Lecture 6
Lecture 6
A H M Nahid
Assistant Professor
Department of Development Studies
Islamic University, Kushtia
Lecture by A H M Nahid
Rac e v s . E th n icity
Race
Race indicates a human group
that defines itself and/or is
defined by other groups as
different by virtue of innate and
immutable physical
characteristics.
It is a group that is socially
defined on the bases of physical
criteria.
Some perceive race based on
skin color, ethnicity, nationality,
and even by species.
Ethnicity
Cultural practices and outlooks of a
given community of people that set
them apart from others.
Members of ethnic groups see
themselves as culturally distinct from
other groups in a society and are seen
by those others to be so in return.
Many different characteristics may
distinguish ethnic groups from one
another but the most usual are
language, history or ancestry - real or
imagined, religion, and styles of dress of
adornment. Ethnic differences are
wholly learned.
Sex v s . Gen d er
Gender Roles: Real or Social?
The prolific writer and famous scholar Margaret Mead worked on Samoan and New Guinea people.
Her famous work titled ‘Coming of Age in Samoa’ published in 1928 was a revolutionary work that
concluded that the development of an individual depends on the cultural expectations rather than the
biological traits and gender traits are not biologically but culturally determined.
So cial
Str atifi c atio n
Social Stratification
• To refer to social inequalities, the term social
stratification is coined by the sociologists.
• Structured inequalities between different groups of
people.
• Social Stratification indicates division of a
population into strata, one on top of another.
Common Factors…
Power,
Inequality,
Money,
Social mobility,
Social changes.
Slavery
Prospects
of Caste in ‘Untouchability’, the most undesirable
feature, has received a deadly blow
Modern
India
‘Untouchability’, says the new
Constitution of India, is abolished and
its practice in any form is forbidden
Class System
• Social class refers to a group of people
with similar levels of wealth, influence,
and status.
• Concepts of social class often assume
three general economic categories: a
very wealthy and powerful upper class
that owns and controls the means of
production; a middle class of
professional workers, small business
owners and low-level managers; and a
lower class, who rely on low-paying
jobs for their livelihood and
experience poverty.
Caste vs. Class Based on two fundamental characteristics,
we may differentiate caste and class, namely,
the closeness and sacredness of the system
• Class is more open than caste and as such, social
mobility becomes easier in it
• If a hierarchy becomes closed against vertical mobility,
it ceases to be a class system and becomes a caste
system
• The sacredness of the caste system in India consisted
in the belief that it was established with divine
sanction; hence it was everybody’s concern to fulfill his
caste duties in accordance with his dharma
• On the contrary, in the class stratification of society
nothing appears sacred or of divine origin