and
hierarchical norms in administration. The village social life,
which is
based on the
hierarchical exchange relations greatly influence the behaviour of civil
servants in public organisations. The differences in the
social background of majority of
citizens who are
poor, illiterate, rural based, and
tradition bound and that of majority of
civil servants, who
are urban, middle class and well educated results in
conflicts and
contradiction in the
interests and values of citizens and civil servants.
The rural base
of Indian society
has many implications for the
development
administration. Many
studies have indicated urban
bias in
the behaviour of
administrators. This
results in a cultural gap between the administration and rural people.
For administration to be
effective, it must appreciate and respond to the socio-cultural
ethos of the rural
population.
Religion
Historically, India has
been hospitable to numerous groups of immigrants from different
parts of
Asia and Europe,
People of all religions have
been living in India for
many
centuries. The
Constitutien declares India to be a secular state. The State is expected to
treat all the religions
equally. The Constitution also gives protection to minorities. The
Constitution
recognizes religion as a
fundamental right and a citizen can
pursue the
religion of his choice.
However, in reality, communalism is
one of the
major threats to the
unity and the
integrity of the
country. In recent years, the communal
organisations have become very
active in social life resulting in communal clashes in
different parts of the country. Some vested interests are using religion for their
selfish purposes and are fanning hatred among the communities. The comrslunal disharmony tests the strength
of the administration in maintaining law
and order and social
harmony among the religious
groups.
Administration has
to check disruptive communal activities and maintain
social and
political stability.
Unfortunately, in recent years we also hear the allegations of divisions
in the civil services
based on communal factors. The role played
by some state police
forces during the communal
disturbances in some parts of the country brings no credit for
the state police
administration. The
political necessity of appeasing
each religious
section may result in
sacrificing rationality in administration.
Caste in Villages
A village may be
conceptualized as an aggregate of castes, each traditionally associated
with an occupation. Members of a caste are generally
clustered together, occupying a particular physical space in the village, which
may come to be known after the name of the caste like dhobîbârâ (i.e.
the settlement of the laundrymen), jâton ka gudâ (i.e. the habitation of
the Jats) or raikon rî dhânî (i.e. the
hamlet of the Raikas).
Each caste has its own style of living, its own types of clothes, its own distinct
pattern of houses, and mutually acceptable common grounds for existance. It
also has its distinct dialect, folk deities, lore, and ceremonies. The members
of a caste are spread over a region in more than one village. The members of a
caste living in nearby villages have matrimonial relations among them. Each
caste has its own council (panchayat), which is a collective body of the
members of that caste
living in different
villages, but situated close to each other. This body takes up all disputes
between the members of the caste and discusses all instances where the identity
of the caste is abrogated and is in danger. Thus, for political purposes,
social control and matrimony, the members of a caste in a village are dependent
upon their co-caste fellows in other villages. These relations result in the
unity of the members of a caste spread in different villages. M.N. Srinivas has
called this type of unity ‘horizontal solidarity’.
The Hindu society is knpwn
for its varna and caste system.
The society is broadly
divided into four orders
or varnas on 'functional' basis, namely,
Brahmana (traditional
priest and scholar),
Kshatriya (ruler and soldier), Vaisya (merchant) and Shudra (peasant,
labourer and servant).
The scheduled castes are outside the varna scheme. Each varna
may be divided into different horizontal strata, and
eacJ strata is known as caste.
The
caste system creates:- (a)
segmental division ofsociety (b) hierarchy (c) restrictions on
social interactions, (d)
civic and religious disparities and privileges of different sections
(e) restriction on choice of occupation, and (f) r
e i t i c t ion on marriage. Though
caste is essentially a Hindi
institution, some elements of caste are found in every religious group in India. The caste system based on birth
created divisions in the society and contributed to the social and economic
inequalities. A section of people were
treated as untouchables
Socio-Cultural Factors and they were exploited by upper castes in the
society and Administration.
In recent years, we find some change in the
nature and the role of the caste system. The
role of the caste is changing. We
find that the influence of caste
in interpersonal and
social relationships is
decreasing but paradoxically
its role in
political process is
increasing. The caste is
being increasingly used for political mobilisation. This has an
adverse effect on the
working of political and administrative institutions. Formation
of
informal groups
on caste lines
among the public
services is anober developing
phenomena. This affects the homogeneity of the public
services.
Realising the existence of
inegalitarian social system, the Constitution has provided for
preferential treatment to
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes in
public services. In recent years, we find many agitations for and against the
reservations
in public
services. Paradoxically, it is
found that the
preferential treatment system
designed to bring equality
is a cause of the internal tensions in the public organisations.
In a social
situation of primordial loyalties, the
administrative institutions based
on
universalistic principles
are subjected to a lot of stress and strain. The administrator must
understand the dynamics of caste loyalties and caste sensibilities to play the role
of an
effective change agent
Family
The joint family was considered as one of the three
pillars of Indian social structure, the
other two being the caste
and the village community. Family is an
important social unit
and in country like India, the family loyalties are
very strong. Traditionally, in India the
joint family system played an
important role as a social and
economic institution. The
social norms expect the
subordination of individual interests to that of family. However,
in recent years the joint family system is giving way to the nuclear family system. Still
the emotional ties of
extended family continue to play an important role in the social life.
Patriarchy dominates the
family life. The head of the family is
usually the father or the
eldest male member. Women generally occupy a subordinate
position.
The structure and
operation of family has many implications on administrative system.
The paternalistic and
authoritarian structure of the family life is partly responsible for the
paternalistic and
authoritarian behavioural orientations of the
administrators. The
socialization process in
the family influences the attitude formation'of the administrators.
The family loyalties
may also result in sacrifice of values like impartiality,
integrity and
universality in
administration. Many administrators may feel
it natural to
help their
family members by using their administrative positions. Many
studies have pointed out
the presence of family
orientation of helping ones relatives in administration.
On the basis of above we
may say that the Indian rural social structure are mix up of traditions, which
required mi=ore and more awareness for which the role of formal and informal
education are more effective to arise an awareness among rural people.
