NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology Social Change and Development in India Chapter 2: Cultural Change

Chapter at a glance

Exercises

Answer

Meaning: The term Sanskritisation was coined by M.N. Srinivas. It is the process by which a “low” caste or tribe or other group takes over the customs, ritual, beliefs, ideology and style of life of a high and, in particular, a “twice-born” (dwija) caste. Its impact can be seen in language, literature, ideology, music, dance, drama, style of life and ritual.

Features: 1. It is a process of upward mobility in the caste hierarchy. A caste that has improved its economic or political position (e.g. by acquiring land) seeks to raise its social status by adopting the lifestyle of higher castes — e.g. vegetarianism, teetotalism, wearing the sacred thread, Sanskritic rituals and deities, prohibiting widow remarriage, and adopting dowry. 2. It usually takes one or two generations for the claim to be accepted. 3. The model may not always be the Brahmins; it can be the locally dominant caste — Kshatriyas, Jats or other landowning castes. Where the dominant caste is non-Brahmin, the model may involve meat-eating, drinking and martial values. 4. It produces positional change, not structural change: individual castes move up, but the caste system and hierarchy remain intact.

Critical evaluation: 1. Exaggerates social mobility – it leads only to positional change for some individuals and groups, and not to structural change; inequality persists. Some low castes move up while others remain low. 2. Accepts the ideology of hierarchy – the ideology of Sanskritisation accepts the ways of the “upper caste” as superior and those of the “lower caste” as inferior. The desire to imitate the upper caste is seen as natural and desirable, which legitimises inequality and exclusion — it may be seen as a form of discrimination. 3. Gender – Sanskritisation results in the adoption of upper-caste practices that are oppressive to women: dowry instead of bride-price, restrictions on widow remarriage, seclusion of women, and discrimination against girls. Lower castes, where women had more freedom, lose this equality. 4. Devalues Dalit culture – the traditional culture of Dalits and lower castes (e.g. their labour, crafts, food, knowledge) is seen as low and backward, and the very values of hard work are devalued. 5. Ignores economic and political factors – status change also depends on economic and political power, not only culture. 6. De-Sanskritisation – Dalit and non-Brahmin movements (e.g. Periyar’s self-respect movement, Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism) rejected Sanskritic values and asserted their own identity and pride, showing that not all groups aspire to imitate upper castes.

Despite these criticisms, the concept helps explain cultural mobility within the caste system and the spread of upper-caste practices.

Sanskritisation (M.N. Srinivas) is the process by which lower castes or tribes adopt the customs, rituals and lifestyle of higher, especially twice-born or dominant, castes to claim higher status. Critics point out that it brings only positional, not structural, change; accepts and legitimises caste hierarchy; spreads practices oppressive to women such as dowry and bans on widow remarriage; devalues Dalit culture; and is challenged by de-Sanskritisation movements.

Answer

Westernisation (M.N. Srinivas) refers to “the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule, the term subsuming changes occurring at different levels — technology, institutions, ideology and values”.

Aspects of Westernisation beyond attire and lifestyle: 1. Lifestyle and dress – adoption of Western clothes, food, manners, furniture, music, etc. This is the most visible level, but only one aspect. 2. Westernised sub-culture – a small section of the Indian middle class who first came into contact with Western culture and adopted Western thought patterns, values and worldviews — they were among the first to support liberal ideas, democracy, equality and reform. 3. Technology and institutions – adoption of Western technology, science, modern education, legal and administrative institutions, the press, and political institutions like parliamentary democracy. 4. Ideas and values – humanitarianism, rationalism, egalitarianism, individual rights, secularism. These inspired social reform movements and the nationalist movement. 5. Art and literature – influence on Indian art (e.g. Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings), literature (the novel), architecture and music. 6. Western ideas in family and gender – e.g. ideas about women’s rights, nuclear families, love marriage.

Interestingly, people may adopt Western dress and gadgets but retain traditional values (e.g. caste and gender attitudes), or think in modern ways without Western clothes. Many Indians have become westernised in some respects while remaining traditional in others.

Westernisation vs modernisation: - Modernisation refers to improvement in technology and production processes and, more broadly, to a set of values: universalism (not particularistic loyalties of caste and kin), a scientific and rational outlook, individualism, achievement rather than ascription, democracy, secularism, urbanisation and industrialisation. - Westernisation refers specifically to the influence of the West (Britain); modernisation is a more general process that need not mean copying the West (e.g. Japan modernised without becoming Western). - Many aspects of Westernisation (science, rationality, democracy) overlap with modernisation, which is why the two are often confused. Adopting Western dress is Westernisation; adopting a scientific temper and universalistic values is modernisation.

Westernisation goes beyond dress and lifestyle: it includes Western technology, education, legal and political institutions, and values like humanitarianism, rationalism and equality that inspired reform and nationalism, and influences on art and literature. Modernisation is a broader process of scientific, rational, universalistic and democratic values and industrial development that need not mean copying the West; the two overlap but are not the same.

Answer

(a) Rites and secularisation

Secularisation usually means a process of decline in the influence of religion. But in India, rituals have acquired secular dimensions: - Rituals have secular goals — e.g. social, economic and political. Rituals provide occasions for men and women to socialise with friends and relatives, display wealth, clothes and jewellery, and establish social networks. - Marriage and other ceremonies have become occasions for conspicuous consumption and status display (lavish weddings, dowry, gifts). - Religious festivals (e.g. Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja) have become public, social and political events — the Ganapati festival was used by Tilak for nationalist mobilisation. - Thus rituals are not disappearing; rather, their meaning and functions are becoming more secular.

(b) Caste and secularisation

• In traditional India, caste operated within a religious framework of purity and pollution.
• In modern India, caste has been secularised — it has increasingly become a political and economic category rather than a religious one.
• Caste groups are mobilised as interest groups and vote banks in democratic politics; caste associations (e.g. Kshatriya Mahasabhas) and caste-based parties have emerged (Rudolph and Rudolph, Rajni Kothari’s “politicisation of caste”).
• Caste is used to claim reservations and benefits.
• Thus caste has not disappeared, but its basis has changed from ritual status to political power and economic interest.

(c) Gender and sanskritisation

• Sanskritisation affects women adversely. When a lower caste Sanskritises, it often adopts upper-caste practices that restrict women:
  • Dowry replaces bride-price;
  • Ban on widow remarriage and divorce;
  • Seclusion of women (purdah), restriction on their work outside home;
  • Greater emphasis on female chastity and control over women’s sexuality;
  • Preference for sons and discrimination against daughters.
• Women in lower castes, who earlier enjoyed relatively more freedom (to work, remarry, divorce), lose it as their caste moves up. Hence Sanskritisation is a process of upward mobility for the caste but downward mobility in the status and freedom of women.

1. Rites have acquired secular functions — socialising, status display, conspicuous consumption and political mobilisation — rather than disappearing. (b) Caste has been secularised into a political and economic category used for mobilisation, interest groups and reservations, rather than a ritual one. (c) Sanskritisation adversely affects women by bringing in dowry, bans on widow remarriage, seclusion and controls on women in castes that earlier allowed them more freedom.

Topic checklist

• ☒ Sanskritisation and its critique (Q 1, 3c)
• ☒ Westernisation and modernisation (Q 2)
• ☒ Secularisation of rites and caste (Q 3a, 3b)

Total questions answered: 3 of 3