lull

 

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

CASTE, STRATIFICATION, AN'D MODERNIZA‘I'ION
AMONG PEASANTS IN INDIA

presented by

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

meme in Sociology

Major professor

03W

0-7639

Eramtmuz av ’ I
WAS & SBNS' g!
snax swam mc LU
LIBRARY BINDERS

IPIIIBDI" Inn

answer

cas'ria, STRATIFICATION, AND MODERNIZA’I'ION
AMONG PEASANTS 111 mu

By

V. Tellis-Rayak

The present study is desimed, in its most general aspect,
to investigate the relationship between the hierarchical caste
structure of the Indian peasant society and the modernization
process. More specifically, it seeks to identify the complex
association of caste with factors that mediate beween the caste
positions of peasants and their modernizing conduct. These
intemediary factors can be preliminarily identified as economic
and social in their first and immediate association with caste,
and as access to modernizing sources in the second step associa-
tion with caste.

The questions that constitute the central problem of this
study are the following. Is the caste structure associated
with the differential modernized patterns of peasant behavior?
Assuming that there is such an association, is this relationship
direct or routed throng: mediating factors like economic class,

social status and power, and discriminatory access to modernizing
sources? In other words, what is the relative predictive strength
of the following relationships: (1) caste ascription and peasant
modernization, (2) caste ascription and the three intervening
variables: economic class, social power, and access to modemizing
sources, (3) the three intervening variables and peasant moderni-
nation, (4) the three intervening variables among themselves? The
relative strengths of these associations would indicate the path
and complexity of the relationship that caste bears to moderniza-
tion.

The data utilized is from six villages in India constituting
559 respondents who owned at least one hectacre of land and were
the decision makers in their households. These peasants were
studied in terms of their modernization which, in this study,
was a variable composed of modernized attitudes and the acceptance
of innovations as regards agriculture, health, and family planning.

The methodological techniques used were the following.
Firstly, two zero-order correlations between the five main com-
posite variables were computed. Secondly, another elaborate
zero-order correlational matrix was prepared using the fifty three
variables constituting the above five composite variables. Thirdly,
we used multi-variate regression treating separately modernization,

modernized attitudes, and modernized behavior as dependent

V. Tellis-Nayak

and the four other main variables in their composite and component
forms as independent variables. The strength of the proof lay

in the recurring patterns in the correlational matrices and the
mllti-variate regression.

The findings provided several surprises among which are the
following. The model we tested as regards caste being related
to modernization not on its own strength but through economic
and social factors, was largely disproved. Caste ranking shows
rolation to innovation on its own merit. Secondly, the very
concept of individual modernization as composed of modernized
attitudes and behavior proved to be of dubious validity. This
concept was then extensively critiqued in a final chapter.
Thirdly, social leadership, both formal and informal, seems to
be very little innovative, it shows signs of moving away from
caste structure, but it is still strong'in its economic base.
Pourthly, the concept we utilized under the label of access to
modemizing sources seemed to be the best predictor of moderniza-
tion behavior among Indian peasants, and perhaps stands as the
only simificant intervening variable between caste and moderni-
nation.

This study points to the conclusion that the very concept
of individual modernity may need to be radically reexamined in its

conceptual structure and in its Operational application.

CASTE, STRATIFICATIGN, AND MODERNIZATION

AMONG-PEASKNTS IN INDIA

By

. {\-

v3“;
. elliséNayak

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan.State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

DEPKHMMENT 0F SOCIOLOGY

1975

W
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For permission to use his data, I am indebted to Dr. Everett
)4. Rogers, Department of Comunications, Michigan State University.
It is possible that the conceptual model of this study, its selective
use of the data, and the type of analysis herein used, are not
necessarily consonant either with the original intent of the
vast three-nation study, nor its theoretical base, nor its author's
own conceptual and ideological leanings. Hence the nature of the
findings and of the critique in this study have to be evaluated
on their own merit and in the specific context of this study.
They may or may not reflect on the validity of the larger three-
nation research of Rogers.

For help that went beyond the call of duty, I am grateml
to Dr. Herbert Karp. For sustained interest and stimulation, I

am wamly thankful to my friend and colleague Dr. Krishna Kumar.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

immanemmrs. . . . . . . . . . . .
LIST or mus . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mommon . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Setting 0 e e e e e e e e o
The PIOblem e o e e o e e e e e

CHAPTERI. REVIWOFLITERATURE . . . . . .

I. Caste e e e e e e e e e e e
Caste Models . . . . . . .
General Caste Characteristics . . .

II. Modernization e o o e e e e
Teminological Problem .
Modernization: Societal and Individual

The Process of Rationalization-Individuation

The Objective Process of Rationalization

The Subjective Process of Individuation .

III. Modernization and Caste . . .
Caste Mobility: Earlier Period
Caste Mobility: Later Period
Corporate Mobility . .

New Caste Consciousness .
Adaptative Processes . .
Caste Dissolution . . .

IV. Caste and Modernization . . . .

A. Caste, Economic Class, and Modernization

Land and Caste Dominance . . .

Economic Mobility and Conment Caste Upgrading

Economic Class and Modernization .

iii

out

o e
mam O\ N-t

B. Caste, Social Status and Power,
and Modernization e e e e e e o o 0
Formal and Informal Social Power . . . .
Caste and Social Status and Power . . . .
Social Status and Power and Modernization .

C. Caste, Modernizing Sources, and Modernization
Planned Modernization .

MOdemiZing Sources 0 e o e e e e e
Literacy e e e e e e e o e e e e
M388 M6613 o e e e e e e o o e 0
Knowledge of Innovations . . . . . .

mm II. DATA 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

Sources 0 o e e e e e o e e e e e o e

SWIG e e e e e e e e e e e e
Questionnaire and Data Gathering. . . . . . .

CHAPTER III. HYPOTHE‘SES AND OPERATIONALIZATION . . . .

.Hypotheses e e e e e e e e e o e 0
General Statements . .
Specific Chain Hypotheses

II. Operationalization e e e e e o o e e o
A. Caste e e e e e e e e e e e

B. "Odemization e e e e e e
Modernized Attitudes-fibree Aspects . . .
Elnpathy e e e e e e e e o e
Achievement Motivation . . . . . .
Educational Aspiration . . . . . .
“Odemized BehaVior e o e e e e e e

0. Economic 01383 e e e e o e e o e e e
D. 80018-1 Status and Power 0 e e e e e e o

E. Modernizing Sources .
Change-Agency Contact
Literacy . . .
Mass Media icposure .
Urban Contact and Mobility
Knowledge of Innovations

iv

Page

37
3s
39
4o

41
41
42
43
45
46
47
47
49

51
51

52

55
56
56
57

59

61

62
62

6
6

P886

CHAPTER IV. METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Correlational Matrix . . . . . . 65
Multiple Linear Regression and Partial Correlations 68

m V. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS . . . . . . . 69
"Odemized Attitudes e o e e e e o o e e 69
800131 Status and Power e o e e e e e e 86
Theoretical MOdel o e o e e o e o e o 89
Contributions Of this Study 0 e e e e e e 95

CHAPTER VI. THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SYNDROME IN
MODERNIZATION STUDIES : A CRITIQUE . . . . . 95
The Modernization Syndrome in the Social Psychologi-

cal SChOOl o e e e e e e e e e e e 97
The Consensualist Perspective . . . . . . 99
$001.31 PWChOlogim e e e e e o e 101
Values as Independent Variables . . . . . 102
Education as Remedy . . . . . . . . . 103
Gradual-13m o e o e e o o e o e e o 104
miti- e e e e e e e e e e e o o 105
Critique o o o o e o 106
Inadequacy of the Consensualist Model . . . 107
The Fallacy Of Indifidualim e e e e e e 110
Lack Of Historicism e e e e e e e e e 113
Atomistic Analysis . . . . . . . . . 116
The Dysfunctions of Education . . . . . . 117
Graduali- and Sociological Realism . . . . 118
The Problems of Business Trusteeship . . . 120
smiem “Odemzation e . e e e e e o e 1 23
Conclusion 0 e e e e e o e e o e e o 125

3mm 0 O O O O O O O O -. O O O O O 127

LIST OF TABLES

Table

1. Zero order correlations: fifteen out of fifty
three variables 0 e e e e e e e e e

2. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernization as dependent variable and select
independent variables e e e e e e e e

' 3. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernized Attitudes as dependent variable and
select independent variable . . . . . .

4. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernized Behavior as dependent variable
and select independent variables . . . .

5. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernization as dependent variable and
select independent variables . . . . . .

6. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernization as dependent variable and
OOIGCt independent variables 0 e e e e e

7. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernized Attitudes as dependent variable
and select independent variables . . . .

8. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernized Attitudes as dependent variable
and select independent variables . . . .

9. Reg-essions and partial correlations with
Modernized Behavior as dependent variable
and select independent variables . . . .

Table Page
10. Regressions and partial correlations with
Modernized Behavior as dependent variable
and select independent variables . . . . . . 79

11. A classification of approaches to the study
of modernization . . . . . . . . . . 98

vii

LIST or FIGURES

Figure 1. Caste and modernization: the pattern of
relationships 0 o e e o o 0

viii

INTRODUCTION

The Settm

This study hinges on the two central concepts of caste
and modernization in India. By any yardstick modernization
as a process and a goal constitutes India's single most crucial
problem, for it relates directly to the viability and survial
of history's largest functioning democracy. The pace, path,
and progress towards modernization in India have to confront
the realities of the traditional social structure which is,
in great sections of the land, still predominantly characterized
by the caste system.

In a less developed country the modernizing trends can-
not be adequately understood only by the study of the progess
towards industrialization—often and largely initiated and
sustained by the elites—and of the rapid and uneven process
of urbanization. Any such study has necessarily to consider
the major bulk of the populace that resides in the countryside
and lives off the land. The modernizing behavior of these
villagers towards a successful transition from subsistence
to comercialized agriculture affects the quality of the
urban process, as well as the siglificance and success of

the country's industrialization effort. In India it is this

l‘)

peasant society that is primarily distinguished by the per-
sistence of the caste system. The present study aims at
relating the caste characterisitics of the Indian peasant to
his modernized attitudes and behavior.

The relation of the caste system to modernization is a
complex one. The. concept of caste as emphasizing its closed,
ascriptive system has been generally viewed as being far removed
from the concept of modernization with its stress on mobility,
achievement orientation, and rationality. This view neglects the
importance of the modernizing potential that lies hidden in many
traditional structures. when provided with a new political environ-
ment aid with economic incentives, traditional systems have some-
times shown surprising resourcefulness and adaptability in ex-
ploiting the Opportunities for economic, political, and social
gain and mobility. In the case of the caste strucutre, this new
behavior can result in progress towards modernization through
routes that are complex in nature and direction. This study
focuses on the complex relationship that exists between caste
structure and modernization.

The Problem

The present'study is designed, in its most general aspect,
to investigate the relationship between the hierarchical caste
structure of the Indian peasant society and the modernization
process. More specifically, it seeks to identify the complex

3

association of caste with factors that mediate between the caste
positions of peasants and their modernizing conduct. These
intermediary factors can be preliminarily identified as economic
and social in their first and imediate association with caste,

and as access to modernizing sources in the second step association
with caste.

The questions that constitute the central problem of this
study are the following. Is the caste structure associated with
the differential modernized patterns of peasant behavior?
Assuming that there is such an association, is this association
direct or routed through mediating factors like economic class,
social status and power, and discriminatory access to modernizing
sources and channels? In other words, what is the relative
predictive strength of the following relationships: (1) caste
ascription and peasant modernization, (2) caste ascription and
the three intervening variables: economic class, social status
and power, and access to modernizing sources, (3) the three
intervening variables and peasant modernization, (4) the three
intervening variables among themselves? The realtive strengths
of these associations would indicate the path and complexity of
the relationship that caste bears to modernization.

An implicit assmntion in this set of questions is the ex-
pectation of unidirectionality of the progression of relation-
ships from the caste variable through the intervening factors

to modernization. That is, for this study we have ignored the
reverse effects of the variables considered. Is this assumption
theoretically and practically valid?

A schematized form of these relationships constituting
the theoretical framework of this study is presented on page 5.
This study looks for the empirical values of the relationsips
which are expected to provide the basis for the theoretical argu-
ment concerning the direction and nature of the relationships
in the broader structural context of the social forces in
India.

 

.mmfinmsowvcaou mo 863cm ofi. «scavengers one 330 . _. enough

sowvouwvuflmscm o». ammo." mmooosm sowvgafioooz one oaaosoooloaoom IIIV.
“33505 803.033ng

 

333330: or. momma 35.3w owfiosoooloaoom use 380
”momma-.05 scavengonoz

 

 

scram one
33m dmwoom

.?

 

 

 

 

 

mogom
o c a
s .3. a onoz 333303 seesaw 3.30
on. mmoood

 

 

 

 

4

 

cacao ouaosooW_

 

CHAPTERI

KEVIN OF LITERATURE

I e Caste

Caste as a pervasive, well-knit, and legitimized social
system has been a unique, almost exclusive, historical character-
istic of the Indian sub-continent. The incidence of caste in
other societies bears features widely contrasting to the phe-
nomenon of Indian society. Any reference to the caste character-
istics of non-Indian sooieities, historical or contemporary,
would not necessarily contribute to the purpose of the present
study.

Despite the basic characterisitics of caste which apply
tln‘ouglout India across its variegated regional differences,
the understanding of the structure and operation of the caste
system differs considerably according to one' s analytic perspec-
tive. There have been different and distinct analytic models
that have been utilized in the studies of the caste system.

These models have differed according to the sources of data
utilized, the levels of analysis, and the emphasis placed either
on the cultural or socio-structural features of caste. These
differences have served different purposes and have yielded

6

different kinds of results.

Caste Models

The earliest and more well known of these models is the
varna model. This is a framew0rk which views society as a
system of form ideologically based, hierarchically arranged
categories: Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaishya
(merchant), and Shudra (menial worker). The fifth category of
the Harijan, composed of the ex-Untouchablea, falls beyond the
caste categories but is mnctionally associated with them. As
Srinivas points out, this model assumes that there are only
these five recognizable categories throughout India and that
they are clearly defined, static, and imutable (1966, p. 3).

he varna model is the societal view of the ideologically
dominant Brahminical group, and therefore it constitutes the
dominant view in the religious, Sanskritic scriptures which
provide a legitimizing, mythological, divine origin in the
hierarchized caste differences (Ghurye 1950, p. 57). The
early Arabian scholars who had access to Indian Sanskritic
literature stressed the vama view of Indian society. So did
the crientalists during the British period. Not only was the
classical Indian literature the primary object of their scholarly
studies, but also their elitist, conservative social background
stressed the political and social stability and order of the

caste system (Cohn 1968, p. 10). Srinivas suggests that the
varna model became popular during the British period as a result
of a variety of forces (1966, p. 6).

A historical transition occurred from the textually
based varna model to an operationally described caste modejl.
his view accepts realistically that there are literally hundreds
of locally based castes or sub-castes in India. Jati is the local
cultural unit, which is generally what is meant when one uses the
word caste. Members of a Jati roughly have the same traditional
occupation, comensality rules, rituals, and myths, and they form
a caste hierarchy with other Jatis of a region.

his empirical, kin-based view of Indian society was an
outgrowth of the effort of the British administrators to collect,
collate, and publish accurate information about the structure and
functioning of Indian society for the purposes of assessment and
regular collection of revenue, the maintaining of law. and order,
and the running of a centralized administrative system. The
official census-based view of the caste system, therefore, saw
it as one of separate castes and their customs. The empirical
data and their organization was influenced by the anthropological
interests and theories of the Victorian period and stressed the
cultural attributes of self contained caste units. All this
however does not deny that some scattered, valuable anthropological

research by Indian scientists has always existed (rarve 1961).

9

But the overwhelming thrust of the caste view during this period
seems to fall within.the framework here described.

A third theoretical approach to caste stress its structural
rather than its cultural comments. It seeks to study caste in
some of its following features: authority patterns, role of the
headman or caste panchayaths, property relations, mechanisms
of behavior control, inter-caste relations, caste rankings, regional
caste composition and distribution, cross-caste alliances, patterns
of political cleavages, changes, adaptations, and mobility in
time,space, and according to ecological incentives, etc.

hose kinds of social anthropological analyses of caste
developed through intensive field work by social scientists in
the post World War II era. This view of caste was greatly aided
by the extensive changes in the methods, theories, and subject
matter of social anthropolog, the independence of India, and
greater availability of funds for extensive research (Cohn 1968,
pp. 11ff).

General Caste Characteristics

Common to all these theoretical approaches to caste are
certain general characterisitics. Scholars have noted these
general features despite the numerical, hierarchical, and function-
al complexity of the system as it operates in different parts of

India, such as for example, when "some Brahmin groups are regarded

10

as so low that even Harijans will not accept cooked food from
them” (Srinivas 1966, p. 4). The following might be considered
the ideal typical characteristics of the traditional caste
system: (1) the horizontal stratification, (2) the vertical,
hierarchical order, (3) the systemic structuring.

In the first place the caste system in its horizontal dimen-
5293 is a segnentized division of self-contained, almost self-
sufficient, local groups. Karve describes caste as a more or less
cell-like structure which for many purposes is separated from other
similar cells and lives a life partly independent of them (1961,
pp. 31-32). Residential and social segregation according to
caste; caste-exclusive participation in important family functions,
social festivals, and religious celebrations; the existence of
caste panchayaths (councils) with legislative and punitary author-
ity over violators of caste rules—all these institutional forms
have given rise to the proverbial solidarity and loyalty of
caste members to the extent that they "render the development of
am cannon social feeling impossible. In fact, it is the negation
of the idea of society" (Pannikar 1955).

Just as important as the horizontal stratification is the
vertical relationship among horizontal ranks. The castes are
ranked in hierarchical order of ritual purity with Brahmin
castes generally ranked the highest and the unclean castes the
lowest. There are ritually prescribed relationships among all

castes, and functions within each caste, with the Brahmin caste

11

traditionally being the final decision maker on ritual castes.
Secondly, the ranking of castes is also traditionally associated
with specific occupations, based in large part on the character
of the materials handled and the functions performed in religious
ceremonies—this has the effect of reinforcing the ritual hierarchy.
”With the exception of a few open occupations, such as agriculture,
which may be pursued by amrone irrespective of caste, a large number
of crafts and occupations are caste monopolies and can ideally be
practised only by specific castes" (Dubs 1958, p. 27). The
occupational caste monopoly approximates the concept of property
rig'xts in the West; it contributes to social security and stability.
Thirdly, in terms of economic functions, the traditional
vertical relationships approximate those of the patron to client.
This arrangement known as the "3ajmani" system also determines
the distribution of the crops among the occupational castes for
services rendered to the amiculturalist in their respective fields
of sepcialization. The "jajmani" system has been described as
pertaining primarily to the North Indian context. However,
numerous South Indian equivalents or near-equivalents of this
phenomenon have always existed. Finally, in terms of dominance,
the vertical relationships between castes presents a very complex
situation. Not only are there complex forces involved, such as
numerical preponderance, economic power, political strength,
high caste rank, Western education and occupations (Srinivas
1955. p. 18; 1959, p. 15), but the changing pattern of combinations

12

of these components make for shifts in decisive dominance of some
castes over the others.

