UPSC Sociology Mains Syllabus
Paper 2 – Indian Society – Social Structure –
(iii) Tribal communities in India:
(a) Definitional problems.
(b) Geographical spread.
(c) Colonial policies and tribes.
(d) Issues of integration and autonomy.
SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION AMONG TRIBES
SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION
It is the process by which a status hierarchy develops within any society or social group. For example, in a care facility for older people, social differentiation might be based on age, level of mobility, or physical impairment. The process of social differentiation generally occurs when inherited and socially acquired personal differences come to be used as the basis for accomplishing social tasks and filling social positions.
DEFINITION
Stebbins defines social differentiation as a “broad social process in which people are distinguished from one another according to age, sex, deviant, ethnic, and social stratification roles.”
SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION AMONG TRIBES
Social Differentiation by Kinship and Descent Groups
The status of a person, its rights and duties is largely determined by the rules of the systems of kinship and descent. The phenomenon can also be understood in terms of ascribed roles and statuses.
Social Differentiation by Sex
The most elementary basis for social classification is based on the biological division of human beings into male and female. Every society has some form of division of roles based on sex. In subsistence agricultural societies where people get their food and other needs by their labour from their immediate environment, women have a large share of the work of agriculture and domestic roles. Men are expected to perform heavier works which is generally outside home, such as warfare, hunting, fishing, and herding cattle.
Social Differentiation by Rank and Hierarchy
In tribal world, there are practices of recognising certain members and/or families by way of heredity. They are ascribed status on the basis of descent. This concept of differentiation is known as ‘rank’ system or ‘ranking’ system. In many societies, members of the higher rank are regarded as ‘royal’ families and those in the lower rank are commoners. But there may be still hierarchical order even among the commoners.
Social differentiation by Occupation
In the traditional sense, we see the role of the family as a crucial factor based mainly on production and consumption of resources. Such differentiation in terms of occupation in the familial traditional set up, are again, largely based on sex, age, expertise and other statuses such as being a father, a mother, son, or daughter and so on. In the modern times, many of these traditional norms would not be seen. The old practices have been eroded and have given way to modern practices. Modern education, modernization, and the need for diversification of occupations and specializations have demanded for a more elaborate and differentiated roles and occupations.
Social Differentiation by Education
Education has always been affected by the backgrounds of class, ethnicity, race and even locality. The phenomenon is also quite true in the context of the tribals and indigenous peoples in various parts of the
world. Social differentiation among tribals in India, by and large, show that the educated tribals as they go out of the village and look for decent jobs find themselves in a different situation which gradually leads them to adapt to the environment and adopt the norms and culture of the new environment, be it of town or of city in one way or another.
Social Differentiation by Religion
The existence of various religious groups and denominations have diversified the roles and differentiation of the tribals. A tribal group may be well differentiated from another tribal or non-tribal group who profess different religion. Even among the same religious group, different denominations or sects have created social differentiations.
CONCLUSION
Social differentiations among tribes and simple societies are mainly based on
descent, sex, age, rank and hierarchy inter alia. The patterns of social
differentiation among tribes differ from one another according to variations in
their social system, tradition and belief systems.
