Caste Structure and Ergonomic Optimization

2020 ◽  
pp. 156-179
Keyword(s):  
Caste Structure

Chapter 5. Social Organization

1974 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 50-70
Author(s):  
B. J. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Government Power ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
Caste Structure ◽  
Commensal Relationship

The Birhor constitute a society which is easily distinguished and studied apart from the dominant Indian social groups surrounding them. But they by no means constitute a politically autonomous society. The ultimate characteristics of political autonomy such as capital punishment, the waging of war, and so forth, do not arise as a possibility for the Birhor. Actual contact with the larger society in the form of government power is infrequent, inconsistent, and understood very little by the Birhor. A more important relation with the larger, agricultural Hindu and Muslim society is the traditional caste structure in which the Birhor, regardless of their own opinions, are defined as a very low caste group and are so treated by villagers.The major effect of this caste-like treatment, from the point of view of this study, has been to retard change in the Birhor way of life by denying them land and preserving their traditional relationship to the agricultural villages. This relationship might best be described as a parabiotic or commensal relationship. The most important aspects of this commensal relationship are lack of political autonomy of the Birhor and the importance, to them, of trade with villagers. On the other hand, the life of the villager would be little affected by the presence or absence of the Birhor. The economic aspects of trade between Birhor and villager are described in Chapter 7.

scholarly journals In Search of a Touchable Body: Christian Mission and Dalit Conversions

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 644
Author(s):  
Chakali Chandra Sekhar
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Religious Conversion ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Christian Mission ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mass Conversion ◽  
Caste Structure

This paper significantly wishes to unpack the social and cultural impact of the mass religious conversion movements in Rayalaseema society with specific reference to Dalits during the period 1850 to 1880. This paper will use the archival material such as missionary records, magazines, pamphlets, and books written by missionaries; further, it will also utilize oral interviews collected from the field. The mass conversion movements established a relationship between Dalits and missionaries and brought them together. In their efforts to create a new Christian community of Dalit converts, missionaries had interacted with Dalits, shared meal with them, stayed with them and transformed forbidden and “polluted” ghettos into social spaces. The present paper argues that the practices of the missionaries were liberating and humanizing for Dalits. It will examine how these practices led to unintended consequences. It needs to be remembered that the missionaries’ aim was not to abolish caste but to develop Christianity. How did the missionaries contribute to social interaction and build a spirit of solidarity among the Dalit converts? Based on specific situations, incidents, and examples recorded in the missionary archives and oral interviews, the article observes that community conversion movements destabilized the caste structure and brought significant changes in the social life of Dalits in colonial Rayalaseema.

scholarly journals பாரம்பரியக் கூத்தில் பறையறைவோன் பாத்திரமும் அதன் மீளுருவாக்கமும்

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
T Gowrieeshwaran
Keyword(s):  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Art Form ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Traditional Arts ◽  
Caste Structure

The caste structure, which is deeply rooted in the culture of Tamil societies and its inequitable mentality, has a great influence on the traditional forms of performing arts carried on by Tamils.We often see caste inequality and gender discrimination reinforced in traditional chants that are mostly epic and mythologically centered. As a result, traditional performances have become increasingly predictable. The vast majority of artists who seek to speak of the progressive issues of the time are drawn to express their ideas not in the traditional arts but in the modern art form. In this context, the participatory research work on the koothu renaissance carried out at the Eelathu Kootharangu in the years 2002-2003 is proposed as a practical study to recreate the subject of traditional performing arts forms with the participation of the communities that follow them in a timely manner. In this way, this article examines the process by which the Valluvar community, which has been marginalized as a marginalized caste in Tamil culture, and the rhetorical character it represents, have recreated that character in a contemporary manner, questioning the structure of Eelam’s Vadamodik koothu.

scholarly journals Caste and Consequences

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-110
Author(s):  
G. C. Pal
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
The Social ◽  
Victims Of Violence ◽  
Caste Groups ◽  
Caste Structure

Abstract   Caste, a social institution in India, has significant implications on social legislations, affirmative action and group-specific development policies. In the modern society, the traditional caste structure however continues to nurture the unequal social interaction process among caste groups. This often translates into various forms of human rights violations against the groups at the bottom of caste hierarchy. The key concern is that resistance to such violations often leads to ‘caste violence’ of different forms. Although a body of literature that explains this caste phenomenon in the discourse of human rights and social justice, its larger consequences remains a neglected dimension. This paper, drawing evidence from a series of empirical research on ‘mapping caste-based violence’ in contemporary Indian society, sheds light on diverse consequences of real or perceived violence, emanating from ‘caste’. The analysis reveals that consequences of caste violence are manifested in social, economic, psychological and moral terms. The ‘victims of violence’ speak the language of suffering and deprivation in different spheres of life, having a bearing on the basic human needs of ‘belongingness’ democratic honour and ‘sense of security’. The apathetic attitude and slow response of state machinery towards caste violence often accentuate the social conditions to make the ‘victims of violence’ and their communities fall into the vicious cycle of caste oppressions and increased vulnerability to poor human development.

