Dewey assessed social groups by shared interests and free interplay with outsiders.

Evidence

Ambedkar, once again, is drawing on his mentor John Dewey whom he mentions and acknowledges later in the essay. Discussing the “need of a measure for the worth of any given mode of social life”, Dewey writes (1916, ch. 7): “How numerous and varied are the interests which are consciously shared? How full and free is the interplay with other forms of association? If we apply these considerations to, say, a criminal band, we find that the ties which consciously hold the members together are few in number, reducible almost to a common interest in plunder; and that they are of such a nature as to isolate the group from other groups with respect to give and take of the values of life.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1133

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the source of Ambedkar’s anti-caste argumentative frame in Dewey’s criterion of open, diversified association.