NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology Indian Society Chapter 3: Social Institutions: Continuity and Change

Chapter at a glance

Exercises

Answer

The caste system can be understood as the combination of two sets of principles — one based on difference and separation, and the other on wholism and hierarchy.

Separation: - Each caste is supposed to be different from and strictly separated from every other caste. - Many scriptural rules of caste are designed to prevent the mixing of castes: rules of marriage (endogamy), food sharing and social interaction, to occupation. - Castes are thus distinct, closed units.

Hierarchy: - The different, separated castes do not have an individual existence; they exist only in relation to a larger whole — society as a totality of all castes. - This societal whole is hierarchical rather than egalitarian: each caste occupies a specific place — an unequal rank — in an ordered ladder, from high to low. - The hierarchy is based on the distinction between “purity” and “pollution” — castes considered closer to the sacred (ritually pure) have high status, those considered impure have low status. - Closely associated with the hierarchy is the division of labour: each caste is assigned a hereditary occupation, and castes are interdependent (e.g. in the jajmani system) — they are complementary but unequal.

Thus separation keeps castes apart, while hierarchy binds them into an unequal whole. Historically, materially powerful castes tended to be ranked high, and the defeated were ranked low.

Separation keeps each caste distinct through rules of endogamy, food and contact, preventing mixing; hierarchy places these separated castes in an unequal, ranked whole based on ritual purity and pollution, with a hereditary, interdependent division of labour. Together they make caste a system of separate but unequally ranked groups.

Answer

1. Caste is determined by birth – a child is born into the caste of its parents. It is never a matter of choice; one can never change one’s caste, leave it, or choose not to join it (though there are instances of expulsion).
2. Endogamy – membership in a caste involves strict rules about marriage. Marriage is restricted to members of the same caste.
3. Food and food-sharing rules – caste membership involves rules about what kinds of food can or cannot be eaten and with whom food may be shared.
4. Hierarchy – caste involves a system of many castes arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status. Every person has a caste and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy.
5. Sub-division – castes involve sub-divisions within themselves (sub-castes, and sometimes sub-sub-castes) — segmental organisation.
6. Occupation – castes were traditionally linked to occupations. A person born into a caste could only practise the occupation associated with it, so occupations were hereditary.
7. Rules of touch and purity–pollution – lower castes, especially “untouchables”, were not allowed to touch upper castes, enter temples, use common wells, etc.

Caste rules include: membership by birth (unchangeable); endogamy; rules on food and food-sharing; a fixed place in a hierarchy of rank; sub-division into sub-castes; hereditary occupations; and rules of purity, pollution and touch.

Answer

Most scholars agree that colonialism brought major changes to caste and that the institution we know as caste today is as much a product of colonialism as of ancient Indian tradition.

1. Census – the British tried to understand and administer Indian society by collecting information on caste. The first census (1860s onwards) and especially the 1901 Census under Herbert Risley tried to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste — the social order of precedence in each region. This led to a flood of petitions from castes claiming higher status. Counting and recording made caste more rigid and a matter of identity.
2. Land revenue settlements and related laws gave legal recognition to the customary (caste-based) rights of the upper castes, who became landowners in the modern sense.
3. Administrative measures for the welfare of lower castes – the Government of India Act of 1935 gave legal recognition to the lists or “schedules” of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state — hence the terms Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Castes at the bottom of the hierarchy, subject to severe discrimination including untouchability, were included in the list of Scheduled Castes.
4. Economic changes – the colonial economy, railways, urbanisation and new occupations weakened the link between caste and occupation for some.
5. Social reform and nationalist movements – anti-caste movements (Jotiba Phule, Dr Ambedkar, Periyar) and nationalist efforts (Gandhi) emerged, questioning untouchability.

Colonialism made caste more rigid and self-conscious through the census (especially Risley’s 1901 ranking of castes), gave legal recognition to upper-caste land rights through revenue settlements, and through the Government of India Act 1935 created lists of Scheduled Castes and Tribes for special treatment; new economic opportunities and reform movements also began to challenge caste.

