THE DYNAMICS OFILEA‘DERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA Thesis for the Degree of Ph. D. _ MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY *" “ M. FRANCIS ABRAHAM 1970 , L I B R A R Y Michigan State University 59‘ J T H E ’ “ III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII , 3 1293 10490 801 This is to certify that the thesis entitled The Dynamics of Leadership in village India presented by Francis M. Abraham ,J‘ ‘- has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for __P£~_D__ degree in WY L/Mai01' professor 4793737 ,'/) I) / :‘9 ’- Date VUZLZI-L/‘L (.34 / f (7;? 7/ / {/ c. 0-169 ABSTRACT THE DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA BY M. Francis Abraham A new pattern of leadership is believed to be emerging in village India since the inception of community development and Panchayati Raj which have led to a decen- tralization of governmental authority and delegation of substantive power to statutory local bodies entrusted with the task of planning and implementing programs of rural development at the initiative of and with the fullest pos- sible reliance upon community resources. The primary ob- jective of the study, therefore, was to predict and explain what type of community actors are likely to emerge as leaders in modernizing Indian villages. Using the data gathered as part of the larger project entitled "Diffusion of Innova- tions in Rural Societies" directed by Everett M. Rogers, we have sought to identify the most important correlates of sociometric leadership in six Indian villages. The data enabled us to construct a hierarchy of leadership based on sociometric scores and single out the most important deter- minants of leadership in terms of demographic characteristics, measures of socio-economic status, index of systemic linkage M. Francis Abraham and social psychological characteristics; the statistic used in the analysis was multiple correlation technique by means of least square delete program. we have distinguished between two types of leaders in village India: community leaders and opinion leaders. Opinion leaders are informal leaders who are active in the flow of interpersonal influence by disseminating agricul— tural information whereas community leaders are the accred- ited spokesmen for the community who, in consultation with the extension agency, organize and supervise developmental projects in the local community. The study reveals that farm size, extension agency contact, newspaper exposure, social participation, secular orientation and empathy ex- plain 25 per cent of the variance in community leadership. On the other hand, age, farm size, social participation innovativeness are the most significant correlates of agri- cultural opinion leadership which account for 21 per cent of the variance. Social participation has emerged as the most im- portant correlate of leadership indicating that people tend to chose as their leaders those individuals who are actively involved in the affairs of the community rather than those who possess all the paraphernalia of leadership but are only passive spectators of on—going community activities. This phenomenon is explained in terms of a new theory--and we have designated it as the theory of the structural devolution M. Francis Abraham of power--which postulates that in modernizing village India there is occurring a gradual transfer of power from potential leaders to dynamic leaders--from those who only own the con- ventional sources of power to those who also involve them— selves in the affairs of the community. The functional perspective provides another concep- tual framework for the explanation of the dynamics of lead- ership in rural India. According to this perspective a leader is a leader not because of certain personal or magi- cal qualities inherent in him but because he performs cer— tain functions relative to tasks which are positively evaluated by the group and are highly functional--or even indispensable--for the maintenance of the system. Leadership in rural India is no longer determined by cultural certification based on tradition or strategic social location attributed to caste; rather leaders are picked by people on the basis of valuable services rendered to the community and on the basis of their competence and public interest. When change affects a large number of communities in villages and when forces of modernization induce rising ex- pectations in the members of a collectivity, leadership of a hereditary kind based on ascribed status, gerontocracy or cultural certification, tends to disappear, and it gradually slips into the hands of groups which are a little more ad- vanced in occupation, slightly better placed in regard to economic power or more competent in any of the community's M. Francis Abraham functional arenas. In other words, power under the new conditions of change, tends to gravitate into the hands of those who operate large farms, maintain connections with government officials, are "learned," change-prone and ac- tive in local community organizations. Whereas Opinion leaders tend to be older in age and tradition-oriented in their religious beliefs, community leaders tend to be younger, progressive and change-oriented. Opinion leaders are progressive in their technological orientation but conventional in their value-orientation; they are rational in their self-orientation but traditional in their religious orientation. Community leaders are not only rational and liberal but they are also more collec- tivity-oriented than Opinion leaders. Opinion leaders are specific influentials or "gate-keepers" whose influence is confined to the informal realm of interpersonal relations whereas community leaders are the accredited spokesmen of the village community-—its effective leaders who can spon- sor, legitimize and execute any programs of planned change and on whom we bestow our hopes for a new India. THE DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA BY M. Francis Abraham A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Sociology 1970 , (gar-2:94 PREFATORY NOTE The pages that follow represent a vision and a reality. From the posing of significant questions to the formulation of fruitful hypotheses, from the design of hy— pothesis to the conclusion of the inquiry, the researcher has had the benefit of consultations, staff seminars and personal conferences which make up the web and woof of the structure of any academic community. In the light of this cumulative influence of persons and institutions in develop- ing my research aptitudes and skills over a period of sev- eral years, to single out and acknowledge my indebtedness to any in particular is only a matter of precedent rather than an order of precedence. