Debate exists on whether caste persists or dissolves under liberalization
Evidence
How has this affected traditional caste networks? Some argue that caste has insulated Indian society and prevented it from fragmenting and atomising like Western society did after the Industrial Revolution. Others argue the opposite; they say that the unprecedented levels of urbanisation and the creation of a new work environment have shaken up the old order and rendered caste hierarchies irrelevant if not obsolete. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 56
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
Related
- Caste hierarchy gives every group a stake in preserving the system. (similarity 0.82)
- Outcaste status cannot be ended while caste hierarchy remains (similarity 0.82)
- Abolishing caste requires destroying the sacred authority of shastras (similarity 0.81)
- Caste persists as a mental state, not a physical barrier. (similarity 0.81)
- Ambedkar argued caste divides labourers themselves, not just labour (similarity 0.81)
- Caste persists because it is a sacred notion, not a physical barrier. (similarity 0.81)
- Caste is a state of mind, so abolishing it requires a notional change. (similarity 0.81)
- Caste can only be destroyed by attacking its religious foundations (similarity 0.81)
- Ambedkar formulated caste as a unique enclosed endogamous class under Dewey’s tutelage. (similarity 0.80)
- Destroying caste means destroying shastra and Veda authority, a near-impossible task. (similarity 0.80)
- The caste system divides and grades labourers, unlike ordinary division of labour (similarity 0.80)
- Caste annihilation requires paired critiques of Brahminism and capitalism (similarity 0.80)
- Abolishing sub-castes may actually strengthen and entrench the larger castes. (similarity 0.80)
- Reformers narrowed caste to untouchability to avoid land and wealth redistribution. (similarity 0.80)
- Ambedkar defined caste as an endogamous enclosed class in 1916 (similarity 0.79)