On the systemic level the caste can be described as highly
structured arrangements of social roles, in as much as they inply
a clear definition and regulation of behavior affecting great
areas of social life, low tolerance level of deviance, and severity
of sanctions applied. To begin with, caste is an ascriptive system
with membership being confined to those who are born of members
and including all persons so born (Taylor 1966, p. 45). Starting
from ascription by birth, caste governs most aspects of one's
social personality. ”Caste is a comprehensive system of life,

a religion rather than a changing social order, and the rigidity
with which its rules are enforced would put to shame the Great
Inquisition" (Pannikar 1933, p. 9). Religious legitimation for
the imtahility of the system is provided in terms of Hindu
theological concepts such as samsara, heme, and dharma, which
are intricately bound with it. Thus the interpersonal and inter-
caste relations are invariably expressed in terms of religious
and ritual pollution and purity.

'nie notion of pollution expresses strict prescribed social
distance and behavioral restrictions in the caste system. These
normative limitations affect primarialy contacts involving sex,
food, 'and ritual. Mom is among the most sacred of the caste
rules, and the most enduring. Elaborate commensality codes
prescribe what caste members can eat and what types of foods can

be given to or received from other higher or lower castes. Ritually,
rules prescribe definite functions each caste can perform in reli-
gious and social ceremonies. Even residential and physical distance
-as for example in untouchability—fom a part of the elaborate
caste code governing the lives of individuals. Generally, the
hidzer the caste; the more susceptible it is to pollution. The
severity of the system of sanctions and rewards is not only related
to religious ideolog, but also involves social sanctions, such

as excomunication and outcasteism which are partly responsible

for the origin of the outcasts untouchable category.

In trying to attain an ideal typical view of the caste system
we have presented a brief and almost frozen image. But it needs
to be emphasized that in practice the caste system offers quite
a fluid, complex and changing picture. Thus, for example, in the
case of marriage there exist cases where there are institutional
arrangements for intercaste marriages as among the Nayars and
Nambudiris of Malabar, the Kulin Brahmins of Bengal, and the
Patidars of Gujarat. The principle of descent may differ in these
marriages: matrilineal caste ranking of the child in Malabar, and
patrilineal in Gujarat. Hypergamw in these instances may not affect
the social rank of the married couple as in Malabar, or it may
have an equalizing effect as in Gujarat where the marriage slightly
increases the wife's caste rm]: and diminishes that of the hus-
band. This might create a fluid situation in which different

14

families, lineages or localized village segnents may strive to be
included in a higher caste or may be expelled into a lower one
(Harper 1968). This varied and fluid picture of caste can also
be documented in terms of sharply or fuzzily demarcated jatis,
due, sometimes, to their size (Mandelbaum 1968); isolated or
extensively and multipally interrelated castes (Srinivas and
Shah 1960, pp. 137611); recruitment into the caste by birth or
marriage (Fuchs 1950, p. 18, Mandelbaum 1968): formation of new
castes or assignment of marginality and non-caste affiliation

to offspring of ccncubinage (Karve 1961, p. 16): different forms
of political organizations and cleavages (Nicholas 1968) .

II. Modernization

Teminolggical Problem
In its conceptual content and scope the term "modernization,"

as it is frequently used, smacks of considerable imprecision,
ambiguity, and elasticity. In this it shares the nature of some
other sociological concepts like "secular," "alienation,” etc.
In part the confusion derives from three factors: the historical
change in the meaning of the tam—the term "modernism" has had
distinct philosphical and religious connotations in recent
Western tradition: its cultural and political implications when
it has been made synommous with "Westernizaticng" the fact

of its multidimensionality especially when these dimensions are

15

not exhaustively identified, correlated among themselves or shown
to be always present in a definite profile in a given case.
Further, the confusion also arises when modernization is con-
trasted with the equally ambiguous notion of traditionality, es-
pecially when this is done with an unexpressed value-implication.
At times the concept has been defined in a circular manner, as

for example, when Rogers defines modernization as a process of
becoming nontraditional (1969, p. 14). Sometimes the definition
has been of questionable utility, as when Inkeles admits that

his ”measures of modemity [do] not differentiate between tradition-
al and nontraditional people as they would be ordinarily defined”
(1966, p. 145). These qualities of modern man, he asserts, can

be found even in the ancient Greeks, the Maya Indians or the
Elizabethan Englishman. Some authors have defined the term for
their purposes arbitrarily, with its boundaries not filly congruent
with nor departing from those of other definitions conceptually

or in scope.

Modernization: Societal and Individual

Before discussing a general framework in which to view the
modernization process, we mar here identify some features that
have been generally associated with modemity. Modernity has
been viewed as operating either on the societal or the individual

level. Generally, modernization on the societal level has been

I

1c

the normal concern predominantly of economists, political scientists,
and sociologists with a bent towards the "structural approach."
The conceptual interests of such an approach are the different
institutional frameworks which serve as bloackages or provide the
opportunities or incentives to development (Weiner 1966, p. 10).
This approach is also associated with macroprocesses that consti-
tute the different dimensions of modernization: industrialization,
urbanization, bureaucratization, and secularization. Some of the
other commonly identified features of modernity on the societal
level are the following: rationalized and expanded institutions
pertaining to education, mass media, political participation,
market mechanisms, comercialized agriculture, rapid economic
growth, science and technology, abundance of entrepreneurship,
and opportunities for social mobility.

Modernization on the individual level has been the object
of study of many social psychologists and anthropologists. The
general assumption in this approach is that modernization of
individuals is the ultimate key to the modernization of society.
The specific objects of study in this approach are the motivations,
attitudes, values, and beliefs of modern man as contrasted with
those of non-modern man. Among the more famous concepts described
as a key motive in economic development is the one McClelland
(1961) suggests to be the "need to achieve,“ which is a desire
for excellence in order to attain a sense of personal accomplish-
ment. Lerner (1958) put forward the other well-known concept of

17

empatlw, "the capacity to see oneself in the other fellow's
situation, " as a crucial variable, which, along with literacy and
mass media, is chiefly instrumental in altering a traditional
individual' 3 life style. Some of the other individual characteris-
tics generally associated with the modernization process are the
following: functional literacy, cosmopoliteness, mass media exposure,
innovativeness, political activism, secular orientation, self-
reliance, a disposition to accept new ideas and try new methods,

a readiness to express opinions, an interest in the present and
future than in the past, a sense of punctuality, concern for
planning, organization and efficiency, a tendency to see the

world as calculable, a faith in science, and a belief in distri-

butive justice (Weiner 1966, p. 4).

The Process of Rationalization-Individuation

If one were to search for a more general underlying frame-
work in which theoretically to link the processes of societal
and individual modernization, one would have to have a recourse
to the theory of the dialectics of social structure and personality
based on the polar principles of rationalization and individuation.
We are arguing here that the historical trend of modernization
can be fruitfully viewed as one of the central themes in this

larger pattern of change in social and personality structures.

18
The Objective Process of Rationalization

The concept of rationalization is here understood as proposed
by Max Weber (1946) who utilized it as a methodological tool to
plot the dominant themes of modern social history, patterns of
thought, culture, and art in the West. For Weber rationalization
implied a progressive "disenchantment with the world," and an
increasing utilization of rational bases for social action. The
undercurrent of rationalization inWestern history has tended to
convert social values and relationships from the primary,
comunal, and traditional shapes to the larger, rational, imperson-
al utilitarian shapes of modern life. It has progressively tried
to eliminate the nonrational, the informal, and the sacredist
element from man's attitude, his organizations, and his thought
processes.

In one place the process of modernization is defined by
Weber as "the methodical attainment of a definitely given and
practical end by means of an increasingly precise calculation of
adequate means" (1946, p. 293). Thus, we may conclude, the
conscious selection of means that are inapprOpriate for the ends
one seeks is irrationality; while the unreflective and habitual
selection of means that may or may not be appropriate to given
ends is traditionalism (Faunce 1968, p. 32). In these toms the
process of modernization appears as a progressive widening of the

areas of conscious, rational behavior.

19

The Weberian use of the term develops the concept of
functional rationality rather than that of substantial rationality.
Functional rationality refers to the operation of the utilitarian
principle in the adoption of the best possible means for the
attainment of specified goals. This is often characterized by the
elimination of traditional nouns in favor of strictly scientific
criteria, by the division of ftmctions and roles, and by their
specialized development. Substantial rationality, on the other
hand, suggests the rational development of the total human person
and the total human society in terms of the totality of their
needs, rational and nonrational. It is in this framework that
Bellah's (1965) analysis seems important. He suggests that the
pathologies that have been associated with modernization have been
the result of "an increased effectiveness in goal-attainment with
no increase in the rationalization of the goal-setting process"
(p. 195).

In the modernization process, a concern for substantial
rationality and for rationalization of social goals inevitably
invloves an expression of value-preferences. Not the least import-
ant issue in this regard is the anticipation and decision as
regards the inevitable consequences of industrialization, the
preservation of some features of one's tradition, culture and
religion. The dilemma herein involved is well illustrated by

the Gandhian ideal of self-sufficient, independent Indian village

20

comrmmities that would be spared the ravages of industrialization.

Getting back to the rationalization principle, we find that
its inner logic leads to a progressive segmentation of functions
and roles. The rationalization of social structure gives rise
to increased differentiation, an elaborate and complex division
and specialization of roles, functions, and skills. Specialization
or professionalization connotes the emergence of autonomous bodies
of knowledge, norms and controls. Functional self-sufficiency
and operational intelligibility within their own boundaries
come to characterize the roles in this pluralistic situation.

The process of structural differentiation has affected most
sectors of life. Thus, religion has been demonopolized as econo—
mics, science, art, politics and other professions have been pro-
gressively divorced from religion' s overarching normative control,
as they developed their own self-sufficient, self-governing
norms. So too has the family lost its economic and socialization
functions to specialized agencies. The state has developed away
from theocracy to secularity, the legal educational, service,
and other systems have subdivided and given rise to autonomous
professions. Labor has been subdivided, skills and professions
have multiplied.

In this context rationalization has inevitably led to the
need of scientific management of social relationships, which
again is dealt with by Weber under his theory of bureaucracy. A
bureaucratic system which stresses external controls, functional

21

work allotments, and a hierarchized authority structure, is itself
a functional response of society towards a new rationalized
integration of man in the face of loosening traditional controls.
A highly differentiated, complex, fluid society calls for isti-
tutionalized, formalized means for accommodating conflicts and
opposing'interests. Viewed in.this light, this is a.higher and
maturer level of social integration, characteristic of more in»
dividuated persons. For, this integration is based on a web of
formal rules, not on unreflective traditional controls, on

free contractual relationships rather than on sacral, communal
ties.

Finally, the ultimate expression of the process of rational-
ization is found in.highly modernized societies where there occurs
an.institutionalization of change. These societies develop
mechanisms that generate and incorporate change in their social
systems. Investments are made for researching’change itself, for
investigating new modes of life, new means, new goals, new theories.
It affects the very attitude of man who takes all generalizations
and theories as tentative and subject to change in the face of

new facts and evidence.

The Subjective Process of Individuation

The growth of an objective pluralistic situation in

modernized societies which was spawned by the rigorous application

22

of rationality, corresponds to the emergence of a subjective
personality structure characterized by Eric From as "individuation,"
which is a gradual emergence of "man's awareness and conception
of himself as an independent and separate being" (1967, p. 37).
This individuality implies man's new "freedom from" external
controls from his. primary ties to nature and society. It implies,
in addition, a new "freedom to" exercise inner controls, to make
individual choices in one's social relationships.

Individuation as a historical process is analogous to the
psychological, biographic process of a nonnal human being in
its aowth from childhood into adulthood. In the earlier period
of social history, man was tied to his world and to his society
with primary, organic ties which gave him a certain corporate
identity and security. The stranger these ties are that "connect
the child with its mother, the member of a primitive community
with its clan and nature, or the medieval man with his church
and his social caste," the greater is the lack of freedom and
individuality (From 1967, p. 40).

The weakening of these ties that hold man integrally linked
to his economic, political, social, and religious environment,
is a necessary condition for him to grow into an awareness of
the possibilities and responsibilities of individual freedom
and action. The closed, secure, and highly structured world with
its limited, ' self-contained meanings, well articulated roles, »

and definite given means to attain fixed aims, now collapses

23

when its organic bonds are severed. The emerging individual thus
faces the possibility of personal choice in a differentiated
world full of complex functions, norms, and roles.

Rationality as a force is increasingly evidenced in the
objective social processes of life, while individuation as a
subjective evolution is a correlative resultant. Human conscious-
ness reflects the character of its social base as well as affects
it. Hence the thematic changes in the objective social processes
both influence and are conditioned by a correlated thematic change
in the subjective consciousness of man.

The history of Western modernization is illuminated when
viewed in the perspective of this rationalization-individuation
model. The application of rationality to social action set in
motion a process of change that has increasingly differentiated
and subdivided social processes to the point that change itself
has been institutionalized in modern societies. Correspondingly
man has experienced a liberation of consciousness. Luther and
Calvin symbolized and legitimized the breaking away of the
"Refomation Man" from the traditional, religious, economic, and
political authority of the Church. Protestantism legitimized
man's individualistic relations with God. Capitalism with its
new values and institutions of capital, market and competition
promoted man' s individualistic, instrumental, functional approach
to the world and his fellowmen. In the complex, pluralistic

world where an overarching nonnative order has geiven way to an

24

endless variety of sectors, roles, functions, and values, modern
man finds that he is now less subject to traditional, emotional,
primary controls exercised by the world and his community, and
that he has now to exercise inner controls of responsibility and
judgement in the face of a situation which has maximized his
options in life. . In the absence of traditional and emotional
controls which served well the function of social integration,
society now develops rational, contractual, bureaucratic norms
and procedures with which the modern, individuated man is asked

to participate consciously and freely.

In the light of this theoretical model the concerns of the
authors emphasizing the societal or individual aspects of modem--
zation can be seen in perspective. The approach of the former
stresses the infrastructural preconditions and the institutional
blockages or opportunities that affect the modernization process.
The latter, on the other hand, concentrates on the values and atti-
tudes of man that promote or hinder modernization. Our emphasis
here, however, has been the historical concomitancy and reciprocity
of the social and individualistic evolutionary change. At this
point we cannot engage in a discussion as regards which of these
polar principles, the social structural or the individual psycho-
logical, have the primacy either of time and/or of causality

I

over the other.

25

III. Modernization and Caste

In the relationship of caste to modernization, two aspects
can be distinguished, namely, caste viewed as a dependent variable
or an independent variable. Though the latter question is the
concern of this study, it is useful as a background discussion
briefly to suggest how caste, although assumed to be a rigid,
ascriptive system, has in fact proved to be flexible and adatative
under the varying ecological, modernizing demands in historical
and contemporary India.

Caste as a changing phenomenon has to be viewed in the
context of social mobility in the Indian system. Caste and social
mobility in the contemporary, post-independence situation sub-
stantially differ from the reality of the earlier times.

Caste Mobility: Earlier Period
Srinivas (1968) distinguishes a medieval period and the

British period which ushered in the modern period. In the earlier
periods mobility in the caste system had different characteristics
and ecological bases. In the pro-British era the unit of mobility
was generally the family and, through the influence of the family,
also the caste group. This mobility of the individual families

ahead of the caste group is termed by Srinivas as mobility throuda
the process of "fission" (1968, p. 191). "A necessary concomitant,

if not precondition, of such graduation was Sanskritization, that

26

is, the acceptance of the rites, beliefs, ideas, and values of
the goat tradition of Hinduism as embodied in the sacred books"
(p. 190). Srinivas provides references to several studies that
document this kind of a familial mobility.

In the medieval period the sources of this mobility lay
in the fluid political system and the open agrarian system. In
the absence of a strong centralized adminstration, leaders of
local dominant castes, ambitious tax collectors and officials
could take advantage of periods of confusion to found their own
chiefdoms. The king himself sometimes became a source of mobility
for individuals or groups, since he had the responsibility to
settle all caste disputes and the power to raise or lower the
ranks of castes as reward or punishment. The second source of
caste mobility was the availability of marginally settled lands
suited for cultivation where groups could settle and emerge as
new regionally dominant caste youps. In such a situation there
was a premium on human labor, initiative, and skill which often
involved spatial mobility

Caste Mobility: Later Period

In modern times both the features of caste mobility and its
sources were altered. The advent of the British brought in a
centralized political power as well as some Western conditions
such as the following: land survey, settlement, and tenurial

systems; new economic and educational cpportlmities; concepts

27

of legal equality, rationalism, and some forms of Western humani-
tarianin. These factors closed the traditional channels of

j mobility and opened new sources and systems of prestige and
power. With the coming of independence several new avenues were
opened: a representative democracy which places premium on vote
banks; the constitutional abolition of caste discrimination; the
elitist, reformist campaign against casteism; the demands of the
growing urban process and the factory system; the effects of land
reform, distribution of resources, and availability of credit

systems.

Corporate Mobility

In the setting of a new political, social, and economic
context, new needs and new opportunities have resulted in changes
in the caste system which have been varied. One of the features
of this new change is a different mode of caste mobility. This
process Srinivas labels as mobility by "fusion" as contrasted
with the earlier process of "fission" (1968, p. 199). It is a
process which contributes to the weakening of the pollution ideas
as well as is resulted by such a weakening. It is no more a
familial mobility as of old but a corporate mobility in as much
as the corporateness is functional for obtaining political power
and using it for the benefit of caste fellows. Accompanying

this upward mobility is the attempt to maintain the position

28

in the caste system and to preserve the system itself through the
mechanism of Sanskritizaticn or Westernization—which latter designates
a replacement of Sanskritic symbols, rites, etc., by Western ones,

and at the same time, a replacement of a religious caste hierarchy

by a secular one (Srinivas 1962, p. 51). The conceptual and methodo-
logical critici-> against the concepts of Sanskritization and
Vesternization does not directly bear on our present argument,

hence it is not reviewed here.

New Caste Consciousness

A second feature of the change in the functioning of the
caste in modern times is the emerging new consciousness of the
political strength of caste groups which tends to reinforce the
caste lines. Assessing the new role of castes the Rudolphs (1960)
K maintain that by creating conditions in which a caste' s signifi-
cance and power are beginning to depend on its numbers rather
than its ritual and social status, and by encouraging egalitarian
aspirations among its members, the caste association is exerting
a liberating influence. This new trend stresses less the negative
restrictions on social behavior of caste members as it did in the
past, but rather encourages positively the members to come together
and take collective action to preserve their identity and to seek
success. Antibrahminism, especially in South India, has been

one, and often successful, aspect of such a trend.

29

This integrative caste activity finds expression in such
diverse phenomena as caste journals operated for the benefit of
caste members (Harrison 1960, pp. 103ff), trade unions whose
membership often follows caste lines (murphy 1955, p. 76), caste
cooperatives, youth centers and clubs serving exclusively their
own caste (Barnabas 1958). Above all it is manifested in the
new functioning of the caste sabhas or associations to which the
Rudolphs (1960) refer. Initially these sabhas aimed at reforming
caste customs in a socially upward direction and at welfare
activities and institutions for caste fellows. With the coming
of a new political climate they have tended to become powerful
political and economic pressure groups and lobbies (Weiner 1965).