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Charles P. Loomis, Chairman of the Dissertation Committee, who contributed in- valuable assistance, many helpful suggestions, and generously of his time for personal conferences and who combined readi- ness to assist with freedom to candidate to develop his own ideas. I also express my gratitude to members of the dis- sertation committee: Dr. J. Allan Beegle for his guidance and assistance in the development of the thesis, Dr. William H. Form for his stimulation and encouragement, and Dr. Hideya Kumata for his counsel and inspiring suggestions. ii A most grateful acknowledgment is made to Dr. Everett M. Rogers for having granted permission to use his data and for helpful suggestions in designing the study as well as shaping the report. I am also greatly indebted to Dilip K. Bhowmik who contributed ideas and techniques as well as sev- eral hours carrying through statistical computations. I owe a great deal to Malka Karpin, Krishna Kumar and Majibur Rahman who readily offered assistance at different phases of inquiry. And I would like to thank the Ford Foundation and its Representative in India, Dr. Douglas Ensminger, for all the financial help which made possible not only the present study but the writer's academic training at Michigan State as well. Above all, I must record my most grateful indebted- ness to Prabha, my wife, who has been a constant source of inspiration and who kept me in cheer all through my work. iii ". . . the strength of any democracy is directly pr0portional to the practice of it by its citizen leaders. If democratic leadership is to be practiced, it needs to be understood in its operational terms so that as leaders and trainers of leaders we can make real our understanding of the democratic process." - Gordon L. Lippitt List of Chapter I. II. III. IV. TABLE OF CONTENTS Tables 0 O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O O O 0 INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM AND THE SETTING REVIEW OF LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . The Concept of Leadership . . . . . . . . Qualities of Leadership . . . . . . . . . Approaches to Leadership . . . . . . . . The Positional or Formal Leadership Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Reputational Approach . . . . . . . . The Social-Participation Approach . . . . The Decision-Making or Event-Analysis Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opinion Leadership or Personal Influence The Theoretical Frame of Reference . . . METHODOLOGY 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Objectives of the Study . . . . . . . . Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selection of Sociometric Le dership . . The Framework of Analysis and Hypotheses Definition of Variables . . . . . . . . . Analysis and Discussion . . . . . . . . . SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY LEADERS O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O 0 Age . . . . . . . . Family Composition Caste Rank . . . . Education . . . . . Size of Farm . . . Literacy . . . . . Family Income Level . . . . . . . . . . . Farm Specialization . . . . . . . . . . . V Page vii 14 14 19 24 25 26 29 30 36 46 69 70 70 71 73 79 83 91 93 93 96 98 104 106 108 112 Chapter Page V I SYSTEMIC LINKAGE O O O O O O I O I O O O 0 ll 3 Extension Agency Contact . . . . . . . . 113 Mass Media Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Cosmopoliteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Social Participation . . . . . . . . . . 122 VI. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP . . . . . . . . . . 126 Innovativeness, Secular Orientation . . . 126 Educational Aspiration for Children . . . 134 Empathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Political Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Achievement Motivation . . . . . . . . . 142 VII. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP O O O O I O O O O O O O O O I 148 VIII. AGRICULTURAL OPINION LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA 0 O O O O O I I O O I O O O I O O O 162 Correlates of Agricultural Opinion Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 IX. THE DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA 0 O O O O O O O O O O O I O I O O O 187 Summary of Principal Findings and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 BIBLIOGRAPHY O O O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O O O 219 APPENDIX 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 231 vi Table LIST OF TABLES Description of the sample . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution Of sociometric scores on community leaderShip O O I O O O O I O O O O O O O O 0 Distribution of sociometric scores on agricul- tural Opinion leadership . . . . . . . . . . Correlation of six items on the frequency of sociometric nominations . . . . . . . . . . . _Correlation between socioeconomic status and community leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . Measures of systemic linkage as related to community leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . Correlation between respondents' social psy- chological attributes and community leadership nomination . . . . . . . . . . . . Correlation between respondents' community leadership nomination and other characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Correlation between agricultural opinion leadership and other characteristics . . . . vii Page 73 75 78 79 95 116 135 150 171 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM AND THE SETTING Most of the emerging nations, which have only re- cently cast off the yoke of foreign overlordship and are fast moving from the agrarian backwaters of a stagnant