Answer

1. For the urban middle and upper classes, caste appears to have become “invisible” — they believe caste no longer matters in their lives.
2. These groups had benefited most from the developmental policies of the post-colonial period. Their caste status was crucial in ensuring that they had the necessary economic and educational resources to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by rapid development — urban education, professional jobs in medicine, engineering, law, government service, and the private sector.
3. Having consolidated their advantages over generations (through their caste privilege, social networks and inherited resources), they now feel that their success is based only on merit, education and skills, and not on caste. Caste privileges have been converted into “modern” capital (education, jobs, connections).
4. Hence they claim to be “casteless” and are often opposed to caste-based reservations, which they see as against merit.
5. In contrast, for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward castes, caste has become more visible, since they have to claim their caste identity to benefit from reservations and other state policies, and caste still shapes their experience of discrimination.

Thus caste is “invisible” for upper castes not because it has ceased to matter, but because its benefits have already been secured.

Urban upper castes, having used their caste privileges to gain education, professional jobs and resources, now see their success as based only on merit and claim to be “casteless”. Caste has become invisible to them because its benefits have been converted into modern capital, while for SCs, STs and OBCs caste remains very visible.

Answer

In terms of positive characteristics, tribes have been classified according to their ‘permanent’ and ‘acquired’ traits.

1. Permanent traits: - Region – tribes are concentrated in central India (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra — about 85% of tribal people) and the North-East (Assam, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland etc.); the rest are spread elsewhere. - Language – four language families: Indo-Aryan (e.g. Bhils), Dravidian (e.g. Gonds, Oraons), Austric (e.g. Santhals, Mundas) and Tibeto-Burman (North-Eastern tribes). - Physical-racial – Negrito, Australoid, Mongoloid, Dravidian and Aryan categories. - Size of population – the largest tribes (Gonds, Bhils, Santhals, Oraons, Minas, Bodos, Mundas) have populations of over a million, while the smallest (e.g. Andamanese islanders) may have fewer than a hundred.

2. Acquired traits: - Mode of livelihood – fishermen, food gatherers and hunters, shifting cultivators, peasants, plantation and industrial workers. - Extent of incorporation into Hindu society – tribes may be classified by their attitude towards Hinduism (assimilated vs resistant) or by the views of scholars and the Hindu mainstream.

Tribes are classified by permanent traits — region (central India, North-East), language (Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austric, Tibeto-Burman), physical-racial features and population size — and by acquired traits — mode of livelihood (hunting-gathering, shifting cultivation, peasantry, industrial work) and extent of incorporation into Hindu society.

Answer

1. Historical interaction – historians have shown that tribes were never completely isolated. They have been in contact with non-tribal societies, kingdoms and markets for centuries, through trade, migration and wars.
2. Tribal states and kingdoms – many Gond kingdoms in central India (e.g. Garha Mandla, Chanda), Ahom rule in Assam and other tribal kingdoms existed, showing developed political organisation.
3. Interaction with the mainstream – tribes exchanged forest produce, salt and elephants with outsiders; many tribes adopted elements of Hindu and other religions, and vice versa (e.g. tribal deities absorbed into Hinduism).
4. Not “primitive” – tribes have complex social systems, rich cultures, languages, art, and sustainable knowledge of forests and medicine.
5. Colonial construction – the image of the “isolated primitive tribe” was largely created by colonial ethnographers and administrators. Many groups later classified as “tribes” were part of the wider economy.
6. Today – tribes are part of the national economy as cultivators, industrial and plantation workers (e.g. Jharkhand mines, Assam tea gardens), and are active in politics, education and movements (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh statehood movements).
7. The difference between tribe and caste was often one of degree, with tribe-caste continuum — many tribes became castes over time.

Tribes were never isolated: history shows trade, migration, wars and tribal kingdoms such as the Gond states and the Ahoms; they exchanged goods and religious ideas with the mainstream, have complex cultures, and today participate in the economy and politics. The “isolated primitive tribe” image is largely a colonial construction.

