Ambedkar formulated caste as a unique enclosed endogamous class under Dewey’s tutelage.
Evidence
It was while he was there, under the tutelage of John Dewey (of ‘Deweyan liberalism’ fame), Edwin Seligman, James Shotwell, James Harvey Robinson and A.A. Goldenweiser, that he wrote his original, path-breaking paper on caste, “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development”, in which he argued that caste could not be equated with either race or class, but was a unique social category in itself—an enclosed, endogamous class. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 297
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- XREF: Ambedkar’s Columbia years under Dewey echo the reader’s interest in how social theory gets forged in specific intellectual environments.
Related
- Ambedkar defined caste as an endogamous enclosed class in 1916 (similarity 0.95)
- Ambedkar defined caste as an enclosed, endogamous class distinct from race and class (similarity 0.93)
- Sub-castes prove caste cannot rest on racial purity. (similarity 0.87)
- Ambedkar borrowed the biological term endosmosis as a political metaphor for group interaction (similarity 0.85)
- Ambedkar argued caste divides labourers themselves, not just labour (similarity 0.84)
- Dalit and Scheduled Caste refer to overlapping but distinct groups (similarity 0.82)
- Caste’s core structure pairs purity-entitlement at top with pollution-duty at bottom (similarity 0.81)
- Debate exists on whether caste persists or dissolves under liberalization (similarity 0.80)
- Ambedkar declared caste inequality must be rooted out, not merely untouchability (similarity 0.80)
- Ambedkar extended Dewey’s associated life into a demand that democracy pervade all social spheres (similarity 0.79)
- Ambedkar saw caste itself, not just untouchability, as the target of annihilation. (similarity 0.79)
- Ambedkar saw control of women’s sexuality as a method of caste reproduction. (similarity 0.79)
- Caste persists as a mental state, not a physical barrier. (similarity 0.79)
- Destroying caste means destroying shastra and Veda authority, a near-impossible task. (similarity 0.79)
- Ambedkar held that caste itself, not untouchability, must be dismantled (similarity 0.79)