economy to a vivid and exhilarating ocean of foreward-going discoveries, are attempting at once to build up a sound economic structure and a strong democratic edifice. The task is Himalyan; it needs men of vision, foresight and worksmanship not only at the helm of affairs but also at the grass-root level. The problem is essentially one of enlisting people's cooperation and of initiating the masses into democratic planning and action. The thesis that centrally planned programs of de- velopment are indispensable to the economic growth Of de- veloping countries has now gained wide currency. Villages lost to a psychological inertia and buried in superstitious traditions may never act if left alone and are not suffi- ciently prodded. Marx was right in his observation on Indian villages when he wrote: "However changing the poli- tical aspect of India's past must appear, its social condi— tion has remained unaltered since its remote antiquity, until the first decennium of the nineteenth century. The handloom and the spinning wheel, producing their regular myriads of spinners and weavers, were the pivots of the structure of that Society."1 The same may be attributed to most of the tradition-oriented developing societies which, in the words of C. W. Mills, are caught in the "iron cycle of history." Therefore, centrally planned programs of change and development are being launched and carried forward by enlightened political leaders of the new nation States who evince unprecendented interest in the betterment of their population. However the evolution of nationally designed programs of development does not necessarily mean the imposition of a blueprint of developmental scheme on local communities. What is being attempted in India is the development of local programs within the broad framework of national policies so that small communities can be absorbed into the main stream of national progress. This also means local programs have to be initiated with the fullest coopera- tion Of local people and the total involvement of communities in program-building as well as execution. All this can be accomplished only through local leaders. Working through extension education, community organization and leadership at the grass—roots level has been the accepted policy of 1For details see Karl Marx, Notes on Indian History, and also Capital I. Indian community develOpment program from its very inception. In recent years community development has been one of the most dominant forces of rural social change in de- velOping countries, revitalizing existing rural community organizations, building up new ones and considerably modi- fying the old ones. In 1956 the United Nations defined community development as the "process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of govern— mental authorities to improve the economic, social and cul- tural conditions of the communities, to integrate these communities into the life Of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progress."2 Community de- velopment is nation-building from the grass-roots. The ac- cent is on the word community rather than on development, that is, development of communities, rather than for, or even by, communities. Community development is a technique to make more effective use of local initiative and energy for increased production and better living standards. It is a process of social action in which the peOple of a com— munity organize themselves for planning and action; define their individual needs and problems; make group and indivi- dual plans tO meet their needs and solve their problems; 2United Nations Bureau of Social Affairs, Social Progress through Community Development. execute these plans with a maximum of reliance upon com- munity resources; and supplement these resources when neces- sary with services and materials from governmental and non- governmental agencies outside the community. One of the principal tenets of community develop— ment is the faith in the capacity of rural people, and unfortunately one of the most difficult tasks in developing countries has been to get government Officials to accept the fact that rural people have almost limitless capacity to fashion a better life for themselves if properly aided by state action and guided by technical assistance. The new functionaries, such as community development officers, extension educators, community organizers and agricultural agents, who work with the people rather than for the people, have Opened up new avenues of social growth and development. They inspire people to achievement; as peddlers Of ideas it is in the nature of their work that they should operate through others. They identify, develop and depend upon local leadership, and seek to involve the entire rural com- munity in different phases of program-building, from diag- nosis to the treatment of rural problems; in short local program is entirely the responsibility of the village com- munity. Where local program planning is effectively es- tablished, it changes the role of farmers from that of recipients of government programs controlled by others, to one of participation in determining governmental activities. This, in turn, calls for a change in the attitude of gov- ernment officials in the direction of sharing the policy- making function with rural people, and of looking upon the task of central administration as increasingly that of servicing the needs of rural people, as they go about their own programs Of rural development, rather than of deter- mining policy and setting targets, which local people are to accept and implement. In largely traditional cultures, where tax collec- tors, inspectors, or police were the only public contact of people, now we have the community development agents who, in the words of Howard Beers, "substitutes the author- ity of influence for the authority of power." The injection of a new person into a locality as agent Of new technology constitutes in itself a social change. Moreover, if the agent of governmental extension or community development program comes to a group of rural people in the role of teacher and advisor, presenting them with technical alter- natives in the field Of agriculture, encouraging them to make decisions about these