Answer

1. Exploitation and displacement – the forceful incorporation of tribal communities into mainstream processes (development projects, dams, mines, industries) has displaced many tribals from their land, livelihood and culture. Mainstream groups have taken over tribal land and forests.
2. Loss of control over resources – forest laws (colonial and post-independence) restricted tribals’ traditional rights over forests; mining and industrial projects took their land. This has created resentment and a desire to protect resources.
3. Cultural assertion – the threat to tribal languages, customs and religion from the dominant culture leads to a defence of distinct identity.
4. Emergence of an educated middle class – a tribal middle class, created through reservations in education and jobs, has become more aware of tribal rights and leads movements for identity.
5. Political movements – movements for autonomy and statehood (Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were created in 2000), and in the North-East (Nagaland, Mizoram, Bodoland), assert tribal identity and demand control over land and resources.
6. Constitutional and legal protections – Fifth and Sixth Schedules, PESA (1996), Forest Rights Act (2006) give a basis for claims.
7. Two broad sets of issues drive assertion: (i) control over vital economic resources like land and forests; (ii) matters of ethnic-cultural identity.

Tribal identities are being asserted because of displacement and exploitation through development projects, loss of control over land and forests, threats to tribal culture, the rise of an educated tribal middle class, and political movements for autonomy and statehood (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, North-East), focusing on control of resources and ethnic-cultural identity.

Answer

Families take different forms on the following bases:

1. Composition / structure

• Nuclear family – a married couple and their unmarried children.
  • Extended (joint) family – two or more generations living together: parents, married sons, their wives and children, sharing residence, kitchen and property.

2. Rule of residence

• Matrilocal – the newly married couple stays with the woman’s parents.
  • Patrilocal – the couple lives with the man’s parents.

3. Rule of inheritance / descent

• Matrilineal – property and family name pass from mother to daughter.
  • Patrilineal – property and family name pass from father to son.

4. Authority

• Patriarchal – men exercise authority and dominance.
  • Matriarchal – women play a similar dominant role (rare).

Other forms: single-parent families, female-headed households (when men migrate), families of remarried couples, childless couples, and live-in relationships.

Families can be nuclear or extended (joint) by composition; matrilocal or patrilocal by residence; matrilineal or patrilineal by inheritance; and patriarchal or matriarchal by authority. Other forms include single-parent and female-headed households.

Answer

The family is linked to other parts of the social structure — economic, political, cultural and educational. Changes in these lead to changes in the family:

1. Industrialisation and urbanisation – migration of men to cities for jobs leads to nuclear families in cities and female-headed households in villages; the joint family’s role as an economic unit declines.
2. Economic change – women’s employment changes roles within the family; dual-earner families share household work differently; older people may be left alone.
3. Demographic change – lower birth rates mean smaller families; longer life expectancy increases the elderly in families.
4. Education – education, especially of women, raises the age at marriage, increases choice in marriage, and changes ideas of authority and equality in the family.
5. Legal changes – laws on marriage age, dowry, inheritance (Hindu Succession Act amendments giving daughters equal rights), divorce and domestic violence change family relationships.
6. Cultural change and media – new ideas of individualism, love marriages, live-in relationships.
7. Examples from the chapter: In the boom of the software industry, IT professionals with long working hours depend on grandparents, who move in to take care of children; in villages of Uttar Pradesh, female-headed households emerge due to male migration. Changes are not one-directional — sometimes joint families are reinforced.

Changes in social structure — industrialisation and urbanisation, male migration, women’s employment and education, demographic change, new laws and cultural values — change family structure, e.g. growth of nuclear and female-headed households, smaller families, later marriages, new gender roles, and sometimes the return of grandparents to care for children in dual-career homes.

Answer

Example – Khasis: Property passes from mother to daughter, and the youngest daughter inherits the ancestral house. But the mother’s brother (maternal uncle) manages the property and makes decisions — so women have inheritance but not effective authority. Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men (torn between their natal home and wife’s home) and women do not have real control.

Thus a society may be matrilineal without being matriarchal.

Matriliny is descent and inheritance through the female line (e.g. Khasis, Nairs); matriarchy is women holding authority and power. Matrilineal societies are not necessarily matriarchal — among the Khasis, women inherit property but the mother’s brother controls it; true matriarchy is largely theoretical.

Topic checklist

• ☒ Caste: separation, hierarchy, rules, colonialism, invisibility (Q 1–4)
• ☒ Tribes: classification, isolation myth, identity assertion (Q 5–7)
• ☒ Family: forms, change, matriliny vs matriarchy (Q 8–10)

Total questions answered: 10 of 10