UPSC 2023 Sociology · 15 marks · 250 words
Is caste in India being substituted by class, or is caste itself functioning as class? Substantiate with studies.
What “Substantiate” demands
support the claim with specific evidence — data, cases, provisions, reports.
The characteristic failure: reasoning that never touches evidence.
What a top answer must contain
These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.
- Frames: Srinivas (dominant caste), Béteille (Caste, Class and Power — Sripuram), Dipankar Gupta (hierarchy vs difference)
- Caste-as-class: land-caste overlap data (NSS/IHDS asset ownership by caste), labour-market discrimination studies (Thorat-Attewell CV audit)
- Substitution evidence: new middle class, intra-caste class differentiation ('creamy layer' jurisprudence — Indra Sawhney)
- Jodhka's 'caste in the corporate boardroom'; sanskritisation vs westernisation contrast
- Conclusion: articulation, not substitution — caste-class interpenetration
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