Several forces in addition to those above can be identified
which contribute to caste solidarity. In the first place the legal
"discriminatory protection” provided for the "backward" castes
and classes has encouraged their claim to caste identity to obtain
preference as a matter of right as regards seats in educational
institutions, scholarships, and jobs in the adminstration (Galanter
1961, 1963; Lynch 1968). Secondly, the political reality at the
local levels reflects caste lines and intersts such that caste
becomes a potent vote-catching device which is exploited as such
by politicians who consequently reinforce caste line behavior
(Barnabas 1965, pp. 59ff). Thirdly, caste as a system of locally
bound subgroups has received. reinforcement from the linguistic,

political, and adminstrative divisions which follow the regional

30

lines corresponding to caste distinctions. In the absence of
crosscutting loyalties or overlapping interest groups, the caste
groupings emerge as convenient vehicles for members to serve their
interests and self expression. Fourthly, the adaptative potential
of caste and some of its features do possess latent forces that
might be proving helpful in the face of modernization opportunities.
Singer's (1968) study of the Indian joint family and modern in-
dustry suggests such.a.modernity potential of tradition. He
concludes that "it is not at all true that the Joint family system
is structurally and functionally incompatible with these features
of'mcdern industry, and therefore either is a.maaor obstacle to

the development of industry or is inevitably destroyed by the
progress of industry." ‘Eis evidence "suggests that the traditional
Joint family system and.manw'practices associated with it offer
some distinct advantages for organizing an industrial enterprise”
(p. 445). Similar conclusions have'been suggested above concerning}
caste associations and modern political behavior. Similar ccn- ‘
clusions will be suggested below concerndng'religious features

of caste and.modernized behavior.

Adaptative Processes

A third feature of recent change in the caste system may be
tensed as the adaptative processes. Though Indian religion,
associated with caste, has been assumed to be a bulwark of tradi-

tionali- and fatalism incompatible with modernity (Weber 1964,

31

p. 270), modern scholarship has evidenced that India:s "basic
religious and cultural ways are by no means static, and they are
by no means incompatible with or obstacles to modernization"
(Singer 1966, p. 63). Some modernization of religious beliefs
in India has not been achieved through secularized processes but
by adaptation of traditional foms which coexist with secular
ideologies of socialin, communism, and rationalism.

One of these adaptations has been the reinterpretation of
the ancient religion so well exemplified by the words and deeds
of Gandhi and several other social refomers. A second process
has been what has been referred to as Sanslcritization. One variant
of this has been the process of conversion to Christianity or
Buddhism on the part of the low castes. A third process is that
of compartmentalization of the domestic and social sphere where
traditional and religious norms continue to be operative, and of
the industrial Sphere where modern and secular codes are operative.
A variant of this mode is the role inconsistency of some low
castes who claim a backward caste status for official aid-receiving
purposes, and claim a my: caste status in the social sphere. A
fourth process is that of vicarious ritualization whereby the
conflicts that emerge from the coexistence of traditional and
modern life styles are resolved by contraction of ritual time,
by symbolic observance, and by delegation of ritual responsibility

to women or professional priests.

32
Caste Dissolution

A fourth and final feature of recent change in the caste
system is the genuine dissolution of the caste structure in some
segments of the population and country. The fading lines of caste
behavior are principally seen in urban rather than in rural
sectors, among the elitist, better educated sections of the
people. The dissolution of the caste among these groups is
observable in the slackening of the rules of ritual purity,
endoganw, and in the incidence of economic and political alliances
that cross caste boundaries. The disappearance of the traditional
caste foms in some sections, however, does not imply the dis-
appearance of loyalties—religious, commal, regional, linguistic,
and even caste. Such loyalties have shown their persistence even
in the most modern of settings and societies. These particularist
loyalties can be expressed towards one's own caste group, even
when the traditional structure, forms, and functions of the caste
system itself are dissolving or changing beyond the traditional
definitions.

IV. Caste and Modernization

The primary objective of this study is the investigation
of caste as an independent variable as it affects the modernization

process. It is one of the major assmnptions of this study that

caste affiliation affects modernization not directly but indirectly

by way of economic class, social status and power, and preferential
access to modernizing sources. The following discussion therefore
will review the pertinent literature concerning caste, economic
class, and modernization; caste, social status, and modernization;

and casts, modernizing sources, and modernization.

A. Caste. Economic Class, and Modernization

In rural India three economic groups can be distinguished:
peasants with large or small land holdings, agricultural laborers
who derive most of their income from work for others although they
may have small nonfunctional land holdings, and nonagricultural
groups such as artisans and those employed in industry or
services. The present study is concerned exclusively with the
first of these categories.

Land and Caste Dominance

In rural areas where caste persistence is the strongest, land
remains the chief resource in terms of economic power and social
dominance. Thus the castes that have a greater proportion of the
land emerge as the dominant castes. The concept of dominance
suggests that the dominant caste has not only an easier access to
political, economic, and social benefits, but it is also affected
beneficially in its relations with all other castes, including

those ritually higher (Srinivas 1966, p. 13).

34

Generally, in the early independence days the pattern of
land ownership in rural India was such that the bulk of the arable
land was concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number
of big owners (Rosen 1966, p. 32). Despite wide-spread land refolm
and the curtailment of the power of the zamindars, individuals
aid acups still "hold amounts of land sufficient to guarantee
their continued hegemomr over individual villages" (Nicholas
1968, p. 269). This disparity common to many countries has a
unique feature in India in as much as the owners, tenants, landless
laborers, artisans, and those who provide services form permanent
aid hereditary caste groups. Land owners generally come from the
higler castes while landless laborers belong largely to lower
caste groups (Srinivas 1966, p. 12). Landholdings being concentrated
among the higler castes has been a fact that has been diversely
documented by, for example, Healey (1958, p. 32), Nicholas (1963,
p. 258), and harriot (1963, p. 135).

Economic Mobility and Cong'uent Caste Upgrading

 

Concentration of economic power along caste lines is not
a surprising historical process. In the earlier discussion it
was pointed out that historically there have been avenues open to
most caste groups to move upwards towards dominance within a
region. Rosen points out that "within the traditional system

there was a possibility for all except the unclean castes to

35

achieve either dominance or some of the major attributes of domi-
nance with respect to economic, social, or political power" (1966,
p. 196). It is important to note that the traditional ascent
towards dominance by a caste group has been accompanied by the
process of Sanskritization and the claim to higher ritual purity.
Thus whatever group emerged as an economically dominant caste in
a locality, ended up by upgrading its caste ranking. The case
of a low caste group, the Goatherds, who acquired land and success-
fully battered their rank on the caste hierarclnr has been documented
by Harriet (1968, p. 164ff). The general relation of economic
mobility to the Sanskritization process has been argued for by
Srinivas (1966, 1968).

Another issue as regards the congruence of the economic
power and casts superiority is the resultant conflict between
the upstart caste groups and the traditionally superior castes
like the Brahmins. Such economic, political, and social conflicts
have been documented (Lynch 1968). The lower caste successfully
emerging as a higher one often possesses alternatives successfully
to parry the attacks of the threatened higler castes. The high
castes have sometimes to fall back upon other devices to preserve
their social status. Westernization as discussed by Srinivas has
been one of these defame mechanisms of the higher castes (Gould
1961, p. 947). Urban migration and entering into modern professions,
to which they are educationally and culturally better suited, have

similarly been functional adjustments by Brahmins and other higher

36

castes. Legislation against absentee landlordism has also en-'
couraged these traditional high castes in the direction of these
modernized avenues and symbols of prestige. All this in turn has
helped the economically emergent castes to claim the local higher
caste status and has reinforced the congruence of the economic

strength with caste superiority.

Economic Class and Modernization

The relation between economic class and modernization among
peasants is evident both in terms of concrete studies and in
theoretical terms. Rogers's (1969) data for peasants in Columbia
clearly suggest the relation between economic class and innovative
behavior and attitudes (pp. 304ff) .5 In India Dube's survey of
commity development in two villages in Uttar Pradesh revealed
7% of the modernizing benefits going to elite groups and to
more affluent and influential epicnlturalists (1958, p. 82).

A 0.11. report of several villages in Uttar Pradesh found that the
amount of net capital investment was directly related to differences
in income and size of holdings (1961, pp. 29—44). Deals found in
Godalpur, South India, that "those who make adequate profits .and
have acquired surplus capital are the large landholders...." (1962,
p. 80). The Government of India Study Team on Community Projects

and the National Extension Service reported that there is a direct

relationship between the size of landholding for a youp and the

57

benefit derived from the innovative programs (Rosen 1966, p. 168).
Thus, concerning the various agricultural programs for development
for a decade, Rosen concludes that "it is likely that the larger
peasants were better able to take advantage of the new facilities
to increase their output and generally gained more than the smaller
ones" (1966, p. 169).

The explanations of the positive relationship between size
of land holdholdings and innovativeness can be several. In the
first place a farmer with a small amount of land may seek off-
farm employment or work as amicultural laborer to supplement his
family income. This may force him to neglect his own land (Danda
1968, p. 165). Secondly, Galbraith (1965) suggests the vicious
circularity of the poverty of the subsistence farmer. He wisely
does not attempt to risk adopting new inputs in place of the time-
prcven, thoudl low-yielding, techiniques. Thirdly, not only are
the larger farmers more credit-world's, but they use a larger pro-
portion of borrowings for capital investment, whereas the smaller
famer uses much of his debt for his greater consumption needs
(Reserve Bank of India 1961).

B, Caste, Social Status and Power, and Modernization

The study of social status and power in India is becoming
increasingly important as Indian democracy is outgrouing its
phase of elite political culture, which grew out of the nationalist

38

struggle and was associated with cities and towns, and as the country
is entering into a phase of mass political culture which is increas—
ingly associated with local leadership in villages whichconstitute
close to 75% of the country's population (Rosen 1966, p. 72).

The continued exercise of universal sufferage, proportional
backward class representation in local governments, the transition
in villages from subsistence to cash econonnr, local factionalimn
resulting in political coalitions, and the general increase in
political consciousness have all affected the traditional rural
politics and power patterns in the direction of representative
democracy. Yet caste ranking still seems to be closely associated
with the concentration of village level social status and social

power.

Formal and Informal Social Power

Social power positions in villages may be either fennel
or informal. The fomal institutions of power are either traditional
or elective. The traditional panchayaths have varying degrees of
formality and overlapping functions which involve inter- or intra-
caste relations, economic matters, and village level disputes. For
each of these there might even be a separate formal or infomal
panchayath (Rosen 1966, p. 19). The elective institution is the
government village panchayath with wide legislative and adminstra-

tive rights and duties. In addition, the formal power positions

39

would also include the headships of any governmental, caste or
business agencies.

Orenstein suggests a classification for informal leadership
for a Bombay village which may hold good for many others (1959,
p. 422ff) . Infomal leadership can be either sanctioned—which
in turn may be passive or active—or unsanctioned. Sanctioned
passive leadership, made up of "men of strict morality and dis-
cretion,” is drawn upon for advice, mediation or imitation (p. 422).
Sanctioned active leadership is made up of men, often involved
in fight for status, who command services of others, have power
over the fortunes of others, can organize village activities. Un-
sanctioned leadership, not generally legitimized, is made up of
men who base their power on force and use it to manipulate culture

and people for personal ends.

Caste and Social Status and Power

There is wide documentation that both formal and informal
social power positions tend to be occupied by hid: caste members.
Oscar Lewis (1953), Majumdar (1958), Dhillon (1955). Hutton (1961),
and Epstein (1962) have observed that socially influential actors
usually stem from higler caste and better economic class. The
infomal positions of influence which are often socially more
siglificant are even more closely high caste related as documented

by Harper (1959) in a Karnataka village, by Bachemeimer (1959)

40

in an Andhra village, by McCormack (1959) and Beale (1959) in
two different Mysore villages, and by Orenstein (1959) in a
Bombay village.

Regarding the socially non-dominant castes, Bachenheimer
suggests for his case study that ”lower caste leaders are clearly
allowed to exist only at the pleasmre of the upper castes" (1959,
p. 452). Lower caste leaders are essential to provide a channel
of coummication between village leaders and lower castes. But

they are careful to remain in this limited role.

social Status and Power and Modernization

Host of the literature suggests the closeness of the relation
not only between caste and social influence but also the relation
of these two factors with high economic rank. These three factors
serve to reinforce one another and to provide easier opportunities
for the acquisition of modernized attitutdes and innovative be-
havior. The relation between economic class and modernization
was referred to earlier. The relation between social power and
modernization among Indian peasants has been documented by Sen
(1969). The explanation seems obvious. Since most fomal p081-
tions of influence carry with them wide ranging rights and duties
both for village welfare and the implementation of modernizing
projects, their incumbents are in a favored position to have a

better knowledge of innovations and an Opportunity to exploit them.

41

Host of the informal leadership too is not only better informed
about village matters but has the capacity to manipulate people
and things for their benefit.

C. Caste, Modernizing Sources, and Modernization

flaxmed Modernization

A traditional village society is a relatively closed system.
Modernization on the other hand calls for some extra-systemic
linkages conducive to flexibility, adapatability, and acceptance
of new ideas. Hence not even that section of the peasantry which
is economically and socially dominant, can by itself hepe to achieve
great modemization success. The historic role of the urban sector
in inducing modernization of agriculture has been widely acknowledged
(Keyfitz 1965).

In contemporary India the role of inducing peasant moderni-
zation. develoves greatly on the process of planned modernization
in which the peasantry is brought into close touch with factors
potentially productive in innovative behavior. These factors
are here referred to as modernizing channels or sources. These
forces may be identified as the peasantry' s contact with the
government's planned change agency, its exposure to mass media,
its urban contact, its political iknowledgeability and knowledge

of innovations, and its level of literacy.

42
Modernizing Agencies

The chief change agency in the Indian villages is the
Community Development Organization under the jurisdiction of the
central government. It has a concentric organizational framework
with a project area of 500 villages each, several development
blocks of about 100 villages within it, and about twanty groups
of villages within a block. Its imediate responsibility, with
overlapping ftmctions, devoloves on the District Collector heading
a cadre of technical officers, the Block Development Officer, and
the Village Level Worker who is in direct contact with the villagers.
The organization' 8 interlocking formal relations with the village
panchayath differ from state to state.

Despite the problem of the sheer variety of tasks the
Village Level Worker is assigned, his lack of expertise in immediate
teclmical agicultural competence, the marginality of roles, his
cultural distance from his clients, aid the possibility of conflicts
in social and political matters generated by the pursuance .of the
program, he still possesses great potency as a change-agent in
inducing modernization. His importance may be attributed to the
relatively general lack of other alternative channels carrying new
ideas into the villages (Rogers 1970, p. 6-2). He is the carrier
of information of new techniques, motivator, and technical helper
who aims at Opening the village system, which is at a stable equi-

librium, to a process of change.

43

For the data of Stone (1952) and Petrini (1966, 1967) Rogers
points to the non-linear three-stage relationship of the change-
agent activity to the rate of adoption of innovations (1970, p. 6-5).
At stage I, the very early stage of an innovation's adoption, change-
agent activity has little effect on the rate of adoption; innovators
at this stage are poor in diffusing the innovation. At stage II
increased inputs of change-agent activity result in direct gains
in the adoption rates (5-205): innovators here possess a high degree
of opinion leadership and influence others' adoption. At stage III,
with about 15-20% adoption, further change-agent activity does not
have direct effects on the rate of adoptions; the further impetus
from the opinion leaders becomes more important. Thus the difference
rests on the influence-potential of the particular clients at each
stage.

Literacy

On a comparative perspective, India as a nation state is
among the most favorably placed of the less developed countries
in terms of its educational and itellectual traditions (Shils 1961).
Galbraith (1965) points to the fact that in terms of the availabi-
lity of a base of professional skills, India is in a position of
self-sustaining modernizing growth if capital resources are made
available to her. But this optimistic picture draws its evidence

from the elite urban cultmre rather than the overwhelming rural

44

masses. In 1950-51 the primary school enrollment for the age

group of 6-11 was 42.6%, while in 1965-66 the figure was 8096.

This indicates that education is a high priority item in the planned
development in India.

The relation education bears to modernization is summarized
by Rogers (1969, pp. 70ff). Literacy provides reading skill and a
consequent exposure to print mass media and the new ideas that
the meida carries. Lacking the initial mental skills for rapid
comprehension the literate peasant is able to control the rate of
message-communication in the print media, thus aiding a slower but
thorougl absorption. Literacy further aids the storing and retrieving
of technical and innovative infomation for delayed use. Literacy
also promotes growth of mental abilities helpful for modernization:
manipulation of symbols, abstraction, empathizing with strange
roles, and restructuring reality.

There are studies which associate the literacy rate of'a
nation‘and its economic development (Lipset 1960, Simpson 1964,
Oaplow and Finisterbusch 1964) as well as those which relate in-
dividual literacy to innovativeness (Lerner 195a, 1964, Deutschmann
1965, wright 1967, Herzog 1967, Schuman 1967). Both in Columbia
and India Rogers found the link between literacy and various moderni-

zation variables (1969, PP. 80-92).

45
Mass Media

Information from the larger society conveyed througl different
communication channels have an influence on agricultural innovation.
The change-agent is a direct commicator. Another channel is the
informal, interpersonal communication between friends, relatives,
and other cultivators. This is in contrast to the mass media.

Roy points to this contrast in terms of the effect on the knowledge
about innovation in Indian villages (1968, p. 56). There is
stronger association between higher lmowledge and use of the mass
media as sources of information, as contrasted with interpersonal
channels. It should be pointed out that in India the mass media,
i.e, the newspapers, radio, and movies, do carry information about
agricultural innovations.

' The mass media seem to be able to create a climate for modern-
ization among peasants which may indirectly lead to innovativeness
(McNelly 1966). Though Rogers and Meynen (1965) and Deutschmann
and Dale Borda (1962) in Columbia, and Rahim (1961) in Pakistan
indicate that a mass medium is seldom named as a specific source
in the diffusion of an innovation, data in Columbia (Rogers 1969)
and India (Rogers 1970) show that earlier adopters have greater
exposure to mass media communication channels than later adopters.
But earlier adOpters are no different from later adopters in mass

media credibility. The potential of the mass media in planned

development seems to be logically significant.

46
Knowledge of Innovations

An obvious source of modernization is the lmowledge about
the available new ideas and innovations. Such knowledgeability
is a function of the peasants' contact with the foregoing moderni-
zing sources. Not all knowledge leads to trial and adoption.
But these latter presume a prior lmowledge of the improved methods.

Both logically and empirically these modernizing sources and
channels—change agent contact, literacy, mass media exposure,
urban contact, and knowledge of innovations—are therefore shown
to be both interlinked and reltaed to modernization behavior.

That these modernizing sources are directly related to 1
other variables-caste, economic class, social status and power—-
is also obvious. This association is, in the first place, theoreti-
cal; as has been pOinted out, the socio-economic factors are inter-
related and causally connected with modernization. This connection
is unintelligible without its relation to the modernizing sources
on the basis of which modernization occurs. Secondly, the relation
of caste and the socio-economic variables is more than implied in
most of the references to empirical research that are adduced in
the review of literature above.

CHAPTERII

DATA

Sources
This study draws on data collected for a project which was

sponsored by the 0.8. Agency for International DevelOpment, was
conducted from 1966 through 1968 in Brazil, Nigeria, and India,

and was directed by Everrett M. Rogers of the Department of Com-
. munication, Michigan State University. The project was phased
into three parts. In India, in the first phase, 108 villages in
three States were selected for a village level study. In the
second phase, the focus was on the individual farmer; eight
villages from the original 108 were selected from which a sample

of 680 peasants were studied. In the third phase, six villages

of the second phase were selected to study the effects of controlled

communication experiments.

