Much has been written on reservation in post-independent India especially post Mandal era and recently post the inclusion of the EWS criteria for reservation. This column is a sociological effort to understand the plural causes of reservation, its consequences for a social system synchronizing the best of both Weberian and functionalist methodologies.
There can be no doubt that Merton's theory of relative deprivation of a social group when comparing them with a 'reference group' is the root cause of demand for reservation. When community X or Y has less jobs, education, positions of power compared to community A or B, naturally there comes a demand for affirmative action to correct this system social strata that is building up.
Now, for long this has been largely based on Caste alone and several scholars like Louis Dumont conceded caste and caste alone is the prism through which Indian society needs to be analyzed. Reservation thus came to be an Ambedkarite step whereby politico-economic empowerment of socially backward and historically discriminated came to be the main goal of affirmative action in post independent India.
Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with PM
Inadvertently and unfortunately, this led to a surge in caste consciousness in India as Ghurye contends especially post Mandal era wherein the casteisation of caste that Gandhiji pointed to as danger of reservation has seeped through the Indian society.
Yet, it is beyond doubt that affirmative action has been a remarkable tool of social mobility for hitherto oppressed sections whether it be education, jobs, income or political power. The scaling up along the secular hierarchy of the Sanskritization ladder as Srinivas would call it became the positive fallout of reservation for the socially backward.
Today, reservation has gone beyond the social parameter into the economic. This may be seen as an acceptance of the Weberian trinity model of stratification that details class, status and power as the three fulcrums of stratification. An individual's position in society is thus not solely determined by one rather is a composite sum of the three, each to varying degree.
Thus, a person may be of lower class position but may be superior by his status position (which in India is caste) and vice versa. Whether these stratas are overlapping or cross cutting, it is no doubt the duty of state to devise a fair method of determining the social position of the individual and appropriately empowering him or her through affirmative action which it is attempting to do in this case.
Status and class position as Weber denotes are gateways of power and power is the Ambedkarite essence of reservation, the end goal that shatters the chains of subordination, humiliation and defilement the vices of untouchability. It is thus only natural to assume that class is also recognized and considered when devising a method of affirmative action.
The trinity model of stratification is wide enough that we can accommodate gender, region (think of the North-East) all in the status group beyond just caste and religion as it exists currently. Ironically, reservation then comes out to be a complicated business, just like Weber defines society, multi-dimensional, complex, incomprehensible in one go, thus what is required is a piece meal analysis, isolating each facet/ strata and understanding the need.
At the heart of this exercise is undeniably politics and power and rightly so, because this is the journey of society to find the Durkhmeian balance of division of labour, not in a dysfunctional, casteist manner but in a rightful, just, fair manner. In that way, it becomes an exercise for social solidarity to prevent conflict amidst the competition, the dearth of opportunities and the large demand.
Reservation can thus be interpreted to be an evidence of the pluralist model of power that Dahl put forward. No one pressure group has the power, each raises their voice, demands and the result is a bargain and compromise detailed out by the state in the sharing of the pie.
As sensitive a topic as it is, affirmative action is bound to be devoid of value consensus and communalism naturally arises as a dysfunction in the short term. Yet, this is not a Marxian revolutionary change, this is a slow paced evolutionary Parsonian change, effected by state, with sufficient backing by society to put in place a system that by differentiation and upgrading seeks to achieve an end goal of Integration in a longer period of time.
(Discalimer: The object of author's study is not to make a value judgement on the subject of reservation but to merely understand its relevance in the current social context through famous sociological teachings. Any hurt caused to an individual or community is purely unintentional)
One thing that needs to be stressed is that the end goal of reservation is national integration. And it indeed achieves it by ensuring and more fair distribution of power in the long run.
ReplyDeleteEven when some people choose to stay ignorant and promote fissiparous tendencies by attacking the constitutional scheme, it has stood strong and thrived across different political climes. This cannot be readily explained by reductionist terms like "populist politics". Rather, elaboration of reservation should be celebrated as a success of the scheme itself, even when we debate about the modalities.
Btw, my personal opinion is that while Class is indeed a metric, it is non-sensical in an Indian context to tie Class exclusively with economic standing. This is because the hierarchies of identities comes to play when a person with multiple identities (Poor & Snob Caste for example), compete with another (Rich & Oppressed Caste). As long as these contradictions aren't addressed, the economic criteria achieve nothing.
A more composite criteria - like economic status plus occupation of parents, geographical isolation etc would have been more effective.
Good observations
DeleteAn article I wrote long ago. It isn't as rigorous, just an attempt to demystify the topic -
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.hashin.me/2019/01/08/reservations-for-the-most-stupid/