Home >> Socio Short Notes >> M.N Srinivas and S.CDube's Perspective on Indian village

M.N Srinivas and S.CDube's Perspective on Indian village

S.C Dube identified six factors that contributed towards the status differentiation in the village community of Shamirpet –religion and caste, landownership, wealth, position in the government service and village organization, age and distinctive personality traits. Attempts to claim a higher ritual status was not a simple process. The group had to negotiate it at the local power structure. Dube pointed out the manner in which the caste panchayat of the lower or the menial castes worked as unions to secure their employment and strengthen their bargaining power with the land owning dominant castes.

To Srininvas the social world of the woman was synonymous with the household and kinship group while the men inhabited a more heterogeneous world. In the Telangana village Dube observed that women were secluded from the activities of the public space. It was considered a mark of respectability in women if they walked with their eyes downcast. The rules of patriarchy were clearly laid out. After caste gender was the most important factor that governed the division of labor in the village. Masculine and feminine pursuits were clearly distinguished.

Srinivas pointed out that the two sets of occupations were not only separated but also seen as unequal. It was the man who exercised control over the domestic economy. He made the annual grain payments at harvest to the members of the artisan and servicing castes who had worked for him during the year. The dominant male view thought of women as being incapable of understanding what went on outside the domestic wall.

Current Affairs Magazine