The present study utilizes the data of the second phase per-

taining to six villages out of eight where the caste system was

operative; the other two were predominantly Muslim villages.

47

4a

Smle

The selection of the sample of villages in three States,
Andhra, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, was more purposive than
statistical. The criteria of selection were the following: the
provision of variability in geography, in types of developmental
administration (Roy 1968, p. 8), in the success or failure of the
agricultural development as encountered in the first phase (Rogers
1970. p. 2-40).

The criteria for selecting the peasants within the six
villages were two. In the first place only and all farmers
Operating one hectacre (2.5 acres) and more of land were interviewed,
thus excluding the landless laborers who do not make agricultural
decisions, and those who cultivated less than a hectacre of land.
These latter find may of the innovations not practical for them.
Besides, the sample interviewed affects about 95% of the cultivated
land in each village and utilizes 95-98% of the available innova-
tions (Roy 1968, pp. 9—10).

The second criterion was of age. Only those heads of farm
households who were 50 years of age or younger were studied. This
excluded older members of farm households who sometimes claimed
to make farming decisions while their sons were often the real
farm Operators. Interviews were conducted with all farm Operators
meeting the farm size and age criteria for a total of 559 interviews.

The limitation of this data is that it pertains not to a

49

statistically random sampled group, but to a judgmental one meeting
the range of variation of meaningful dimensions of modernization.
This was necessary given the enormous difficulties and expenses

of the alternate approach. Several analyses have shown consistent
prediction by various factors within octmmmity variance. The

measures were devised to encompass the entire range of farmers.

@estionnaire and Data Gathering

The interview schedule construction occurred in four stages:
(1) unstructured observation of the social system, (2) discussion
and interviews with key informants, (5) pilot study of a small
representative sample with open-ended questions to determine the
usefulness and pertinence of questions and the range of responses,
(4) closed-ended interview schedule containing pertinent questions
with answer categories. The questionnaire content was kept within
the general outline of the three nation project and was theoretically
based on past studies.

The content, Operationalization, wording, and fonnat were
revised for India and they relied heavily on pertinent previous
studies (Sen 1966, Roy 1967). The questionnaires were translated
into the three State languages, Telugu, Marathi, and Bengali, and
protested for format and questions in two stages, and revised.

The data was gathered througl personal interviews obtained

by the'"invasion" rather than the "immersion" method by teams of

50

four experienced, trained interviewers led by a supervisor. The
data gatherers were all hired in India and in all cases had regional
familiarity as well as bachelor's or master‘s degrees in social
science. These features of the interviewers may have themselves
affected the nature of the data collected. Firstly, the data
gatherers did not possess an anthropological familiarity with the
social context of their respondents. Secondly, their educational
and urban culture might have set them apart in terms of intellectual
bias and empathetic relationships. Thirdly, they may not have
been able to detect or ascertain the truthfulness of the responses
received when the situational demands would make it desirable for
the respondents to conceal or distort the truth sort for in the
questions.

The team also coded the data, the code categories having
been established on the basis of the sub-sample. The coding'was

checked for random and systematic error.

CHAPTER III
'momlsms m OPERATIONALIZATIOR

The central problem of this study has been delineated in
the Introduction. In essence, it bears on the indirect and
ample}: relationship that caste has to modernization. The following

turpotheses have to be understood in this general setting of the

problem.

I. Motheses

Three sets of hypotheses are here formulated, first in their
general assertions, and then in the form of specific chain hypotheses.

General Statements

A. The relationship that the caste system in Indian peasant
society has to modernization is in itself an insignificant one.
What significance it has derives from the close association that
caste bears to other factors such as the following: (1) economic
class (so), (2) social status and power (SSP), and access to

modernizing sources (MS).

51

52

B. These socio-economic factors in Indian society are not
uniformly related among themselves or with modernization. Rather,
a higher rank on m and 85? tends to provide better access to MS
and thus preferentially to promote modernization.

C. Caste is related to modernization through an indirect,
three-step progression, namely, througl EC and SS? in the first
step, both of which lead to MS in the second step, which, in the
third step, leads to actual modernization.

Specific Chain Hypotheses

A. 1. Caste is associated with modernization.

I.e., hidler the caste ranking of the peasant, the greater

is his modernization.

2. But Caste is associated with threes socio-economic factors,
m, 88?, and MS, more closely than it is with modernization.
I.e., Caste ranking predicts ED, 38?, and MS better than it
predicts modernization.

3. And the three socio-economic factors are associated with
modernization more closely than caste is associated with
modernization.

I.e., so, SSP, and MS individually predict modernization
better than caste predicts modernization.

4.

B. 1.

CO1.

53

Thus caste is insiglificantly associated with modernization
without its intervening relationship with the three socio-
economic factors.

I.e., when controlled for 1113, SSP, and MS, caste is not or

very little associated with modernization.

As regards the three socio-economic factors and moderniza-
tion, as and SSP are individually associated with moderni-
zation, but not as closely as MS is associated with moderni-
zation.

I.e., MS predicts modernization better than either in or

SSP predicts modernization.

Caste is associated with In and SSP more closely than it is
with MS.

I.e., Caste predicts m and SSP individually better than
it predicts MS.

The relationships suggested in these hypotheses are referred

to in general in the literature reviewed in Chapter I. A more

specific and analytic explicitation will be attempted while

presenting the results of the computer manipulation of the

data. .

54

II . Operationalization

A, Caste

In the light of the earlier discussion we can define caste

...a hereditary endogamous, usually localized group,
having traditional association with an occupation,

and a particular position in the local hierarchy of
castes. Relations between castes are governed, among
other things, by the concept of pollution-purity.
Generally, maximum comensality occurs within the caste
(Srinivas 1962, p. 3).

In the determination of caste ranking the notion of ritual
purity associated with the giving and acceptance of food plays
a central role (Epstein 1962, p. 156). Marrict set out to
construct "an index which could accurately predict the caste
ranks of a locality while revealing the values by which highness
aid lowness of caste are locally judged" (1968, p. 137). Inter-
caste transaction, he discovered, was the master conception
related to village thinking about caste rank. His may-layered
matrix constituting the transactional model posits that food
transaction is essential to rank distinctions. In food three
honorific distinctions are made: the raw uncooked food is highest,
then comes the superior category of cooked food, next to which
is the inferior cooked food, and lastly food garbage and feces
which come at the end of this series of food categories. The

cardinal assumption in food transaction is: givers are higher,

55

receivers are lower.

For the data of the present study and the pretesting of the
questionnaire, a village by village complete caste list was
made and represented in a series of pictures containing some clue
to the ritual caste status of the persons in the picture. The
clues included food transactions. Key informants arranged the
pictures in a hierarchical order on the criterion as to who
accepted what cooked food or drinking water from whom. These
rankings yielded four broad categories of ritual caste status
for each of the six villages: low caste, lower middle caste, upper
middle caste, and high caste.

B, Modernization

The focus here is on modernization not on the societal
level but on the individual level. Individual modernization is
the process of substitution of an unexamined and habitual basis
for a conscious and rational basis for one's attitudes and conduct
as regards specified categories. By the modernization variable
in this study we understand the modernized peasant in the context
of agricultural, health and family plalming development.

Several attitudes and modes of behavior associated with
the modernized individual have been enumerated in Chapter I .
For our study the following modernized attittudes and behavior

of the peasant are taken into consideration: modernized attitudes

56

—-empathy, achievement motivation, and educational aspiration:
modernized behavior-—innovative decisions in terms of accepting

available agricultural, health, and family planning innovations.

Modernized Attitudes-JIMree Aspects

The three aspects of modernized attitudes here chosen
touch upon the important psychological aspects of the modernized
peasant. Empathy and achievement motivation are widely considered
to be crucial to individual modernization. Educational aspiration
for children is specifically essential in the village context
of the Indian peasant. Other modernization attitudes like self-
reliance, credit-orientation, deferred gratification, secular-
orientation, are not taken into consideration here. Their relative
insignificance for our population will be discussed later.
Another important issue to be considered elsewhere is why these
attitudes or psychological aspects of modernization are considered
to be the end results of an already modernized peasant, rather
than the prerequisite characteristics leading one to modernization
as is generally argued for by Lerner and McClelland.

m

Rogers (1969) discusses the origin, characteristics, and

the relation to modernization of the concept of empathy.

57

"Empathy is defined as the ability of an individual to project
oneself into the role of another person” (p. 197). It leads towards
role-taking skills in the prediction of the behavior of those

with whom one interacts. From Lerner (1958) on, it has been

held important for peasant modernizatiOn.because modernization
implies a trend towards complex social environments. The more
empathic individual has an open, flexible, adaptative approach

to new situations.

Empathy was feund to be an important variable.in.moderniza-
tion by Lerner (1966) in the Middle East, Eister (1962) in Pakistan,
Frey (1964) in Turkey, Rao (1965) in India, whiting (1967) in
Brazil, and Rogers (1969) in Columbia.

Empathy was operationalized in terms of questions bearing
on four>role-taking'situations, namely, those involving the
Block Development Officer responsible for developmental programs,
the panchayath president, the District Collector, and a day
laborer. The index was constructed by giving one point to every

positive answer.

Achievementhotivation

Aehievement motivation is ”the desire to do well, not so
mush for the sake of social recognition or prestige, but to
attain an inner feeling of accomplishment" (McClelland 1966,

p. 76). Its theoretical link to economic development has been

58

variously suggested by Weber (1930), Rostow (1961), Hagen (1962),
and McClelland (1961). It has been measured for whole cultures
by the content analysis of children's stories (McClelland 1961)
and for individuals by the projective technique (McClelland 1961),
sentence completion (Morrison 1964), and story telling (Pareek
and Chatoopadhyay 1965).

Rogers (1969) found for Columbian peasants that achievement
motivation is related to mass media exposure, political knowledge—
ability, cosmopoliteness, education, empathy, and educational
and vocational aspirations (pp. 256-266).

The operationalization of achievement motivation was the
response—agree or disagree—to the following statements: (1) work
should come first, even if one cannot get proper rest, (2) one
should succeed in his occupation, even if one has been neglectful
of his family, (3) one should have determination and driving
ambition, even if these qualities make him unpopular.

Educational Aspiration

Educational aspirations are the levels of fonnal education
desired by parents for their children (Rogers 1969, p. 54).
Traditional societies are presumed to have low educational
aSpirations.

In the Indian peasant context educational aspirations have

great modernization implications. They imply acceptance of

59

education as a significant method of improving one's condition even
when it demands sacrifices. Education is a long term investment
with deferred rewards, considerable current expenditure, and loss
of ready family labor.

For the operationalization of this variable the respondents

indicated how much schooling they would like to have for their

youngest sons.

Modernized Behavior

Innovativeness is the degree to which an individual adapts
new ideas relatively earlier than others in his social system
(Rogers 1969, p. 294). An innovator plays an important moderni-
zation role in developing societies by adopting alternative
methods, techniques, and values in the place of traditional ones
for achieving social goals. Innovators are characterized by
higher literacy, mass media expsoure, empathy, achievement
orientation, high aspirations, change-agent contact, and other
modernizing and modernization variables (Rogers 1969, p. 315).

The Operationalization considered innovations in agriculture,
health and family planning. In agriculture the adoption of ten
unit-weighted innovative items constituting mam-yielding seed,
fertilizers, tools, and insecticides were considered. The list
was arrived at after analyzing the data of Phase I of the project

the results of two pretests, and the submission of the list to

Guttman scaling and factor analysis in order to determine their
unidimensionality. The question was asked, "Have you ever used..."
instead of "Are you using...." This was because of the non—availabi-
lity, seasonal utility, or lack of rational utility of some of
the innovative items in some instances.

The same procedure was followed as regards innovations in
the spheres of health and family planning. As regards health
the innovations considered were the following: small pox vaccination,
cholera innoculation, bed bug insecticide, making drinking water
safe, malaria prevention, and modern child-birth practice. As
regards family planning the innovations considered were vasectomy

for males and the IUD insertion for women.

0. Economic Class

The theoretical import of this variable in its interrelation
with caste and modernization has been discussed in detail in
Chapter I. This variable is generally understood in the sense
of the Weberian concept of economic class (Weber 1946, pssim).

Our indicators of economic class to which the respondents belong
are farm size and panchayath tax paid. These indicators pertain
to two basic economic resources, namely, land and income. For
the data of the present study the two indicators show a correla-
tion of r=o.51 (Roy 1968, p. 32). Though related they do not

measure the same reality but two aspects of the economic power

 

 

 

61

of the respondent. This is so because the farm size of the culti-
vated land need not be owned by the respondent, nor need size
indicate a uniform volume and value of agricultural product.
Ownership of land and agricultural output are the basis of the
laid tax paid. In addition, the panchayath tax also includes
house tax. Thus in its totality the panchayath tax reflects the
respondent's net income—an aspect of his economic standing.

For Operationalization, farm size records the number of
hectacres the respondent cultivates, while panchayath tax records

the number of rupees paid to the panchayath by way of tax.

2‘ Social Status and Power

This variable has been adequately discussed in Chapter I.
The terms social status and power are taken in the Weberian tradi-
tion. Status situation, for Weber (1946), connotes the condition
of life determined by a specific social estimation of honor
which is normally expressed by a specific style of life from
those belonging to the specific circle (p. 187), while power
is the chance of a man or group to realize their will in social
action even against the resistance of others participating in
the action (p. 10).

Two indicators were chosen to measure this variable. The
first indicator is the formal leadership in the village which

is measured by the holding of office in the formal organizations

62

in the village. Office holders score one point for each office
held while non-office holders do not receive any points.

The second indicator is the Opinion or informal leadership
in the village which is measured by the unit-weighted nominations
received by each respondent from other respondents on the following
questions. The first question identifies organizing leadership
involving ability to contact officials and handle financial matters
affecting the village. The second question identifies overseeing
leadership involving supervisory work demanding trust and respect.
The next set of questions identifies leaders of specific ability
who would be sought by the respondent first for personal advice
and information on agriculture, credit, health, and marketing.
The raw score is standardized for the differences in village

sample size.

E. Modernizing Sources

As was explained in Chapter I, this variable was broken
down into the following components: cahnge-agency contact,
literacy, mass media exposure, urban contact, and knowledgeability

of innovations.

Change;A me: Contact

The theoretical content of this variable was discussed

earlier. Operationally this is an index developed by summing

65

the number of times a respondent talked with various extension
agents and the number of times he had observed agency-organized
demonstrations and educational movies on agricultural, health,

and family planning ilmovations during the past year.

Literacy

The theoretical aspect has been discussed earlier. Literacy
is the degree to which an individual possesses mastery over
symbols in their written form. The measure was functional literacy,
1.6., the ability to read a selection from the newspaper. The

score was the number of words read correctly.

Mass Media Exposure

Again, the theoretical argument has been given earlier.
This variable had four measures. Firstly, there were two measures
of unit-weighted direct and indirect radio-listening. The direct
listening was by the peasant himself, the indirect is through his
family members who might have more time (for radio-listening. The
two measures are only moderately related (Roy 1968, p. 66): they
are dichotomized for a "yes-no" answer. The third measure is
the number of commercial films seen in the past year. These
filmscare pepular in the villages and almost always accompany
some information on agricultural, health and family planning

innovations. The fourth measure is the dichotomized "yes-no"

64

answer to whether the respondent had read newspapers or had them
read to him in the past week. The summation constitutes the total

score on the mass media index.

Urban Contact and Mobility

This variable looks at the peasant's extra-systemic linkages.
There is reciprocal reinforcement over time of this variable with
other modernization variables (Rogers 1969, p. 149). Urban contact
and physical mobility of the peasant may be either for obtaining
credit or seeds at the headquarters, or for other non-agricultural
purposes. It is related to better information about innovations.
The measure here used asks whether the respondents had lived outside
the village and how frequently visited any town or city in the past

year.

Enrowledge of Innovations

We have discussed earlier the pertinent theory. Operation-
ally, the respondent was asked whether he knew about the ten
improved agricultural innovations and health and family planning
improvements which we have listed earlier. Knowledge of each

item carried a score of one point.

CHAPTER IV

WODOLOGY

There are two analytic tools which will be used to test our
model: the correaltional matrix and the multiple linear regression

with partial correlations.

The Correlational Matrix

There will be two matrices, the second one more elaborate
than the first. In the actual presentation these two will be given
in a mixed form.

In the first matrix the dependent variable and the four main
independent variables will be considered without subdividing each
variable into its component parts. This is accomplished by
constructing a composite index of each of the variables.

Each of the independent variables will then be correalted
(a) with the dependent variable, i.e. modernization (M), and
(b) with each other.

The confirmation of the theoretical model consists in the
pattern that emerges from this correaltional matrix. This

pattern, if it has to confirm the model, will have the following

65

 

66

features. (Refer to the diagrammatized model on page 5. C stands
for caste, M for modernization, EC for economic class, SSP for
social status and power, and MS for modernizing sources: r stands

for correlational association.)

The r between C and M is smaller than the r between(C and E!)

C and SSP

 

C and MS.
The r between m and M is greater than the r between C and M
but smaller than the r between MS and M.
The r between SSP and M is greater than the r between C and M
but smaller than the r between MS and M
'Jlle r between Ms and M is mater than the r between rC and M

ElandM

 

LSSP and M.
The r between C and Be is geater than the r betwaen C and M.
The r between C and SSP is Qater than the r between C and M.
The r between as and MS is Eter than the r between as and M.

The r between SSP and MS is mater than the r between SSP and M.

In the second matrix the dependent and independent variables
are not considered as individual wholes, but in terms of their
component items. Here, instead of correlating the integral
variables, (a) each component of the independent variable is

correlated with each component of the dependent variable, and

67

(b) each component of one indepedent variable is correlated with
each component of every other idependent variable.

The resulting matrix is similar to the one preceding
except that it will be more complex in that under each variable
the constituent comPonents will be shown in their correlation with
those of others. .

As confirmation of the theoretical model, the emerging pattern
of correlations will have to show the same overall direction of
correlational strengths as suggested above. The strength of the
confirmatory proof based on the correlational matrices depends on
the consistent directionality of the relational pattern involving
many variables and their subcomponents.

The limitation of this approach is that it does not afford
aw statistical test of significance. But the largeness of the
matrices and of the number of correlations would suggest high
non-statistical but meaningful confidence.

The actual correlational matrix presented in the next chapter
gives both the first and the second matrices, as described above,
in a mixed form. Further, because of the cumbersomeness involved
in presenting all the fifty three variables which we have used in
this study, only fifteen of these fifty three will be presented.
These fifteen contain both the composite variables as well as the
more important component variables which make up the composite

ones. Together they are capable of showing the central direction

68

in which the total results point.

Multiple Linear Regression and Partial Correlations

Because of the size of the sample we are working with, the
randomness of its nature, the normality in its population as well
as other features of our data, we are entitled to use this statisti-
cal tool. Its suitability rests on the fact that it provides us
with (a) the amount of variance explained by the whole group of
independent variables we choose to work with at a time, (b) the
amount of variance explained by each of the variables in the group,
(c) the significance level of the variance explained by each in-
dependent variable. When we compare different tables having
different sets of independent and dependent variables, we are
able to detect not only the contribution of each independent vari-
able, but, most importantly, the direction in which the whole
pattern of relationships points. This issue of directionality
is crucial for our analysis and argument as we have mentioned

above.

