Caste, class, and power: changing patterns of stratification in a Tanjore village

Béteille, André Marie

Book

Caste, class, and power: changing patterns of stratification in a Tanjore village

University of California Press • Berkeley • Published In 1971 • Pages:

By: Béteille, André Marie.

Abstract
Changes in the traditional structures of caste, class, and power in Sripuram, a village in Tanjore district, are the subjects of this study. The author describes the physical structure of the village, the caste structure, economic organization and social class, and the distribution of power. He shows that traditionally the hierarchies of caste, class, and power overlapped considerably, but that '… the processes of economic change and political modernization have led the productive system and the organization of power to acquire an increasing an increasing degree of autonomy. In the concrete, the overlap between the hierarchies of caste, class, and power has been progressively reduced' (p. 225).