Social Institutions: Continuity and Change — Caste, Tribe, Family and Kinship
Tribal Communities — Classification, Concept and Development
"Tribe" is a modern term for communities that are very old inhabitants of the subcontinent. The book notes that tribes are classified on the basis of permanent traits — region, language, physical characteristics and ecological habitat — and acquired traits — mode of livelihood and the extent of incorporation into Hindu society. By language, tribes belong to four families: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austric and Tibeto-Burman. They vary enormously in size, from very small groups to some of the largest — the book mentions the Gonds, Bhils, Santhals, Oraons, Minas, Bodos and Mundas. By livelihood they range from fishermen, food gatherers and hunters and shifting cultivators to settled peasants and plantation and industrial workers. The largest concentrations are in central India and the North-East.
The concept itself has a career. Scholars once imagined tribes as isolated, "primitive" communities untouched by civilisation; the book explains that this view has been abandoned, and that many tribes are better understood as secondary formations — shaped by long contact, often exploitative, with neighbouring states and caste society. Around independence a sharp debate on tribal policy divided opinion. One side argued that tribes needed protection — from traders, moneylenders and missionaries who would reduce them to landless labour — and this view is associated with the anthropologist Verrier Elwin. The other side argued that tribes were simply part of Indian society, "backward" sections to be integrated, a view associated with the sociologist G. S. Ghurye. The policy that emerged spoke of integration while promising protection of tribal land and culture.
National development versus tribal development. Many development projects — large dams, mines and industries — were located in tribal regions, rich in forests and minerals. The book cites the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada and the Polavaram dam on the Godavari, which displace large numbers of tribal people. The state's control of forests, begun under colonial rule, cut tribes off from resources they had depended on, and the inflow of non-tribal settlers in some regions made tribal people minorities in their own lands. These pressures fed assertions of tribal identity: the long movements that led to the formation of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as separate states in 2000, and political struggles in the North-East. A small but significant educated tribal middle class has also emerged.
Family and Kinship — Variation, Matriliny and Change
| Basis | Types |
|---|---|
| Structure | Nuclear — one set of parents and their children; extended (commonly called joint) — more than one couple, often more than two generations, living together |
| Residence | Matrilocal — the couple lives with the wife's parents; patrilocal — with the husband's parents |
| Descent and inheritance | Matrilineal — property passes from mother to daughter; patrilineal — from father to son |
| Authority | Matriarchal — women hold authority and dominate decision-making; patriarchal — men do |
The Khasi of Meghalaya are the book's example of matriliny: inheritance passes from mother to daughter, and the youngest daughter often keeps the ancestral house. Yet matriliny is not matriarchy. Authority over property and the family is exercised by men — above all the mother's brother — so control and ownership are separated. Khasi men are torn between their duties to their natal family, where they act as brothers and maternal uncles, and to their wife and children; the book notes that this tension weighs more heavily on women, who own the property but do not control it. More generally, the chapter warns against two myths: that the joint family was the universal traditional form, and that it has simply given way to the nuclear family. Family forms have always varied by region, caste and class, and they change in many directions.
Key takeaways
- Varna is the fourfold classification; jati is the many local hereditary groups. Caste is fixed by birth, endogamous, hierarchical, segmental and linked to occupation.
- The 1901 census under Herbert Risley tried to record caste hierarchy; the Government of India Act, 1935 gave legal recognition to the "schedules" of castes and tribes.
- M. N. Srinivas: a dominant caste is numerically large, landowning and politically powerful in a region.
- Caste seems "invisible" to the urban upper-caste middle class but is more visible for groups claiming constitutional protection.
- Tribes are classified by permanent traits (region, language, physical traits, habitat) and acquired traits (livelihood, incorporation into Hindu society).
- The tribal-policy debate set protection (associated with Verrier Elwin) against integration (associated with G. S. Ghurye); Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh became states in 2000.
- The Khasi are matrilineal but not matriarchal: women inherit, while the mother's brother holds authority.
Practice questions (8)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
The census of 1901, directed by Herbert Risley, is especially significant in the history of caste because it:
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Answer: D — Sought to record the social hierarchy of castes
The 1901 census tried to establish the social order of precedence among castes in each region, which led many castes to petition for a higher rank and made caste identities more rigid. It did not abolish untouchability — that came with Article 17 of the Constitution — and reservations in their constitutional form belong to independent India.Legal recognition to the lists or "schedules" of castes and tribes marked out for special treatment by the state was first given by:
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Answer: B — The Government of India Act, 1935
The Government of India Act of 1935 gave legal recognition to the schedules, which is where the terms Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes come from. The Constitution is the tempting choice because it carries the schedules forward, but it built on the 1935 lists rather than creating them. The 1850 Act dealt with rights lost through change of religion or caste.M. N. Srinivas used the term "dominant caste" for a caste that, in a particular region, is:
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Answer: A — Numerically large, landowning and politically powerful
For Srinivas, dominance came from numbers, ownership of land and political power — typically landowning intermediate castes such as the Jats, Yadavs, Vokkaligas, Reddys, Marathas and Patidars. The ritual-purity option is the trap: a caste can rank highest in ritual terms without being dominant in Srinivas's sense, because dominance is about land and power.In the classification of tribal communities, which of the following is an "acquired" rather than a "permanent" trait?
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Answer: C — Mode of livelihood
The book lists region, language, physical characteristics and ecological habitat as permanent traits, and mode of livelihood and the extent of incorporation into Hindu society as acquired traits. Habitat is the likeliest slip, because it seems connected to livelihood; but habitat describes where a community lives, while livelihood describes how it makes a living, which can change.Assertion (A): Among the Khasi of Meghalaya, property passes from mother to daughter. Reason (R): Khasi society is matriarchal, with women holding authority over property and family decisions.
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Answer: C — A is true, but R is false
The Khasi are matrilineal, so A is true. But matriliny is not matriarchy: authority over property and the family lies with men, especially the mother's brother, so R is false. Reading inheritance through women as rule by women is precisely the confusion the book uses the Khasi case to correct.Consider the following statements about caste as described in the NCERT book:
1. Caste membership is determined by birth.
2. Caste groups are endogamous.
3. Castes were never associated with particular occupations.
Which of the statements given above are correct?Show answer
Answer: D — 1 and 2 only
The book lists membership by birth and endogamy among the features of caste, so the first two statements are correct. The third is false: castes were traditionally linked to occupations, even though the link has weakened. A candidate who remembers that occupations now change freely can be tempted to accept the third statement, but it describes the past, where the link was strong.In the debate on tribal policy around independence, the view that tribal communities needed protection from traders, moneylenders and missionaries is most closely associated with:
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Answer: A — Verrier Elwin
The protectionist position is associated with the anthropologist Verrier Elwin. G. S. Ghurye is the obvious trap because he belongs to the same debate — but on the other side, arguing that tribes were "backward" sections of Indian society to be integrated. Risley is associated with the 1901 census and Srinivas with Sanskritisation and the dominant caste.In a patrilocal family, a newly married couple lives:
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Answer: B — With the husband's parents
"-local" terms describe residence: in a patrilocal family the couple lives with the husband's parents, and in a matrilocal one with the wife's parents. A separate home away from both is the pattern of a nuclear household, which is a matter of structure rather than of where a couple settles in relation to kin. Mixing up -local, -lineal and -archal is the trap to avoid.