CHAPTERV

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

The expected results did not entirely match the actual
findings. Generally, they failed to confirm the theoretical
model which was tested in this stumr, and in parts where it did,
it was only with substantial modification. It was found that some
factors which are considered crucial to the theoretical model do
indeed play a vital role in the world of the Indian peasantry.
At the same time, the findings severely discounted other factors
that were logically anticipated to play an important role. Most
importantly, the results suggest a serious lapse in the very
substantive content of the concept of modernization.

In order to discuss the validity of the hypothesized model
in the light of the findings, it would be necessary in the first

place to analyze the major surprises that emerged from the
findings.

Modernized Attitudes

In the present study, in operationalizing the concept of

modernization an important distinction was drawn between a set

69

70

Simafizoemmemmemma
no: 35H can: as 0410 seam ages can as: can: use: macs awn Son cameo
00.? NN.0 0m.0 em.0 me.0 e0.0 «v.0 mm.0 mm.0 ma.0 0<.0 mm.0 ma.0 mm.0 0m.0 _aeaaapos .me

00.w v~.0 w¢.0 F¢.0 00.0 m—.0 0m.0 «0.0 mm.0 mw.0 0m.0 ¢P.0 m~.0 mv.0 meowembossH
mo eweoHsosx .ew

00.? NN.0 mm.0 no.0 «0.0 >0.0 mm.0 no.0 mm.0 ~>.0 00.0 ma.0 ~e.0 enamoasm
oases .mw
00.? mm.0 mF.0 F0.0 mm.0 0v.0 a~.0 me.0 we.0 >F.0 mm.0 0e.0 assesses .me

00.? 00.0 m0.01m~.0 am.0 FP.0 me.0 em.0 e~.0 0e.0 sm.0 posesoo

seamstmfiso . 2
00.? e0.01m0.0 m0.0 no.0 me.0 m0.0 90.0ne0.0 ma.0 soaeesaana
Rsoaeoosem .2
00.? «v.0 00.0 mm.0 09.0 m0.0 s0.0Imw.01 v0.0! sowvm>wpoz
vsmambownod .m
00.? mmoo OVoo ovoo fimoo Oreo mroo ONoO hflvmmam om
00.w NF.0 00.0 Fm.0 #N.0 wm.0 mm.0 Howbmnom
souafioeoa .l.
00.? rm.0 0N.0 F0.0 00.0 or.0 monspwvvd
eonsfioeoz .m
00.9 Fm.0 0N.0 NM.0 mm.o nowpmswsnocoz on
00.w VF.0 >m.0 mm.0 moossom
mfieefieeoz .e
00.? mN.o wr.0 Ho3om and
masses Hsaoom .m

00; 3.0 s38
oasosoem .N
00; 380 .P

8339? scans Bud «o to 833v. aosoaeeaounoo sense 88a .e mamas

71

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 2. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernization
as dependent variable and select independent variables.
Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs . Weights Significance

Caste 1.0615 0.2177 0.2012 1.0.0005

Econ. Class 0.3222 0.1028 0.0961 0.015

Social Status

and Power 0.0256 0.0939 0.0816 0.026

Mod. Sources 0.0503 0. 3853 0. 3868 I. 0. 0005
R2=0. 3196

Caste 1 . 6307 0. 31 34 0. 3091 < 0.0005

Econ. Class 0. 6881 0. 2075 0. 2052 < 0.0005

Social Status

and Power 0.0276 0.0931 0.0876 0.027
112:0. 2010

Caste 1.6663 0.3192 0. 3159 ‘ 0.0005

Ron. Class 0.7671 002370 002288 (0.0005
R2=0.1940

Caste 1 .9014 0. 3631 0. 3605 < 0.0005

Social Status

and Power 000439 001491 001395 00001
R2=0.1650

Caste 1 . 2042 0. 2467 0. 2283 ( 0.0005

Mod. Sources 0.0552 0.4273 0.4238 ( 0.0005

 

112:0. 3020

 

 

 

 

 

72

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TKBLE 3. Regressions and.partial correlations with.Mbdernized
Attitudes as dependent variable and select independent
variables.

Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs. Weights Significance

Caste 0.3465 0.1210 0.1298 0.004

Econ. Class -0. 0428 -0.0230 -0.0252 0. 596

Social Status

and Power -0. 0046 -0.0286 -0. 0292 0. 510

Mod. Sources 0.0108 0.1480 0.1635 0.001
R2=o.0534
Caste 0.4683 0.1677 0.1753 < 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.0354 0.0196 0.0209 0.649
Social Status
and Power -0.0042 -0.0258 -0.0266 0.552
R2=0.0322
Caste 0.4628 0.1662 0.1733 I. 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.0232 0.0134 0.0137 0.749
R2=0.0316
Caste 0.4822 0.1784 0.1806 ( 0.0005
Social Status
and Power -0.0034 -0.0214 -0.0213 0.621
R2=0.0319
Caste 0.3251 0.1157 0.1217 0.006
Mod. Sources 0.0101 0.1449 0.1530 0.001

 

R2=0.0517

73

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 4. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernized
Behavior as dependent variable and select independent
variables.

Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs. Weights Sigrificance

Caste 0.7150 0.1858 0.1690 (0.0005

Econ. Class 0.3651 0.1457 0.1358 0.001

Social Status

and Power 0.0303 0.1387 0.1201 0.001

Mod. Sources 0.0396 0.3817 0.3792 4 0.0005

R2=0.3315

Caste 1 .1624 0.2842 0.2748 (0.0005

Econ. Class 0.6526 0.2458 0.2427 < 0.0005

Social Status

and.Power 0.0318 0.1347 0.1260 0.002

R2=0.2175

Caste 1.2036 0.2918 0.2845 (0.0005

Econ. Class 0.7439 0.2844 0.2767 (0.0005

R2=0.2031

Caste 1.4193 0.3414 0.3356 4 0.0005

Social Status

and Power 0.0473 0.1988 0.1874 (0.0005

R2=0.1672

Caste 0.8791 0.2247 0.2078 4 0.0005

Mod. Sources 0.0451 0.4322 0.4319 (0.0005

 

32:0. 2949

 

 

74

TABLE 5. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernization
as dependent variable and select independent variables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs . Corr. Coeffs. Weights Significance
Caste 1 .0849 0.221 3 O. 2057 ( 0.0005
Econ. Class O. 3823 0.1228 0.1140 0.004
Memberships 6c
Offices Held 0.1 519 0.021 2 0.0183 0.625
Mod. Sources 0.0504 0.3826 0.3866 ( 0.0005
Caste 1 .6388 0.3132 0.3107 4 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.7299 0. 2212 O. 2177 < 0.0005
Memberships at
Offices Held 0.4083 0.0527 0. 0492 O. 21 3
m
Caste 1.9293 0.3649 0.3657 < 0.0005
Memberships 8:
Offices Held 0.7930 0.1019 0.0956 0.016

 

 

 

W9

75

TABLE 6. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernization
as dependent variable and select independent variables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs. Weights Simificance
Caste 1.0623 0.2179 0.2014 < 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.3229 0.1031 0.0963 0.015
Social Status 0.0262 0.0944 0.0818 0.025
Mod. Sources 0.0504 0.3856 0. 3871 l. 0. 0005
R2=0. 31 97
Caste 1 .6323 O. 3137 0. 3094 < 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.6901 0. 2083 0. 2058 4 0.0005
Social Status 0.0277 0.0923 0. 0868 0.028
R2=0. 2008
Caste 1 . 9058 0. 3639 0. 3613 < 0.0005
Social Status 0.0441 0.1475 0.1379 0.001

 

32:0. 1 646

 

 

76

TABLE 7. Reaessions and partial correlations with Modernized
Attitudes as dependent variable and select independent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

variables.
Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs . Corr. Coeffs . Weights Significance
Caste 0.3531 0.1 234 0.1322 0.004
Econ. Class -0.0366 -0.01 99 —0.021 5 0.645
Memberships 8:
Offices Held -0. 2406 -0.0563 -0.0572 0.182
Mod. Sources 0.0111 0.1519 0.1683 (0.0005
R2=o.0557
Caste 0.4752 0.1698 0.1779 ‘0.0005
Econ. Class 0.0401 0.0224 0.0236 0.605
Memberships 8:
Offices Held -0. 1 841 -0.0428 -O.O458 0. 31 5
R2=0.0334
Caste 0.4911 0.1812 0.1839 (0.0005

Memberships 8:
Offices Held -O.1630 -0.0388 -0.0388 0.364

 

 

R2=0.0329

 

 

77

TABLE 8. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernized
Attitudes as dependent variable and select independent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

variables.
Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs. Weights Significance
Caste 0.3460 0.1209 0.1296 0.004
Econ. Class -0.0438 -0.0235 -0.0258 0.587
Social Status -U.0044 -0.0268 -0.0273 0.537
Mod. Sources 0.0108 0.1479 0.1633 0.001
R2: 0.0535
Caste 0.4678 0.1676 0.1752 (0.0005
Econ. Class 0.0346 0.0192 0.0204 0.656
Social Status -0.0041 -0.0245 -0.0252 0.572
R2=0.0322
Caste 0.4815 0.1782 0.1803 (0.0005
Social Status -0.0033 -0.0202 -0.0202 0.639

 

 

R2=0.031 8

78

TABLE 9. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernized
Behavior as dependent variable and select independent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

variables.
Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs. Weights Sigiificance
Caste 0.7318 0.1885 0.1730 4 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.4188 0.1676 0.1558 6 0.0005
Memberships 8:
Offices Held 0.3925 0.0684 0.0590 0.1 03
Mod. Sources 0.0393 0-3753 0.3758 ’~ 0.0005
' R2=0.3216
Caste 1.1636 0.2827 0.2751 1. 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.6899 0.2604 0.2566 «0.0005
Memberships a.
Offices Held 0.5924 0.0959 0.0890 0.023
R2=0.2104
Caste 1 .4382 0.3420 0.3400 6 0.0005
Memberships 8c
Offices Held 0.9559 0.1520 0.1437 4 0.0005

 

H2=0.1530

 

 

 

79

TABLE 10. Regressions and partial correlations with Modernized
Behavior as dependent variable and select independent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

variables.
Regression Partial Beta Level of
Coeffs. Corr. Coeffs. Weights Significance
Caste 0.7162 0.1861 0.1693 (0.0005
Econ. Class 0.3667 0.1465 0.1364 0.0005
Social Status 0.0306 0.1380 0.1193 0.001
Mod. Sources 0.0597 0.3820 0.3796 0.0005
R2=0.3314
east. 1.1645 0.2847 0.2753 20.0005
Econ. Class 0.6554 0.2470 0.2438 (0.0005
Social Status 0.0318 0.1329 0.1241 0.002
R2=0.2171
Caste 1.2036 0.2918 0.2845 2 0.0005
Econ. Class 0.7439 0.2844 0.2767 6043005

 

112:0. 2031

 

 

80

of modernized attitudes and a set of modernized behavior. This
distinction proved to be crucially important. It brought to
light varied patterns of relationships between important
variables which remained hidden when analyzed under larger
categories.

One component of the modernization variable, namely a set
of modernized attitudes, was defined as the psychological character-
istics of empathy, achievement motivation and educational aspiration
for one' 8 children. The other component of the modernization
variable, namely a set of modernized behavior, was defined as the
behavioral characteristics of innovativeness.

Modernized attittudes, as it turns out, bears almost no
relation to any of the significant variables in our theoretical
model. Neither caste, nor economic class, nor social status
and power, nor modernizing sources are related simificantly to
modernized attitutdes. Even more importantly, modernized behavior,
which is its twin component in the modernization concept, is also
not significantly related to modernized attitudes. These results
contain important implications both in tens of the theoretical
framework which we have utilized in this study and previous research
literature on which this model was based.

One serious aspect of this finding is that it is in apparent
contradiction with a whole trend of writing and research in the
modemization field. McClelland (1961), Lerner (1958), Inkeles

(1959), and others have emphasized that among the most important

81

elements in the definition of modern man are his psychological
traits: readiness for new experience, achievement motivation,
future orientation, empathy etc. There is evidence in the present
research that this approach is not universally valid. Achievement
motivation and educational aspiration show no significant correla-
tion to caste ranking nor am correlation to economic class both
of which (i.e. caste and economic class) are good predictors of
modernized behavior; they show no significant relation to social
status and power which is not a good predictor of modernized be-
havior; above all they show no correlation with modernizing
sources, i.e., change-agent contact, literacy, mass-media exposure,
physical mobility and knowledge of innovations, which are indivi-
dually and jointly the best predictors of modernized behavior in
our study. In point of fact achievement motivation and education-
al aspiration show a tendency of negative correlation in.some
of the cases enumerated above. As regards the variable of empathy
‘we find that it is, if not negatively, still very insignificantly,
correlated to the variables enumerated above. iMost significant of
all is the finding that achievement motivation, empathy, and
educational aspiration neither individually nor as a set of modern,
ized attitudes show any relation to modernized behavior.

These results raise several issues. Firstly, it is possible
that there is a.methodological problem involved in this instance.

The Operationalization of the concepts of achievement motivation,

82

empathy, and educational aspiration may have given rise to biased
results. Thus, the questions on achievement motivation stressed
personal success over commitments to family and community. In the
‘village context in India family and community play vital structural
roles not only in.terms of psychological satisfaction but also

as regards factors that affect social status, community labor

and cooperation, borrowing, lending and exchange of goods, as well
as other economic, social, physical and even survival needs. In
this context it would be irrational for a farmer to respond affirm-
atively to these questions even if he agreed with them. The
questions on empathy stressed assuming the roles, among others,

of the Block Development Officer and the District Collector. The
nature and requirements of these official positions are such that
they are normalhy filled by highly trained personnel from outside
the villages. These positions are not only beyond the realistic
aspirations of the villagers but their high status, inaccessibility,
and lack of contact with the average villager put them beyond the
villagers' easy understanding’of their role and responsibilities.
It would be unnatural to expect a.high score on these questions.
Finally, as regards educational aspirations, though it requested
information both about one's wish for one' s youngest son's educa—
tion and its realistic possibility, it is not at all clear whether,
in the concrete constrained situation of the villager, his realistic

hope, or lack of it, does not actually temper enough his realistic

83

wish so that it results in a low score on the questions.
Secondly, as is implied in the above criticism,
modernization attitudes cannot be viewed apart from the social
structures in which the actors function. Howsoever desirable
these modernization attitudes may be defined and perceived to be
by the peasants, in order that the peasants score high on them,
it has to be assumed that there are no blockages to their legiti-
mate aspirations or realization. Structural constraints in the
form of lack of freedom, apporttmity, resources or rewards may
necessitate individuals to lower their aspirational levels. This
realistic attitudinal adjustment may even slip into fatalism
which is one of the psychological features often associated with
the traditional, non-modern man. It may be argued, however, that
fatalism and low-level aspirations are merely rational, functional
adjustments of the peasants for the purpose of avoiding the
frustrations, tensions, and alienations so characteristic
of modern man.

I Thirdly, a serious question need be asked whether
it is fair to assume that what has been defined as modernization
attitudes should be at all concomitantly present with modemized
behavior. This is implicitly assumed in most of the current
theory, but it is specifically contradicted by the present re-
search. Is it possible that the attitudinal syndrome is a reflection

of and response to the structure of values, ideas, norms, and

84

statuses in a culture, whereas the behavioral syndrome stems pre-
dominantly from an innate pragmatic sense that does not conflict
and can coexist with traditional attitudes? There is evidence
(Roy 1968, Rogers 1969, Ford Foundation 1970) which suggests that
Indian farmers have accepted innovations in family planning and
agriculture only to give them up for sound, pragmatic, self-serving
reasons totally unrelated to their traditional attitudes. Tradition-
al attitudes as responses to social environmental reality need not
prevent the acceptance of innovations. 0n the other hand, one
cannot ignore the real behavioral impact of subjective attitudes.
In the lidxt of the present research as well as other findings,

we might conceptualize a process wherein subjective attitudes are
in constant dialectical interaction with the behavioral needs
based on structural demands. At any given point in this process

we might expect an incongruence betwoen attitudes and behavior.

We might also expect within this inconsistency a tendency towards
resolution of this inconsistency. Thus over a period of time
different adaptative processes would make for a congruent fit
between subjective attitudes and behavioral and environmental
structures. The new attitudes and behavior, however, do not

have to take the so called modernistic patterns that have evolved
in the West. There is ample evidence that adaptative attitudes,
behavior, and social structures have emerged in a wide combination

of patterns in the new states. Thus, we are suggesting that the

35

assumptions as regards personality structure in the modernization
literature, and perhaps in social psychology generally, may have
to be radically reexamined.

Fourthly, it is particularly instructive to note
that modernization attitudes are only sliyxtly or not at all
related to caste, economic class, and social status and power.

It has been shown by Kumar (1969, p. 29) that the need to achieve
is actually negatively related to caste, i.e., lower caste groups
score higher on the scale than the upper caste groups. In the
present data the economically affluent, the socially well placed
and highly regarded individuals do not perform much better on the
achievement motivation scale than their lower placed counterparts.
0n the other hand, it is these very persons holding economically
higher positions in Indian society who show themselves to be the
most innovative in their behavior. Thus these findings are con-
sistent with our argument above that, the concept of modernization
attitudes may have only slight theoretical utility, and that its
importance is seriously relativized in the cultural and social
structural context of the Indian peasant.

Finally, despite the operational difficulties
mentioned above, the concept of empathy shows itself to be a more
relevant factor in modernization than the concept of achievement.
motivation. This is suggested by the consistently higher scores

on the correlational matrix, though admittedly the advantage is

86

only marginal. Perhaps empathy is a concept more relevant in

the theory of modernization and personality structure than the
concept of achievement motivation which smacks of being more
culture-bound as we have suggested in our discussion in the earlier

sections.

Social Status and Power

The second major surprise in our data concerns the
concept of social status and power. This concept was a composite
of social status as measured by opinion leadership and fonnal
social power as measured by memberships and offices held.

It was discovered that social status and power, either
in its composite form or in its components, bears none or negli-
gible relation generally to modernization and particularly to
modernization attitudes and modernization behavior. The same
holds true for their relationships with caste and modernizing
sources. These relations suggest the following considerations.

Firstly, there is one significant relationship that
stands out in this context, namely, the positive relationship
between social status and power and the economic class of our
respondents. This was anticipated in as much as formal positions
of power would. naturally be more accessible to persons of better
means, and that these very persons, as research literature indi-
cates, tend to wield informal power, which is here measured in

87

terms of opinion leadership.

Secondly, against expectations, social status and
power as a variable turns out to be only sligntly related to caste
status (r = 0.15522). This is particularly notewortmr in the light
of the fact that .caste is related to economic class as highly. or
as moderately, as social status and power is to economic class.
This suggests that though the caste system has not relinquished
its economic strength in Indian villages, social power is increas-
ingly growing away from it. This may be a reflection of the
changing bases of power in the Indian subcontinent. The advent
of democracy which has enfranchised all sections and castes in the
pepulation, as well as the practical implications of the "socialistic
pattern of society" as advocated by the political party in power
since 1947, may have ushered in the end of one type of monopolistic
power structure where caste, economic class, and social position
appeared to be reinforcing one another. In other words, high
caste ranking does not any more serve as a predictor of formal or
infernal social power in Indian villages.

