Class, Caste and Gender: Some Processes of Social Stratification

Understand social inequality through sociological concepts of caste, class and gender.

Education has different impacts and meanings for different sections of Indian society. Students get different life chances and varied degrees of shares to the economic pie and dignity in daily life after they are educated. In this course, you will understand social inequality through sociological concepts and an exploration of caste, class, gender, language, region, and religion. Understanding these processes will help you envisage social change vis a vis the real challenges facing development and education in India. 

In the section on class, we look at this complex and multi-layered system and how it intersects with income, occupation, and caste. Using Weber and Marx, you will apply these perspectives to rural and urban class structures. 

In your study of the caste system, you will touch upon hierarchy, endogamy, occupational specialisation through a study of works of Dalit fictional, autobiographical writing and political treatises as well as Indian sociological theories and ethnographies. 

In the section on gender, you will understand how gender is located at the intersectionality of several systems of inequality, and how the social construction of gender impacts specific forms of the family and socialisation. We will study liberal, socialist and radical feminist perspectives as well as feminist movements in India. 

Classes include readings, discussions and thematic discussions.