Book

Social mobility in Kerala: modernity and identity in conflict

Pluto PressLondon • Published In 2000 • Pages: xi, 320

By: Osella, Filippo, Osella, Caroline.

Abstract
This book discusses social inequality among Kerala villagers. It begins with the life history of individuals belonging to three hierarchically-related castes: high-caste Hindu Brahmans and Nayars, middle-caste Christian families, and low-caste Izhavas. Much of the discussion is devoted to explaining the structural and cultural constraints Izhava families encounter in their attempt to improve their social standing through a lifetime of hard work as farmers, migrant laborers, salaried professionals, community organizers, politicians, and entrepreneurs. The most enduring of constraints are located in a caste system that rigidly differentiates people according to inborn substances and qualities; a system that has proven resilient, despite decades of effort by politicians and religious leaders to replace it with more secular and egalitarian principles.
Subjects
Castes
Inter-community relations
Household
Polygamy
Family relationships
Classes
Accumulation of wealth
Status, role, and prestige
Political movements
Pressure politics
Labor supply and employment
Income and demand
Price and value
Wages and salaries
Gender status
Political parties
Priesthood
Congregations
Organized ceremonial
Avoidance and taboo
Purification and atonement
Ethnoanatomy
Ethos
Functional and adaptational interpretations
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
culture
Kerala
HRAF PubDate
2017
Region
Asia
Sub Region
South Asia
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Anthropologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Teferi Abate Adem
Field Date
1989-1996
Coverage Date
1883-1996
Coverage Place
Valiyagramam, (pseudonym) Kerala, India
Notes
Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella
Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-306) and index
LCCN
00009109
LCSH
Ezhavas
Social mobility--India--Kerala