Thirdly, the social leadership among Indian peasants
appears to be particularly lacking in innovativeness. And this
despite the fact that their social position greatly exposes them
to contacts with change-agents, which fact in itself normally
leads to a high degree of innovative behavior. It is possible

that the contact of the social leadership with the change-agencies

88

is on the bureaucratic level and in terms of power politics rather
than on the level functionally conducive to innovative behavior.
Further, it is not surprising that this leadership scores very low
on modernization attitudes, which latter variable in any case is
not found to be correlated with modernized behavior as we have
shown earlier. Neither does the leadership utilize its access
to othernmodernizing sources which do highly correlate with.modern-
ized‘behavior; thus, they score poorly on knowledge of innovations
(r = 0.14024), on media exposure (r = 0.00245), literacy (r = 0.16754),
and mobility (r = 0.15200).

IFourthly, in the matrix of correlations one or two noteworthy
points emerge. In the first place, whether on the high, medium
or low correlational level, social status (i.e. Opinion leadership)
seems to have an edge over formal social power (i.e. memberships
and offices held). This seems less surprising; Formal leadership
may depend more on traditional power bases such as status and
influence, whereas informal, opinion leadership would depend more
on pragmatic considerations. In the second place, several subtle
patterns emerge when.we break down the larger categories into
their components. To give one example, the social leadership
performs differently both as regards the knowledge and actual
acceptance of different innovations. This suggests that considera-
tions other than achievement motivation.might enter into the motives

of the acceptors of innovations on a selective basis.

89
Theoretical Model

These preliminary discussions bring us to the consideration
of the hypothesized theoretical model which is being tested in
this study. We have hypothesized that caste status affects
the modernization process not directly but through the intervening
variables of economic class and social status and power in the
first stage, and througn preferential access to modernizing
sources in the second stage.

In the light of of our findings this model does not hold up
in its entirety. Several profound modifications have to be
introduced if the model has to have any empirical applicability.

To begin with, as we have indicated, there were two substanti-
al surprises in our results. Firstly, the concept of modernization,
we discover, cannot be shply viewed as a component of innovative
attitudes and behavior. This distinction, though it does not
alter, does considerably accentuate, the direction in which caste,
economic class, social status and power, and modernizing sources
are related to innovative behavior. Secondly, the results show
that we had vastly exaggerated the contribution of social status
and power in the modernization process. Its relation is sub-
stantial as regards economic class, only moderate as regards
change-agent contact and the accepting of agricultural innovations,
but poor as regards most other factors which we have considered.

Caste status appears independently to have better predictive

90

value than was anticipated. It emerges as relating to modernized
behavior more closely than is economic class whose anticipated
intervening influence, therefore, appears to be severely discounted.
This conclusion emerges both from the simple correlation matrix
and the partial correlation tables. This conclusion suggests
two lines of thinking. In the first place, the caste system does
not seem to be losing its structural advantage as regards modern-
ization despite the profound counter forces introduced by the
democratic process in India. It seems to affect innovative
behavior on its own merit independently of its economic or other
bases. Secondly, our finding might suggest some emerging modifi-
cations in the process of sanskritization. This process hypothesizes
that economic and political upward mobility gradually integrates
itself with the caste structure: upwardly mobile groups tend
to assume the status symbols of the upper castes and ultimately
pass for upper castes. This would imply a high correlation between
caste ranking and economic class, and a caste relation to innova-
tive behavior as great as the relation of economic class to in-
novative behavior. This implication is not verified substantially
enough in our results. Possibly modern social change has a tendency
of affecting these processes in ways as yet unidentified.

Economic class as a factor in modernizing behavior of
individuals emerges as somewhat of less importance than was

anticipated. It does have a substantial predictive value,

91

although lower than that of caste. Interestingly, it is almost
twice as closely related to social status and power, than is caste
to social status and power. The importance of this fact has been
discussed earlier in terms of the shifting bases of social power

in Indian villages. In one instance, economic class seems to

have a very slight advantage over caste (r = 0.36736 vs r.= 0.36295),
and this is in their individual relationship to modernizing sources.
This advantage is too slight for economic class to be considered

as an intervening variable between caste as an independent variable
and modernizing sources as a dependent variable. Thus, even

this fact cannot be taken as a strong enough endorsement of the
validity of this section of the theoretical model.

One section of the model, however, seems strongly validated
by the results. The isolation of the factor which we have termed
as the access to modernizing sources seems clearly to be of strate-
gic importance in the understanding of the modernization process
in relation to caste and other factors which we deal with here.
Modernizing sources were Operationalized in tems of change-agency
contact, literacy, mass—media exposure, physical mobility, and
knowledge of innovations. Modernizing sources singly and as a
collective factor relate to modernized behavior (r = 0.50737)
more closely than an other factor in our model. The correlational
matrix and the partial correlation tables would warrant the con-

clusion that modernizing sources do serve as an intervening

92

between any and all of the independent variables under consider-
ation here and modernized behavior. The theoretical meaning
and validity of these relationships have been amply discussed
in our earlier sections.

In conClusion we might say that the theoretical framework
which we developed, basing our logic on preceding research, has
to a great extent been proven to be inapplicable to the peasant
world of India. Our Wpotheses about the intervening effect
of social status and power and economic class proved invalid in
so far as social status and power bears hardly any relation to
modernized behavior; and in so far as economic class bears a
lower level relation to modernized behavior than does caste status;
if anything, it is caste which would function as an intervening
variable. There emerged, however, indisputable evidence that
modernizing sources do clearly intervene in the effect that caste
and economic class have on modernized behavior.

In this light the caste system stands validated as a potent
factor in the modemization process among Indian peasants.
Higner caste ranking, quite apart from its. economic and social
power bases, provides preferential access to modernizing sources
which in turn 0penthe greatest opportunities to modernized

behavior.

93

Contribution of this Study

The contribution of this study can be summarized as follows.
Firstly, this study has distinguished caste, the components of
stratification, and the separate factor of access to modernizing
sources. Modernization has not generally been studied in terms
of these factors either in India or anywhere else. This study
has pointed to the crucial importance of the factor of modemizing
sources as distinguished from other factors; it has, in addition,
pointed to the primacy of caste effect on modernization behavior,
and discounted the contribution of social status and power.

Secondly, noteworthy relationships between several factors
were brought to light. This is especially the case with the
unanticipated effects, or lack of them, of social leadership
among Indian peasants. Its association with caste and innovative
behavior, we discovered, seems to contradict much of what is
being said in research literature.

Thirdly, and above all, our study tested and found wanting
a model that was logically constructed on the basis of existing
theories and research findings. This points to the fact that
not only may the social reality among Indian peasantry be
changing in directions unforseen by soCial scientists, but also
that there may lurk conceptual flaws and practical dangers in
some of the modernization theories fashionable among these

scientists. This is particularly true of the theoretical stance

94

of social psychologists. Some of their basic assumptions and
concepts proved to be the weakest, if not completely erroneous,
factors in the model we have tested. The implications of these
findings are further pursued in the following chapter.

The limitations of this study largely derive from the nature
of the data. Six out of approximately 500,000 villages are not
a representative sample either numerically or in their non-random
selection. But the purposive selection of the villages based
on both scholarly instinct and close and wide acquaintance with
the Indian villages point to the applicability of the conclusions
of this study beyond the specific data here utilized. The signi-
ficance of the conclusions somewhat suffers by the exclusion in
the data of the landless laborers and the smallest peasant who
both together form the bulk of the low castes. Though not so
serious, yet in itself important, is also the exclusion of the

women in the sample studied.

CHAPTERVI

'HIE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SYNDROME
IN .MODERNIZATION STUDIES: A CRITIQUE

This chapter emerges as a consequence of the kind of results
we were confronted with in the present research. In the categories
of the variables used, and in the assumptions and substance of
the theoretical model here treated, we have utilized a frame of
reference which is derived from the social psychological school
in the study of modernization. The nature of the results, and
especially the direction in which they point, seem to suggest basic
ambiguities and flaws in our theoretical framework as well as
in its underpinning assumptions. we have pointed to a few of
these in the analysis of our results. Here we would like to
mount a fuller investigation into the substance of the theories
that were our guide in this research, and which are here labelled
under the general name of the social psychological school in the
study of modernization.

In modemization research, perhaps more than in most other
areas, the conceptual axioms have been so culture-bound as to
result in studies of great magnitude and repute, but, at the

same time, of dubious validity and therefore of little usefulness.

95

96

This is generally true of the social psychological school. From
the viewpoint of the sociology of knowledge, an inquiry into the
social and political bases of the dominant theoretical categories
in this approach would not only promise to clarify sources of
contradiction and confusion, but also point up the cultural and
social biases of the research.methodology and conclusions.

The purpose of the present chapter'however are not those
of the sociology of knowledge. Neither is the intention here
to analyze the individual positions of some reputed authors, nor
is it dissect the more prominent and generally prevalent concepts.
Rather the aim here is to identify the distinctive features of one
school of thought in the study of modernization. we will attempt
to describe the set of theoretical assumptions, premises, con-
ceptual categories, and policy implications which are commonly
shared by the authors who belong to this school.

Despite the divergences on individual issues, approaches,
and concepts, the general theoretical direction and perspectives
of authors within this framework coincide well enough to be described
as a school of thought. Individual scholars may well repudiate
either the suggested label or the implications of being classified
in some particular school of thought. However, without making'
any reference to the intellectual commitment or political roles
of individual authors, we have used here the sole criterion of

\

the theoretical congruence of their major concepts with the

97

distinctive trend which is here studied. The individual features
described may not be present in each of the authors who shares
the perspective. Rather, these features are abstracted and
presented as a whole, with the implication that they are not only
theoretically congruent, but also reinforce one another.

Next it is the intention here to analyze these features of

the approach and suggest the bases of its weakness.

The Modernization Syndrome
in the Social Psychological School

To place the matter in a broad context we might point out
that studies of modernization have differed widely along*several
dimensions. Horowitz (1966, p. 394) refers to two different trends
of studies asthe entrepreneurial and structural, which correspond
roughly to Weiner's (1966, p. 10) categories of psychological
and structural studies. MhnningflNash (1963, p. 5) classifies
modernization studies into three modes: (a) the index mode which
contrasts poor economies ideal typically to the rich ones, (b) the
acculturation view which considers the diffusion of knowledge,
skills, values, and institutions from the rich to poor countries,
and (c) the analytic mode which studies the process as it now
occurs in less developed countries.

‘Viewing the matter differently, we suggest another kind of

classification, tentative and incomplete, on the following page.

8
9

J

$9on8" Hmoavwaoa one owfiofloooloaoosv
A? .gm .svurowom .835 umoooum .naofimoflofioom

Aspnooo £3,385 omoooua onuosooo .dooumodooa
monoo: .m .55 umooowm Hsoawovuwm

‘
1

Amour: .9302 .5 :oevaovsH H3332

Tove omen. gasses? Jams—Hos .mopaaov
Aefiafismam .fifiupfio 6.38 «$383 3°33“ng
L

4
33a .3238 68pm

Isomwmv msowvngofin 3mg mo vaoaaoaogv was Huang ..

33.8” 3863.3" .3335 538% Mo mow—3m

.\
Amuowom Tove Pinned.” .mmofioonosm .hoshofiaaav 1

.33qu #2595 radonouvwdfi no 33.3% #69350 ..

73b hawowmaooam anon—band .Ewdsmnobgv
Asvaaooom .3335 $3399? shovesnfi

J
093:0
. 0.33.3:
0.33%

. season
03sec
cavuhm

1330on

033m

 

a

 

 

283.3

.. 1398
3%

ween».
door.“

253383

asst
mo voonpo
.ws oflfiofim

 

k

Tops 3.30.303 .msofimadonv J

232m iota £9 8 sauna...“

$333 $253 .qomsm 68:30on «was 3 gunfire

a

Ho «330
ms osdob

 

fiapuuafioao: «o 85pm on» 3 8s88fi< «0 gavuoflaafiflo 4 . 2 sea

4

 

99

It highlights the main object of the studies as well as some
other variables. It is incomplete in so far as a similar and
fuller classification would tabularly list and compare such
items in the various theories as the following: their unit of
analysis,their theoretical and ideological assumptions, the
uni/multilinearity of their analysis, their consensus/conflict
perspective, their elite/mass orientation, the chief‘agencies of
developemnt, the rolse of coercion and of the public sector,
the policy implications etc. Such a detailed clasification
would readily indicate the distinctive trends in the various
theoretical anlyses.

Our interest here concerns specifically what we have termed
the social psychological school. Perhaps with some injustice to
this theoretical framework, we will consider’here only a few
salient features of the approach. Not much attention will be
given to the fine distinctions and nuances of each characteristic.
Rather, only a brief summary of the central concept will be
presented. we will consider the following features: the consensua-
list perspective, social psychologism, values as independent

variable, education as remedy, gradualism, and elitism.

The Consensualist Perspective

As regards its most general and sytemic feature, this approach

to modernization.can be characterized as approximating a

100

consensual model. In sociology the word consensus has been used
in different meanings (Horowitz 1966, p. 367). In its relation
to develOpmental theories consensus models focus on the following.

Ideal-typically in this approach the maintenance of social
equilibrium is emphasized (Parsons 1961). It is implicit that
an increase in social consensus yields an increase in functional
efficacy and democratic polity. It is further implied that the
society rests upon a contractual or informal agreement made
between equals to secure common goals. This notion of stable
structures which are in equilibrium tends to stress the realities
of social status over those of class, to emphasize similarities,
continuities and common goals over polycentric interests, social
differences, social cleavages, and social change.

Basing themselves primarily on the experience of developed
countries, the consensualists show great respect for the regularities
that obtain in the amazingly complex organization and specialization
in industrial economies. Dissensus and conflict are viewed as
dysfunctional, destructive, almost as disorganization. 1Moore
(1962, pp. 93-105; 1963) suggests that there obtains a "nonnality
of change;" however, below the surface, this only implies modifica-
tion, not change, strains but not conflicts. He points to instru-
ments of "tensionpmanagement" capable of working towards the golden
mean solution. Still, the tendency here is to rely on spontaneity

and on the operations of the free market.

1 01
Social Psy chologi am

A second feature of this trend, theoretically congruent with the
first, is the nature of its analysis. The individual figures
most prominently as the unit of analysis. It is not the structural
features of group domination, historical blockages resource
hoardings, control mechani-s and such like, which are considered
to be crucial to the understanding of social change. Rather, it
is seemed that social action and change are hardly amrthing more
than the totality of behavior of the individuals who constitute
society.

Social psychologism, as this approach has been called (Inkeles
1959, pp. 249—75), can be understood as a reaction against the
theories of social determination. is such it reinforces the
virtues of capitalistic ethic, free enterprise, and achievement
motivation, and reposes slight faith in regulatory mechanisms,
planned deve10pment, and controlled growth.

McClelland's (1961) case is a typical illustration of this
approach. Inkeles (1959), Lerner (1958), and Rogers (1969),
among others, have contributed to this trend through their studies
which focus on values, attitudes, comunication, and diffusion
of innovations.

Individualism is a prime factor in a progressive change
towards affluence. And this notion naturally holds in great res-

pect the role and function of entrepreneurial attitudes and

102

skills in the modernization process. Social achievement is assumed
to be linked to individual motivation. Hence the psychology of
development is found to be unevenly distributed in society.
"High—achieving mystics" are to be found among the business-
oriented types, while "low-achieving tradtionalists" are to be
found in peasant sectors (McClelland 1961). Thus the developmental
problem narrows itself down to the specific task of inculcating

and diffusing business skills and achievement motivation all
throudxout society which aspires to modernity. Considerable
research effort has been stimulated by such a theoretical premise

(Inkeles 1959), Lerner 1964, Rogers 1969).

Values as Independent Variables

Operating somewhat on the systemic level other authors
have arrived at conclusions congruent with the individualistic
premise and conclusions. Taking off on the Weberisn thesis,
Bellah (1957) has analyzedthe long tem effect of different
value systems on the developmental process. Hoselitz (1964)
has tried to apply the pattern variables of Parsons' Social fistem
(1951) to the study of economic development and cultural change.
He argues that the developed countries exhibit the pattern
variables of universalism, ascription, and functional specificity.

The conclusion then seems vastly similar in content and implication

103

to that of the social psychologists. Very much along the lines
of McClelland, the underdeveloped countries are counselled to
eliminate the values and pattern variables of underdevelopment

and adopt those of development if they aspire to modemity.

Education as Remedy

The above approach explains the heavy stress placed on the
importance of education as an instrument for less developed
countries to generate and diffuse attitudes, roles, and values
conducive to modernization. This implicit faith in education
stands out prominently in practically all the authors belonging
to this school. Functional literacy and fomal education are
among the favorite variables for researchers who point out
hid: correlations between literacy and most other dimensions of
modernization.

The relation education bears to modernization is summarized
by Rogers (1969, pp. 70ff). Literacy provides reading skills
and a consequent exposure to print mass media and the new ideas
which the media carries. The literate peasant is able to store
and retrieve technical and innovative information for delayed
use. Literacy promotes growth of mental abilities helpful
for modernization; manipulation of symbols, abstraction,

aspathizing with strange roles, and restructuring reality.

”:3?

104

There are studies which associate the literacy rate of a
nation and its economic development (Lipset 1960, Simpson 1964)
as well as those which relate individual literacy to innovative-
ness (Lerner 1958, 1964, Deutschmann 1963). In Columbia and
India.Rogers found the link between literacy and various
modernizing variables (1969, pp. 80-92).

Several kinds of educational programs have been suggested
and experimented upon, from McClelland's (1969) formal training
towards npachievement, to Galbraith's consumerist concept of
education (1962). The earlier works of Galbraith consider the
most serious deficiency in the developmental process to be the
absence of popular and proper education. With typical confidence
in the individualistic ethic he asserts that "a dollar or a rupee
inflected in the intellectual improvement of human beings will often
bring greater increase in.national income than a dollar or rupee
devoted to railways, dams, machine tools or other tangible
capital good" (Galbraith 1962, p. 49).

Gradualism

The fruits of education are not instantaneous, but have to
be awaited patiently. Thus, consistently the individualists remain
comitted to a gradualist philosophy of change. An individualistic
analysis views social change from the standpoint of the consensus

and equilibrium.mode1. The sources of change are considered in

11‘21'. Ms

'Q'w

105

terms of spontaneity and creativity rather than in terms of social
conflict, class divisions, and government planning and initiative.
These latter would pose a treat to an equilibrated society and
portend chaos, hence they are considered dysfunctional. The
mnctional intepation and mutual dependence of roles, institutions,
and structures of the social whole are the outcome of a functional
balance of social forces. Am massive planning for a rapid change
may be an unwitting step towards chaos, hence towards retrogression
(Moore 1962b, 1963).

Elitism

The individualistic school smacks of elitist tendencies.
Modernism often becomes an argument for elitism and a faith in busi—
ness trusteeship. It is argued that the managerial, elitist class
is the one most concerned with development. Kerr and Others (1964)
have asserted that industrial development is a necessary function
of managerial preeminence. With slight thought given to working
class and peasant elites, and at the same time divorcing the idea
of industrial change from revolutionary deve10pment, it is often
assumed that modernization is a process moving from top to
bottom (Kerr 1964). The developmental mentality is said to
obtain primarily among the elite high achievers. Hagen (1962)

describes the "authoritarian" personality type to be more

106

prevalent in peasant economies and the "creative outsider" found
in advanced industrial economies. In this system, change is induced
from outside, from marginal creative elites.

