Nelaturu Sreekanth ReddyAIR 151 · CSE 2024 · 178 wordsTheir whole copy
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Louis Dumont in his seminal work Homo Hierarchus: Caste System and its implications defines Caste system as a system of "ideas and values" and way of living.
Louis Dumont work on Caste
→ Louis Dumont borrowed "Levi's Strauss" binary opposites and applied it in Indian context.
→ His approach : Text + Context (Indology) (Structulist)
→ He used concept of "purity and pollution" to explain various aspects of caste
→ He also proposed "secular and ritual hierarchies" to differentiate aspects of status and power among caste groups.
Criticism of Louis Dumont work on Caste
→ The concept of purity and pollution are not universal.
→ According to Yogendra Singh, Dumont failed to understand impact of modernisation on caste.
→ M.N. Srinivas criticised Dumont for his bookish view of Indian society.
→ M.S.A. Rao criticised his brahmanical superiority by showing the hierarchy of Jats and Thakur landlords in north.
→ Dipankar Gupta criticised for the lack of empirical data.
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Eventoday, Dumont concept of Purity and pollution holds relevances as Aids patients, Transgenders etc are treated as pollution in society.