Homo Hierarchicus

The Caste System and Its Implications

By: Louis Dumont

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Paperback | 15 January 1981 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

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540 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
2.16 x 1.39 x 0.32

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Louis Dumont's modern classic, here presented in an enlarged, revised, and corrected second edition, simultaneously supplies that reader with the most cogent statement in the Indian castle system and its organizing principles and a provocative advance in the comparison of societies on the basis of their underlying ideologies. Dumont moves gracefully from the ethnographic data to the level of the hierarchical ideology encrusted in ancient religious texts which are revealed as the governing conception of the contemporary caste structure. On yet another plane of analysis, homo hierarchicus is contrasted with his modern Western antithesis, homo aequalis.

This edition includes a lengthy new Preface in which Dumont reviews the academic discussion inspired by Homo Hierarchicus and answers his critics. A new Postface, which sketches the theoretical and comparative aspects of the concept of hierarchy, and three significant Appendixes previously omitted from the English translation complete in this innovative and influential work.

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Preface to the Complete English Edition
Preface to the First French Edition Brief
Note on Transliteration of Indian Words
Introduction
Castes and ourselves
The individual and society
Individualism and holism
Rousseau on equality
Tocqueville on equality
Tocqueville on individualism
Necessity of hierarchy
History of Ideas
Definition: the word 'caste'
Main attitudes
Voluntarist explanation
Caste as the limiting case of known institutions
'Historical' explanations
Composite explanations
The period 1900-1945
After 1945
From System to Structure: The Pure and the Impure
Element and system
The place of ideology
The notion of structure
The fundamental opposition
Pure and impure
Segmentation: caste and subcaste
Hierarchy: The Theory of the 'Varna'
On hierarchy in general
The theory of the varna: power and priesthood
Caste and varna
Hierarchy and power
Regional status ranking (1901 Census)
A local example (Central India)
Attribution or interaction?
The Division of Labour
Caste and profession
The 'jajmani' system
Conclusion
The Regulation of Marriage: Separation and Hierarchy
Importance of marriage
Endogamy: the usual view and its limitations
Hierarchy of marriages and conjugal unions
Isogamy and hypergamy
Some examples
Conclusion
The classical theory: marriage and varna
Rules Concerning Contact and Food
Place within the whole
Notes on contact and untouchability
Food in general
Food and drink (water) in caste relations
On the history of vegetarianism
Power and Territory
Introduction
The territorial framework: the 'little kingdom'
Rights, royal and other, over the land
The village
The problem of economics
Caste Government: Justice and Authority
From power to authority
Supreme authority in caste affairs
The 'village panchayat'
Internal caste government
Relations between jurisdictions: authority in general
Concomitants and Implications
Introduction
Renunciation
The sect and its relations to the caste system: example of the 'Lingayat'
Tolerance and imitation
Diachronic implications: aggregation
Stability and change
Group kinetics: scission, aggregation, social mobility
Comparison: Are There Castes Among Non-Hindus and Outside India?
Introduction
Christians and caste
Caste among Muslims
The case of the Pathan of Swat
Caste among non-Hindus: conclusion
Fundamental characteristics for comparison
The school of 'social stratification': caste and racism
Castes outside of India?
Comparison (Concluded): The Contemporary Trend
The problem
Recent changes as portrayed by Ghurye
Complements
Is caste reinforcing itself?
From interdependence to competition
Provisional conclusion
Attempt at an inventory
Hierarchical society and egalitarian society: a summary comparative diagram
Conclusion Postface: Toward a Theory of Hierarchy




Maps
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Homo Hierarchicus

The Caste System and Its Implications

At a Glance

Paperback

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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