The entrepreneurial class therefore is an invaluable agent
of modernization. There is, further, an implicit assumption of
the social enlightment of the business sector which is conceived
of in the role of trusteeship. Where corporation interests tend
to be obviously narrow and at cross purposes with national develop-
ment, the remedy is not sought in the elimination of inequities
and in structural rearrangements, but in the value of moral
suasion (Moore 1962b). The developmental benefits that accrue
to society are important'and scarce enough for one to ignore or

postpone the more triclqr problem of social developnent.

This is a brief, sumary presentation of the salient features
of one. distinct approach to modernization. It omits some important
theoretical and practical implications, underlying assumptions,
and logical links of the features described. Some of these are

alluded to in the second half of this chapter.

Critique

The validity of any criticism can rest on several factors,

important among which is theoretical inadequacy. This would
involve lapses in logic, internal contradictions, faulty assumptions,

107

narrowness of scope, selective generalizability and dubious pre-
dictive value. Another source of criticism is the obvious
challenge of contradictory data. A final source of criticism is
the policy implications of an approach, implications which would
prove impractical or dangerous.

The following critique rests on all these bases. Though
the criticism is not neatly presented according to each of these
sources, these three nevertheless form the general framework
within which the adequacy of the approach to modernization is
called into question. We will not again bring in here the

results of our own present study as an aid in our critique.

Inadegm of the consenualist Model

The perspective of the consensualist-equilibrium model 111-
suits the analysis of less developed countries in their struggle
for development. It is a perspective derived from the experience
of the affluent societies. is such, its implications of a con-
tractual balance of forces moving towards comon goals tends to
ignore the reality of widespread inequality of sectors, regions,
and mp3 in many a poor country. Foreign and domestic ex-
ploitation, monopoly structures, autocracy, and domination are
structures not derived from mutual consent or consensual insti-
tutionalization. What equilibrium obtains in such situations is

less an expression of consensus and more the triumph of domination

108

of one group or sector over the other.

The non-appropriateness of the consensus model is further
underscored by the special role of social change and conflict
in less developed countries. It is lmrealistic to imply that
in every situation dissensus and conflict are destructive of
and dysfunctional for order and development. The management of
dissensus and conflict within programed channels is characteristic
of mature democracies. But the evolution of Western democratic
societies was a long drawn out institutional process whereby
independent power bases were developed capable of mutually
checking and balancing forces (Wittfogel 1956). The general ab-
sence in poorer societies of Western style democratic institutions
and parliamentary traditions points to long standing, structured
social inequalities. In such contexts it is much more realistic
and fruitful to view social change and development as emergent
from dissensus and a clash of forces.

Coercion is often necessary where the private sector in
these economies has neither the means nor the will for the kinds
of long-range investments necessary for national development
as against short-range substantial private gain. Coercion, the
formal sanctioning of force, would thus be necessary as a potent
factor in individual and mup motivation in rationalizing pro-
ductivity, avoiding excessive expenditures on consumer goods,

creating the basis for unprofitable but necessary lines of

109

scientific industrialization, curbing speculative spending, and
minimizing the exercise of power by the ruling classes (Horowitz
1966. p- 343)-

Furthemore, the consensus model cannot successfully cope
with the new varieties of social and political changes in the
new states. Political control, economic growth, and social
structure are often and increasingly bound up with one another
as never before. The consciousness of development has revolution-
ized the structure of development. Comihhent to change and
participating in the developmental race have become both a
political necessity and economic need. The wave of pOpular
nationalism mandates the clearing away of long-standing roadblocks
and poses questions of risk taking, national planning, public
sector allocations, and coercion that go beyond the immediate
reach of the consensualist explanation. For example the allegiance
to socialistio goals and methods of polity have led some countries
to adopt programs of "protective discrimination“ (Galanter 1961 ,
1963) wherein long discriminated against minority groups have been
given preferential access to educational, economic, and political
cpportlmities. The political and social forces of coercion and
legitimation which makes such programs possible, as well as result
from them, cannot be comfortably accomodated within the consensual-
ist model.

 

11o
.Ehe fallacy of Individualism

The analysis of individual behavior in social develOpment
suffers from severe limitations. Social psychological studies
have not been able to address themselves to some crucial factors
on which rest the pace, direction, and success of the developmental
process in many countries.

McClelland (1961) for instance pays not the slightest at-
tention to the structural constraints for development: patterns
of investment and savings, trade blockages, limits on resources,
the differential political and economic costs of development, the
possibility of agatavating the existing political and social
schisms etc. The analysis of personal attitudes and behavior
cannot successfully address itself to distinctive group phenomena
such as class relationships, class divisions, and the patterns
of ownership and control which determine the allocation and
investment of resources. In other words, change of attitudes
and behavior alone cannot hold out the promise of development
without the prior identification of structural defects.

Even the structuralist analysis in the Parsonian tradition
consistently skirts issues and distinctions which are inconsistent
with the consensualist, social psychological model. Thus
Hoselitz's (1964) suggestion that developed countries exhibit

the pattern variables of universalism, achievement orientation,

111

and flmctional specificity, ignores the empirical evidence in the
United States and Europe (Granick 1962), in Britain (Zweig 1952),
and in Japan (Abegglen 1958). In addition, one can point to
considerable inheritance and ascription of wealth and role-sets
alike in rich countries, factors which lead to a monopoly
situation. In traditional societies there is considerable F1
incidence of achievement orientation, universalism and functional

specificity. Many tribes assign some roles and leadership on

 

‘V- ..
Kim- .

the basis of performance and skills; in many new nation states
national leadership, political and military status, and business
and professional roles are not infrequently rewards for achievement;
their mass-media and political leadership exhibit concerns for
norms of universalism sometimes higher than those of highly
modernized countries; they show increasing number of functionally
specific roles like those of military officials, bureaucrats,
executives, administrators, policemen etc.

In addition to its shaky empirical basis, there are grave
theoretical weaknesses in this approach. Firstly, there is an
emission of obviously crucial theoretical distinctions. The
incidence and flmctionality of universalism differ substantially
on the normative and the existential level; so does achievement
orientation as regards recruitment to and rewards and motivation
within a role; so does functional specificity and diffusiveness
as regards roles at the top and at the bottom of the economic and

112

political stratification systems (Frank 1968, pp. 3-9).

Secondly it is questionable whether one can view values
and normative structures in an antithetical framework, i.e. either
promoting or impeding modernization. Such an assumption, which is
implicit in this approach, iglores the possibility and fact that
there is considerbale coexistence of these polar values and noms
sometimes with the mechania of compartmentalization, as in India
in the religious realm (Singer 1966), sometimes in positive,
functional relationship, as in the case of family particularism
in the extended family situation (Hirschman 1965, weiner 1966, p. 6,
Singer 1968) .

Thirdly, there is no theoretical or empirical justification
that the values and norms considered crucial for modernization
are in fact the prerequisites to modernization. The principle of
substitutability (Gerschenkron 1962), for example in the accumula—
tion of capital, can operate replacing the role of the Protestant
ethic and private frugality by the role of the state. The state
accumulated capital throng: taxation in Japan, through holding
down consumerism in Russia, through borrowing as in many less
developed countries today, or through deficit financing etc. in
other cases. The Rudolph' s (1967) have strongly argued that there
is in India potential for modernity hidden within traditionality,
there are "the latent, deviant and minority alternatives" which,

with some alterations in the historical circumstances, may become

113

the source of social change and new realities.

Fourthly, in general the social psychological approach, and
in particular some of its dominant concepts, appear to be a product
of ethnocentricity. There is a tendency here to generate theories
based on limited experience of Western societies, a tendency to
ignore the variety and richness of alternatives of social action.
Thus the concept of achievement motivation considers only economic
outlets thereby igloring the potentiality of artistic and other
professional outlets to satisfy the achievement aspirations of
different individuals. Frank (1967) makes the same charge against
the pattern variable of universalism by suggesting that there are
forms of universalism in the underdeveloped countries quite apart
from those considered by Hoselitz.

Finally, there is the serious charge that McClelland' s

argument for the concept of achievement orientation is nothing

more than a simple case of a post hoc ergo propter hoc argument.

Lack of Historicism

Underlying the consensual, social psychological theories
is the assumption that the problems of the poor countries are
simply those of historical baclcwardness, and therefore capable of
resolution throng: massive effort at diffusion of developmental
attitudes, values, and institutions in the fields of communication,
transportation etc. (Lerner 1958, Outriglt 1963). Such an

114

assumption confuses the notions of undevelopment and underdevelop-
ment.

The latter notion of underdeveIOpment implies structural
defects which would pose problems far*more grave and painful than
those ever faced by most developed countries in their early stages m
of growth. It is incomct to suggest that the present structure 1

of underdevelopment was the original state of the poor countries 3

 

of today. This assumption would equate the experience of the richer :1
countries with that of the poorer ones. The more developed countries
can be correctly considered as having'been in an initial stage of
undevelopment from.whence they evolved upwards. They never went
through the experience of underdevelopment.

underdevelopment is a structure imposed on poor societies
by the vagaries of a history which is largely absent in the consensu-
alist's explanation. There are a growing'number of studies that
have documented that the economic growth of poor countries was
once comparable to if not better than other nations and that their
progressive decline is directly and proportionately related to
their political and/or economic domination by "colonial" nations.
For documentation of this argument one may refer to Clairemonte
(1960) for a general study; Desai (1959). Butt (1955), and Singh
(1964) for studies on India; Casanova (1964), Di Tella (1962),
and Frank (1967) for studies on Latin America.

Frank (1967) has characterized underdevelopment as a structure

115

polarized on a.metropolitan-satellite axis. The metrOpoles are
the centers that develop, while the organically dependent satellites
exist largely for the economic advantage of the metropoles, while
at the same time they lapse steadily and surely into underdeveloP-
:ment. The develpomental pattern is that of a growing'polarization
directed outwards from the satellite groups in favor of the
metropoles whose position is secured on a.monopoly basis. Histori-
cal colonialism and contemporary economic imperialism do not
let capital, technology or institutions flow to the satellite
nations except on a highly selective basis and only when it is
conducive to the institutionalization of a.monopoly structure
favoring the dominant nations.

Generally, no country has been able to launch into develop-
.ment without a.massive infusion into it of capital and skills in
its earlier stages. The underdevelopmont structure of the poor
countries on the other hand has been the result both of heavy
forced outflow of capital and raw materials and at the same time
of a situation where these countries were forced to be ready
monopoly markets for the factory products of the metropoles.

The outer polarization of the "metropolitan? societies
and satellite societies corresponds to a twofold internal polari-
zation: first, between a small minority of rich industrialists
and land holders on the one hand and on the other the vast dependent

servile masses; second, between a few highly developed regions

116

and vast underdeveloped but totally dependent regions. The outer
polarization cannot adequately mnction without the active parti-
cipation and help of the small affluent sections in the poor

countries in league with the ”colonial" outsider.

Atomistic Analysis

The igloring of the decisive factors of history which
have influenced deve10pment also points to the non-holistic
frame of reference which is a serious shortcoming of this analysis.
It is impossible to understand the realities and processes of
development without considering the political and economic inter-
relations between societies. The metropolis-satellite analysis
emphasizes this point. The industrial revolution and the rapid
economic growth of the European comunity in the 18th and 19th
centuries have to be understood within the context of their
colonial thrusts that secured them monopoly access to sources
of raw material and to ready, captive markets for their factory
products.

In the contemporary world situation, the international
frame of reference is crucial. The important implication of
foreign aid, of entering into a world market late when the world
market is already characterized by quotas, patents, cartels,

import regulations etc., of the political reality of allignment

117

with super powers, of the necessity and ease of importing
technology as well as ideas, values, and institutions which were
gradually developed in the'West at a great price of blood and
human sufferingb-the implications of all these factors cannot
be understood or dealt with without considering'the world situation
that inevitably and organically links one country with another.
This holistic analysis is significantly absent in the ap—
proach to modernization which we have described. The international
links of historical colonialism.and contemporary imperialism are
consistently ignored. Instead, there is an atomistic analysis
of poor countries and an attribution of their poverty to the high
incidence of illiteracy, of traditional values, norms, attitudes,
and role sets. The internal as well as international interactional
structure, decisive for development, cannot be fruitfully ignored

in favor of an analysis of isolated units that compose the whole.

The dysfunctions of Education

The emphasis on education as a panacea for developmental
problems seems very mmch.misplaced. The advocates for massive
investment in illiteracy eradication.have not faced up to the
problems such investments have given rise to. Illich (1970,
pp. 105-120, 1971) has noted the functionality for vested

"metropolitan" powers of the present emphasis and structures of

118

education. Many Asian countries are now paying the belated social
and political costs of massive educational investments. Not only
is there the ironic drain of highly trained talent out of some

of these countries to affluent societies, but also in some of

them the phenomenon of the rising'numbers of educated unemployed
bears close relation to social cleavages, alienation, and radical
politics, all of which aggravate the developmental problems (Rosen
1966, Appendix).

Gradualism and Sociological Egalism

The gradualist thesis rests on an assumption common to most
other sectors of the social psychological school. There is a
marked tendency to equate modernization, meaning'industrial growth,
with development, which implies political and social growth
oriented to maximization.of'mass welfare and participation.

In the first place, it is unrealistic to view modernization
as unilinear if simply because of the multi-range repercussions
that industrialization.would have on the political, social, and
religious aspects of a society. While the political life of
any Western.nations could be considered as a function of their
economic reality, the economic growth of many poor countries
is directly related to and based upon their political life. The

economic man.is ultimately bound up with the sociological man.

119

The nature of the legitimation of the political set up, the
internal and external pressures it bears, its potential for co-
ercive mobilization of resources, for risk taking etc., are vital
factors that have to be considered simultaneously and as a part
of the problem of. individual growth. Economic decisions therefore
cannot be divorced from sociological wisdom.

Rostow's (1960) analysis of underdevelopment in terms of
stages of growth, howsoever helpful it be from a strictly economic
point of view, on a sociological level shows considerable unrealism
especially as regards its self-proclaimed ambitions of being a
non-Communist manifesto. For Rostow it is essentially a problem
of temporality, not of any need for adjustment in interactional
patterns. Understandably, he describes the stages, rather than
say anything about how to get from one to the other. This latter
task would have implied a weighing of the political and social
reality that cannot be divorced from the economic. The price of
ignoring the structures of underdevelopment would be to make any
implementation of the Rostowian model a cause for further social
hostilities and the consolidation of the bases of backwardness.

”. . . .It should be duly noted that hideous environment, cultural
bankruptcy, and fragilented lives—the very warp and woof of life
in the Third World—are precisely a consequence of incomplete,
partial development, of a process of imitative moderni- that

ultimately makes structural reform more, rather than less, difficult"

120

(Horowitz 1966. pp. 408-409).

Often the legitimacy of the polity, even its survival, rests
on its premise of national strength, of social justice, of the
goal of equal opportunity etc. Hence massive efforts at planning
and quick development are the very conditions for stability in
some societies. In these situations any commitment to a gradualist
stance may be taken as a commitment to a status quo, and possibly
as a retrogressive step.

Realistically, revolution may be the only feasible alternative
that can at the same time smash age-old blockages and promise any
realistic opportunities for growth. The mounting possibilities
for revolution and chronic political instability in some poor
countries point to this problem of frustration at an immobile
structure and of the unacceptability of a gradualist growth.
Galbraith has suggested that the 11.3. aid in Latin America has
had the function of perpetuating the positions of non-functional
elites, thus making a rapid growth impossible. Thus, he claims,
the 11.8. has been responsible in promoting leftist, radical revo—

lutionary movements in Latin American countries (Galbraith 1965,
PP- 4M3).

The Problems of Business Trusteeship

A defence of the private sector and the entrepreneurial

class fails to account for several critical variables. In the

121

first place, the assumption of the efficient causality of values
and roles of traditionality or modernity, when they are considered
separately from the holistic structure, has not been surely es-
tablished by the social psychologists. The system cannot be
changed by changing its parts.

Secondly, it is empirically false to associate the rise
of the middle class with the greater prevalence of the skills
and values of development (Johnson 1958, 1961). The countries
in Latin America with the largest middle classes, Argentina and
Chile, are not at all the ones with the most development (Hoselitz
1960b). The elitist stance which iglores the possibility of
woflcing class or peasant elites is blind to the fact of the uneven
spread of the psycholow of development in a nation. In Mexico
the middle classes tend to be less concerned about overpopulation
and are more tradtion-bound than the poor (Kohl and Stycos 1965).
MoCord (1965, p. 143) has pointed out that latent entrepreneurial
talent exists in almost every region and in every economic class.
Many authorities have evidenced the fact of peasant innovativeness
and economic skills when incentives and structural opportunities
have been provided (Weiner 1966, p. 10).

Thirdly, the selective and uneven process of economic
development would pose the question as to wlw creative elites
would be present in one sector of the economy and not the other.

Fourthly, the managerial elites approach avoids the issue of

122

personal aggrandizement being not necessarily conducive or responsi-
ble to the common welfare or national development. The very stra-
tegy for guided growth which keeps in step with the political
reality and social aspirations of a nation would demand that the
accumulation of private wealth be accountable to public bodies
which keep national goals and strategies in mind. The assumption
of goodwill and social understanding on the part of the affluent
business minority is palpably unrealistic if one considers the
situations of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc., where the
considerable economic growth on the capitalistic model has done
little to redress social schimns and to inequities. The potential
for>political radicalism arising'from.uneven‘benefits of progress
has been documented for India by Frankel (1971, pp. 191-215)

even in such seemingly innocuous areas as introduction of high
yielding'rice and wheat varieties. The case of Pakistan is

also illustrative of the above argument. Before the latest
conflict, Westerners generally considered it to be somewhat of
a.capitalistic model of a fast developing country that made good
use of foreign aid. Nulty (1971) on the other hand has documented,
in the case of Pakistan, that "foreign aid is using'money of poor
people in rich countries to pay the rich people in poor countries
for their allegiance to rich peeple in.rich countries." In
Pakistan economic growth is a,highly uneven process generating

goat divisions between a small privileged group of families and

123

the vast masses of poor people. National development has taken
the route of self-aggrandisement of a few at the cost of common

welfare.

Societal‘Modernization

The particular approach in modernization studies which we
have been critiquing stresses what has been referred to as indi-
vidual modernization. In contrast we have been implying that much
more fruitful research would result from the investigation of
modernization on the societal level. Such an investigation would
have the following characteristics.

Firstly, the substance of’modernization would be lifted out
of its individualized base and viewed in the context of group
relationships which we consider are the decisive factors affect-
ing'modernization. ‘we view, as suggested in Chapter 1, Section II
above, the key conceptual element in the modernization process
to be the element of rationality. Rationality implies conscious,
deliberate selection of appropriate means to attain consciously
and deliberately chosen goals. It is important to stress that
social arrangements which generate and absorb change towards
greater rationality are at the heart of modernizing societies.