scholarly journals Locating Pawai in the Social Hierarchy of the Khasa: a Preliminary Note on Jumli Caste Structure

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 31-50
Author(s):  
Youba Raj Luintel
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Preliminary Note ◽  
Caste Group ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Paddy Cultivation ◽  
Local Ecology ◽  
Caste Groups ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Caste Structure

Until very recently, Jumla’s Pawai, or the Matawali Chhetri, have remained one of the very least understood caste groups in Nepal. In many sense Pawai can be considered as an unusual caste group and possess some unique yet paradoxical socio-cultural traits and claims. Overall, they represent Chhetri sub-caste, but in the Jumli caste hierarchy they are placed lower than Chhetri. They do not wear sacred thread called “janai,” do mostly worship masto, and in Bota village, some of them even offer liquor to their Hindu diety. This article attempts to explain the distinctive characteristics of Pawai in light of the Jumli caste hierarchy, and differs from some of the simplistic explanations of human ecological approach to argue that Pawai are simply the by-product of their cultural interface with the local ecology, or the reductionist arguments of identity politics that it is the ethnicity and not the class that differentiates society and forms different identity of the culturally marginalised one. This article first sheds lights on the social construction of Pawai as the kamsel caste group, takes into account the uniqueness of paddy cultivation in Jumla and its caste implications in the local political economy, and then compares and contracts the Pawai vis-a-vis the Jyulel to make an argument that the uniqueness of Pawai can only be meaningfully understood by placing them in their dynamic relationship with Jyulel. This relationship essentially entails a relationship of privilege and deprivation in terms of access to and ownership of jyula (as productive low lands). By implication, it is differential access to assets and resources that brings diversity and inequality in society and not the vice-versa. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v7i0.10436 Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 7, 2013; 31-50

The effect of worker loss on temporal caste structure in colonies of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.)

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 777-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Winston ◽  
Linda A. Fergusson
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Caste Structure ◽  
Eggs And Larvae

The influence of colony population and brood area on worker longevity and foraging age were investigated in the honeybee, Apis mellifera L. Workers began foraging at younger ages and had shorter life-spans in colonies from which a majority of the worker population had been removed than in control colonies. This simulated loss in worker population was similar to naturally occurring events in feral colonies such as predation, swarming, nest damage, and (or) disease, as well as to some common management manipulations performed by beekeepers. Foraging age was negatively correlated with the area of eggs and larvae and was not correlated with pupal area. These results indicate that honeybee colonies are able to adjust temporal caste structure in response to rapid changes in colony conditions such as worker loss. The flexibility in temporal division of labor may be based on the inactive workers increasing their activity levels following stress by compressing the normal ontogeny of worker activities into a shorter time span.

“Monastic Landlordism” in Ceylon: A Traditional System in a Modern Setting

1969 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Dieter Evers
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Political System ◽  
Caste System ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
System A ◽  
Caste Structure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Autonomous Development

Studies on social and political change tend to emphasize factors promoting change rather than factors maintaining or reenforcing an existing or a “traditional” social and political system. Among the topics studied from this point of view in Ceylon are the “disintegrating village” (Sarkar and Tambiah 1957), the caste system, a “system in transition” (Ryan 1953), the impact of population growth and colonial legislation on “land tenure in Village Ceylon” (Obeyesekere 1966 and Leach 1961), the development of a western political system and the newly “emerging elite” (Singer 1964), and the impact of industrialization and economic development on the Ceylonese community and caste structure and the “emergence of a class of industrial entrepreneurs” (Evers 1964). In all these booklength studies traditional Sinhalese institutions and values are depicted as distintegrating under the pressure of various factors of change and only limited attention is paid to institutions which effectively counteract westernization, modernization, and possibly change. It is perhaps interesting to note that in line with this way of arguing, the renaissance of Buddhism and the emergence of a strong Buddhist Sinhalese nationalism is viewed as a reaction to western influences rather than an autonomous development of Sinhalese society and culture.

scholarly journals (Epi)Genetic Mechanisms Underlying the Evolutionary Success of Eusocial Insects

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 498
Author(s):  
Kayli R. Sieber ◽  
Taylor Dorman ◽  
Nicholas Newell ◽  
Hua Yan
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanisms ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Reproductive Ability ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
Evolutionary Success ◽  
Non Coding Rnas ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Caste Structure

Eusocial insects, such as bees, ants, and wasps of the Hymenoptera and termites of the Blattodea, are able to generate remarkable diversity in morphology and behavior despite being genetically uniform within a colony. Most eusocial insect species display caste structures in which reproductive ability is possessed by a single or a few queens while all other colony members act as workers. However, in some species, caste structure is somewhat plastic, and individuals may switch from one caste or behavioral phenotype to another in response to certain environmental cues. As different castes normally share a common genetic background, it is believed that much of this observed within-colony diversity results from transcriptional differences between individuals. This suggests that epigenetic mechanisms, featured by modified gene expression without changing genes themselves, may play an important role in eusocial insects. Indeed, epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs, have been shown to influence eusocial insects in multiple aspects, along with typical genetic regulation. This review summarizes the most recent findings regarding such mechanisms and their diverse roles in eusocial insects.

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