This change would not only consider ever better means to accomplish

societal goals, but it would also imply social mechanisms that

constantly subject social and humanitarian goals to rational

124

analysis, control, and choice. Such an incorporation of functional
and substantial rationality into the production sytem of a society,
its econonv, and consequently into its social structures, for
example, by the differentiation and professionalization of social
life, would be considered to be the proper study of modernization.
Secondly, the study of societal modernization would demand
a structural analysis which would stress socio-ecological factors
which promote or retard the incorporation of rationality as
described above. These factors would include the following:
a historical analysis that discovers the roots and processes
that have generated institutional arrangements conducive to foster
or impede the modernization process; the internal dynamics of the
social unit as expressed in its stratification system, monopoly
structures, population composition and growth, communication
networks, investment patterns, resource eXploitation, institutional
stability etc.; the social unit's extra-systemic linkages, parti-
cularly its relations with super or world powers which are in a
position to control its econonw and political decisions through
the mechanisms of self-serving aid, investment, and trade arrange-
ments. This holistic viewpoint which analyzes the structural
features of the social unit would be the most fruitful both in
terms of understanding the meaning of the modernization process,
as well as in terms of predicting its pace and success.

Thirdly, and consequently, attitudes and beliefs would not

125

constitute the prime focus of the approach we are here describing. ,
Any social psychological questions raised would not deal with
behavioral dispositions either as the prime independent or dependent
variables in the modernization process. Rather attitudes would be
researched in their dialectical relationships with the behavioral
and structural needs. They would be viewed in their adaptative
contexts and processes in which alone would their genesis and
functions attain amr meaning and significance. A more worthwhile
issue than the conduciveness or nonconduciveness of attitudes to
modernization is the role of beliefs and ideologies as mechanisms
of stability, protest, legitimacy, group pressure, and aspirations,
all of which are factors related to the modernization effort
involving coercion, dcfcmcnt of consumerism, political viability,

charismatic leadership etc.

Conclusion

This chapter has attempted a critique of the social psy-
chological school in the study of modernization. By far this
approach is the most comon among social scientists today, though
there is evidence that an increasing number of scholars are departing
from the assumptions and perspective characteristic of this approach.

Thong) the critique has concentrated on the examination of

the theoretical, empirical, and policy implications of the approach,

126

a fascinating critique could be attempted from the point of view
of the sociology of knowledge. Host scholars who have been
quoted in this chapter as representing aspects of this approach,
possess pronounced political views, and many have served in the
highest policy making'positions in the government, and have
worked in university or research institutions heavily subsidized
and relied upon by the government or business interests. Their
theoretical analysis and practical prescriptions therefore would
not entirely be unrelated to their own economic and political
positions, their connections with the business community, their
faith in the capitalistic ethic, and their other vested interests.
Their educational and social background would perhaps point up
many traces of cultural ethnocentricism in their theoretical
perspective.

This also suggests the pronounced structuralist angle of
the critique. Despite the evidence that emerged in the present
research, and the other data presented in our argument, the socio-
logist of knowledge would have his own conclusions to draw from
it. But as agreed upon by the sociologists of knowledge, the
consciousness of the social bases of one's knowledge and perspective
can liberate one, provide him.with added control, and suggest

further stimulation to understand the real dimensions of the

reality under study.

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

Abegglen, James .
1958 The Japanese Factog. Gelncoe, 111.: The Free Press.

Bachenheimer, F.G.
1959 "Elements of Leadership in an Andhra Village."
In Richard L. Park and Irene Tinker (eds. ),
Leadership and Political Institutions in India,
Princeton, N. J .. Princeton University iress.

 

Bailey, F.G.
1957 Caste and the Economic Frontier. Manchester:
Manchester University Press.
1960 Tribe, Caste, and Nation. Manchester: Manchester

 

University Press.

Barnabas, A.P.
1958 "Nationali- and Casteism." Am a, October.

Barnabas, A.P. and Subash C. Mehta
1965 Caste in Changing India. New Delhi: The Indian
Institute of Public Administration.

 

 

 

 

Beale, Alan
1959 "Leadership in a Mysore Village." In Richard L.
Park and Irene Tinker (eds. ) Leadership and
Politicalj Institutions in India, Princeton, N. J ..
Princeton1 University Press. _
1962 Godalpur. New York: Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston.
Bellah, Robert
1957 Tokugawa Religion. Clencoe, 111.: The Free Press.
1965 "Epilogue." In Robert N. Bellah (ed.), Religion
and Progress in Modern Asia, New York: The Free Press.
Black, C.E.
1966 The Dynamics of Modernization: A Study in Comparative

 

History. New York: Harper and Row.

12?

1?8

Caplow, Theodore, and Kurt Finsterbusch.
1964 Develgpmont Bank: A New Method of Rating National
Development. Unpublished Paper, Columbia Uni-
versity, Bureau of Applied Research.

Clairemonte, Frederick.
1960 Economic Liberalism and Underdevelopment: Studies
in the Disintegration of an Idea. Bombay and London:
Asia Publishing House.

Outright, Phillipe.
1963 "National Political DevelOpment." In American
Sociological Review, 28, 2, April.

Danda, Ajit Kumar, and Dipali Gosh Danda.
1968 Development and Change in a Bengal Villagg. Hyderabad:
National Institute of Connnunity Development.

Desai, A.R.

1959 Social Background of Indian Nationalism. Bombay:
Popular Book Depot.

Deutschmann, Paul J ., and Orlando Fals Borda.
1962 Comnmnication and Adoption Patterns in an Andean
Village. San J csc, Costa Rica: Prom'amma Inter-
Americano de Infomacion POpular. Mimeo Report.

Deutschmann, Paul J .,
1962 "Mass Media in an Underdeveloped Village.” In
Journalism Qparterly, 40.

Dhillon, 11.8.
1955 Leadership and Groups in a South Indian Village.
New Delhi: Planning Commission, Gevernment of India.

Di Tella, Tocuato.

 

1962 "Los Processos Politicos y Sociales de Industriali-
zacion." In Desarrallo Economico, 2, 5, October-
December.
Dube, 8.0.

1958 India's Changing Villages, Human Factors in Communi-
lDevelopment. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press.

Dutt, Palme R.
1955 India '1‘on and Tomorrow. London: Lawrence and

Wisharto

129

Eister, Alan Wardell.
1962 "Critical Factors in the Modernization Process in
West Pakistan." Yearbook of the American Philoso-
phical Society.

Epstein, T.S.
1962 Economic Development and Social Change in South
India. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Faunce, William A.
1968 Problems of an Industrial Society. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Ford Foundation, The
1970 India's Family Planning Program in the Seventies.
New Delhi: India Field Office.

Frank, Andre Gunder.
1967 Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America:
Historical Studies in Chile and Brazil.
Monthly Review Press.

1968 "Sociology of Development and Underdevelopment of
Sociology." Unpublished Manuscript.

Frankel, Francine R.
1971 India's Green Revolution: Economic Gains and Political

J

Costs. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Fromm, Eric
1941 Escape From Freedom. New York: Holt, Reinhart,
and Winston; Avon Books Reprinted 1965.

Frey, Frederick W.
1964 "The Mass Media and the Peasant." Paper presented
at the Association for Education in J ournali,
Austin, Texas.

Fuchs, Stephen.
1950 The Children of Bari. Vienna: Velag Herold.

Galanter, Marc.
1961 "Equality and 'Protective Discrimination' in India."
Rutgers Law Review, 16.

1963 "Law and Caste in Modern India." Asian Survey, 3.

150

Galbraith, John K.
1962 Economic Development in Perspective. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard Universtiy Press.

1965 The Underdeveloped Country. Toronto: The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation.

Gerschenkron, G. (ed.)
1962 Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective.
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press.

Ghurye. G.S.
1950 Caste and Class in India. Bombay: Popular Book
Depot.

Gould, Harold.
1961 "Sanskritization and Westernization: A Dynamic
View." Economic Weekly, June 24.

G'ranick, David.
1962 The European Executive. Garden City, N'.Y.:
Doubleday and Company.

Hagen, Everrett E.
1962 On the Theory of Social Change: How Economic
Growth Begins. Homewood, 111.: Dorsey Press.

Harper, Edward B.
1959 "Political Organization and Leadership in a
Karnataka Village." In Richard L. Park and Irene
Tinker (eds.), Leadership and Political Institu-
tions in India. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press.

1968 "A Comparative Analysis of Caste: The United States
and India." In Milton Singer and Bernard Cohn (eds.),
Structure and Change in Indian Society. Chicago:
Aldine Publishing Company.

Harrison, Selig S.
1960 The Most Dangerous Decades. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.

Realey John.
1958 "Caste and Economic Development in India." Religion
and Society. 5, September.

131

Herzog, William A., Jr.
1967 "The Effects of Literacy Training on Modernization
Variables." Ph.D. Dissertation. East Lansing, Mi-
chigan: Michigan State University.

Hirschman, A.0.
1958 The Strategy of Economic Develppment. New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Hodgdon, Linwood L., and Harpal Singh.
1966 Adoption of Agricultural Practices in Madhya Pradesh.
Hyderabad: National Institute of Community Develop-
ment.

Horowitz, Irving L.
1966 Three Worlds of Development: The Theory and Practice
of International Stratification. New York: Oxford
University Press.

Hoselitz, Bert F.
1960a Sociological Factors in Economic Development.
Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press.

1960b "Economic Growth in Latin America." Contributiopg
to the First National Conference in Economic History.
The Hague : Mouton and Company.

1964 "Social Stratification and Economic Development."
International Social Science Journal, 16, 2.

Button, J.H.
1961 Caste in India: Its Nature, Function, and Origins.
London: Oxford University Press.

Illich, Ivan.

 

 

1970 Celebration of Awareness: A Call for Institutional
Revolution. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and
Company.

1971 De-Schooling Socipepty. Edited by Ruth N. Anschen.

 

New York: Harper and Row.

Inkeles, Alex.
1959 "Personality and Social Structure." In R.K. Merton,
L. Broom, and L.S. Cottrell, Jr., (eds.), Sociologz
Today: Problems and Prospects. New York: Basic Books.

132

Inkeles, Alex.
1966 "The Modernization of Man." In Myron Weiner (ed.),
Modernization: The Dynamics of Growth. New York:
Basic Books. —

1969 "Making Men Modern." American Jgprnal of Socioloq,
75, September.

Johnson, John J.

 

 

1958 Political Change in Latin America: The Emergence
of the Middle Sectors. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.

1961 "The Political Role of the Latin American Middle

Sectors." The Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science, 334, March.

Kahl, Joseph, and J. Mayone Stycos.
. 1965 "The Philosophy of Demographic Policy in Latin
America." Studies in Comparative International
Development, 1, 2.

Karve, Irawathi.
1961 Hindu Society: An Interpretation. Poona: Deccan
College.

Kerr, Clark, John T. Dunlop, Frederick Harbison and Charles Myers.
1964 Industrialism and Industrial Man. New York:
Oxford University Press.

Keyfitz, Nathan.
1965 "Political-Economic Aspects of Urbanization in
South and South East Asia." In Philip M. Hauser and
Leo F. Schnore (eds.), The Study of Urbanization.
New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Kumar, Krishna.
1970 "Ritual Caste Ranking and Modernization in India:
A Study of Peasants in Six Villages." Master's
Thesis. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State
University.

Leach, Edmund, and S.N. Mukerjee.
1970 Elites in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-

versity Press.

1'53

Lerner, Daniel.
1958 The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the
Middle East. New York: The Free Press.

1964 "Literacy and Initiative in Village Development."
In Rural Development Research Report. Mimeo Report.
Cambridge, Mass. : MIT—CIS.

Lewis, Oscar. '
1958 Village Life in North India. Urbana, Illinois:
University of Illinois Press.

Lipset, Seymour Martin.
1960 Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. New
York: Doubleday and Compamr.

Lynch, Owen M.
1968 "The Politics of Untouchability: A Case from Agra,
India." In Milton Singer and Bernard S. Cohn (eds.),
Structure and Change in Indian Sociepty. Chicago:
Aldine Publishing Company.

Majmndar, D.N.
1958 Caste and Comnnmication in an Indian Village.
Bombay: Asia Publishing House.

Mandelbaum, David G.
1968 "Family, Jati, Village." In Milton Singer and
Bernard S. Cohn (eds.), Structure and Change in

Indian Sociem. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.

Marriot, McKim.
1968 "Caste Ranking and Food Transactions: A Matrix
Analysis." In Milton Singer and Bernard S. Cohn
(eds.), Structure and Change in Indian Society.
Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.

Mason, Philip (ed.)
1967 India and Ceylong‘Unit-Land Diversity, A Symposium.
New York: Oxford University Press.

McCord, William.
1965 The Springtime of Freedom: Evolution of Developing
Societies. New York: Oxford University Press.

McClelland, David C.
1961 The Achieving Society: Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand.

134

McClelland, David C., and David G. Winter.
1969 Motivating Economic Achievement. New York: The
Free Press.

McCormack, William. '
1959 "Factionalism in a Mysore Village." In Richard
L. Park and Irene Tinker (eds.), Leadership and
Political Insitutions in India. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.

 

Moore, Wilbert E.
1962a "Society as a Tension-Management System."
Behavioral Science and Civil Defence Disaster
Research. Washington D.C.: National Acadenw
of Sciences, National Research Council.

1962b The Conduct of Corporation. New York: Random

 

 

 

House.
1963 Social Change. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
Hall.
McNelly, John T.
1966 "Mass Commication and the Climate for Modernization
in Latin America." Journal of Inter-American Studies,
8.
Murpmr, Gardner.
1955 In the Minds of Men—The Study of Human Behavior

 

and Social Tensions in India. New York: Basic Books.

Nash, Manning.
1963 "Introduction: Approaches to the Study of Economic
Growth." Journal of Soggll Issues, 29, 1, January.

Nicholas, Ralph w.
1968 "Structures of Politics in the Villages of Southern
Asia." In Milton Singer and Bernard S. Cohn (eds.),
Structure and Change in Indian Society. Chicago:
Ildinc publishing Company.

Nulty, Timothy and Leslie.
1971 "Pakistan: The Busy Bee Route to Development."

Transaction, 8,. 4, February.

135

Orenstein, Henry.
1959 "Leadership and Caste in an Indian Village." In
Richard L. Park and Irene Tinker (eds.), Leadership
Political Institutions in India. Princeton, N .J .:
Princeton University Press.

 

Pannikar, K.M.
1955 Hindu Society at Crossroads. Bombay: Asia Publishing
House.

Pareek, Udia, and S.N. Chattopadhyaya.
1965 "Measuring Levels of Aspirations of Farmers Through
a Projective Technique." Indian Journal of Social
Work, 250

Parsons, Talcott.
1951 The Social System. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press.

1961 . "The Point of View of the Author." In Max Black
(ed.), The Social Theories of Talcott Parsons.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice—Hall.

Petrini, Frank.
1966 The Rate of Adoption of Selected Agricultural In-
novations. Uppsala, Sweden: Report 53 of the
Agicultural College of Sweden.

1967 An Experiment with an Increasing Amount of Infom-
ation. Uppsala, Sweden: Report 84 of the Agricultural
College of Sweden.

Rahim, Syed A.
1961 £119 Diffusion and AdOption of Agricultural Practices:
A Study of a Village in East Pakistan. Comilla,
East Pakistan: Pakistan Academy of Rural Development.
Technical Publication 7.

Rao, Laksmana Y.V.
1963 "Commication DeveIOpment: A Study of Two Indian
Villages." Ph.D. Dissertation. Minnesota:
University of Minnesota.

Reserve Bank of India.
.1961 Rural Credit Follow-Up Survey, 1918-59. Bombay:
Examiner Press.

136

Rogers, Everrett M., and Wickey L. Meynen.
1965 "Communication Sources for 2, 4-D Weed Spray
Among Columbian Peasants." Rural Sociology, 30.

Rogers, Everrett M., and Lynne Svemming.

 

 

1969 Modernization AmonpyPeasants: The Impact of
Communication. New York: Holt, Rhinehart, and
WinStonc

Rogers, Everrett M., Joseph R. Ascroft, and Niels G. Roling.
1970 Diffusion of Innovations in Brazilj NigeriaL and
India: Research Report 24. East Lansing, Michigan:
Michigan State University, Department of Communi-
cations.

Rosen, George.
1966 Democracy and Economic Change in India. Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Rostow, Walter.
1961 The Stages of Economic Growth. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Roy, Prodipto
1967 ghe Impact of Communications in Rural Develonment
in India. Hyderabad: National Institute of
Community Development. Mimeo Report.

Rudolph, L.I., and 8.11.
1960 "The Political Role of India's Caste Associations."
Pacific Affairs, 33, 1, March.

Schuman, Howard and Others.
1967 "Social Psychological Effects and Noneffects of
Literacy in a New Nation." Economic Development

Sen, Lalith x. f
1966 Awareness of Commity Development in Village India.
Hyderabad: National Institute of Community DeveloP-

ment.

1969 Qpinion Leadership in India: A Study of Interpersonal
Communication in Eight Villages. Hyderabad: National
Institute of Community Deve10pment.

137

1961 The Intellectual Between Tradition and Modernity:
The India Situation. The Hague: Mounton and Compamr.

Simpson, Dick.
1964 "The Congruence of the Political, Social, and Econo-
mic ASpects of Deve10pment." International DeveIOp-
ment Review, 6.

Singer, Milton, and Bernard Cohn.
1968 Structure and Change in Indian Socie‘laz. Chicago:
Aldine Publishing Company.

Singer, Milton.
1966 "The Modernization of Religious Beliefs." In Myron
Weiner (ed.), Memization: The Dynamics of Growth.
New York: Basic Books.

1968 "The Indian Joint Family in Modern Industry." In
Milton Singer and Bernard Cohn (eds.), Structure
and Change in Indian Society. Chicago: Aldine
Publishing Company.

Singhv v03-
1964 Indian Economy Yesterday and Today. New Delhi:

People' 8 Publishing House.

Srinivas, M.N., and A.M. Shah.
1960 "The Myth of the Self-Sufficiency of the Indian
Villages." Economic Weekly, 12.

Srinivas, M.N.

1966 Social CM in Modern India. Berkeley: University

of California Press.

1968 "Mobility in the Caste System." In Milton Singer
and Bernard Cohn (eds.), Structure and Change in
Indian Sociefl. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Compamr.

Stone, John T.
1952 . How Counjy Agricultural Agents Teach. Mimeo Bulletin.
East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University,
Agricultural Ebctension Service.

Taylor, Carl C., and Others.
1966 India's Roots of Democragy. New York: Frederick

Praeger.

138

United Nations.
1961 "Capital Formation in Agriculture—A Case Study in
Uttar Pradesh, India." U.N. Economic Bulletin
for Asia and the Far East, 12, 2, September.

 

 

 

 

Weber, Max.
1930 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
New York: Scribner.
1946 From Max Weber: Essaan in Sociology. Translated and
edited by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York:
Oxford University Press. Reprinted in 1958.
1964 The Sociolog of Religion. Boston: Beacon Press.
Weiner, Myron.
1963 The Politics of Scracity. Bombay: Asia Publishing
HOuSBQ
1966 "Introduction." In Myron Weiner (ed.), Modernization:

 

The Dynamics of Growth. New York Basic Books.

whiting, Gordon 0.
1967 Mdass Media and Modernization: A Study of
Rural Brazil. Ph.D. Dissertation. EastiLansing,
Michigan: Michigan State University.

Wittfogel, Karl.

1956 Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total

Power. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University

 

Press.
Zweig, Ferdynand.
1952 The British Worker. Hammondsworth: Penguin Books.
1962 The Worker in an Affluent Society: FamilLLife

 

and Industry. London: Heinemann Publishers.

"I7'1!@t'flt’tflifltltfltr