alternatives and to take action on their reSponsibility, but leaving them free to make such decisions as they wish, he is something entirely new in the way of a governmental employee. Community develOpment also involves what Beers calls "individuation of the group-bound farmer." Field workers, engaged in extension education and community organization visit farmers in their farm, home and commun- ity and convince them of the need for improved cultural practices. While group approach is the dominant method in community develOpment, it is still true, that much of the education of the farmers for agricultural improvement must be carried out through personal conversation and demonstra- tion between the extension agents and individual farmers, who must make many of the decisions with respect to agri- cultural development. Through different methods of extension, farmers are encouraged to form special interest or special purpose groups. These new types of social organizations enable villagers to break with tradition, to make independent choices and accept responsibilities for social betterment. Carl Taylor (1961) has particularly emphasized the impor- tance of special interest groups, which cut across caste and kinship lines. The practice of organizing adolescent boys and girls into groups, similar to the 4-H Clubs of the United States or the Young Farmers' Association of Great Britian, has set up new patterns of influence and status roles for these boys and girls among their peers on the basis of their participation in youth clubs rather than on the basis of family, caste or inherited position. Thus, while youth clubs constitute very effective means of educa— tion of rural people for technological change, they simul- taneously introduce a new form of social organization into the culture and status relationships, both among the young people themselves and between the younger and the older peOple of the locality. It is said that the "community development officer should be the midwife of the new community; not the father- 3 As peddlers Of new ideas or catalysts, figure of the old." community develOpment workers only work with people rather than for people; they help people realize their felt needs and initiate social action, but the onus of keeping it going, or maintaining the tempo of the developmental voyage, rests with community leaders. The extension worker does not assume leadership, but works through local leaders. "Direct leadership requires that the leader stand before the group as the recognized leader. He has face-to-face relationship with its members. His position is Obvious and public. He has accepted formal Office and all the glory and acclaim of success or ignominy and criticism of failure are to be his. Whether his leadership be autocra- tic Or democratic, wise or unwise, skillful or ineffective, his responsibility is fixed and accepted by all. Indirect leadership lacks the element of recognized responsibility. It works quietly behind the scene through others. It is skillful in the choice of direct leaders. It receives neither credit nor blame. It ac- cepts no formal office. Indirect leadership has broad vision and purpose and is more lasting in time. Without 3Colonial Office, Community DevelOpment, frontis— piece. ‘2'!!! the power and prestige which attach to official posi- tion, the indirect leader provides inspiration, guid- ance, energy and frequently coordination to direct leaders in functional groups. If direct leadership is assumed by extension agents, the program will never become theirs, but will remain as an agency program and fail to yield enduring results. The Common-wealth Conference on Community Develop- ment Observed: There will be the continuous task of identifying and training a corps of local voluntary leaders, who will work alongside the Specialist and learn enough from him to be able to play an ever increasing part. As community development spreads and embraces more and more aspects of community life, so the number and vari- ety of local leaders must be increased. It is important not to place too much reliance upon a small elite, nor to over-estimate the enthusiasm, abilities and available free time of these leaders. There may be dangers in overstraining the services offered, or of creating ten- sions between pOpular local leaders and the traditional authority.5 Just as community development workers will need 'servicing' by devices to maintain morale and to increase their abilities, so the local leader too will need to be brought into the training plan, although at a different level. Rallies of local leaders, achievement days, crop competitions, cattle shows, field trips, demonstrations, and the writing up of their work in local newspapers, are 4Clarence King, Working with People in Community Action, p. 75. 5Colonial Office, op. cit., p. 30. some of the means which have proved successful. In addition to training leaders who will take an active part in community development, inspiring and directing local projects, the community development workers should seek out the more forward-looking mem- bers of the community, the man who is building an im- proved house, the more progressive peasant farmer who is trying out new farming methods, the woman whose home and care of her children is an example to others-- in general the people who are one step ahead of their followers. Their example in accepting the ideas pro- jected by community development, may be heeded and more easily comprehended by their less progressive neighbors, than any amount of exhortation even when supported by the most advanced techniques of mass communication. Community development in India has always emphasized the importance of local leadership. From the very inception of community development there have been advisory committees or Development Councils, consisting of community influen- tials at different levels to advise extension agency on developmental needs and program planning at the community level. However, community development in the early 19503 was defined as a government program with people's participa— tion, but soon the realization dawned on the planners that a government-centered program cannot rouse the enthusiasm and initiative of the people who relied heavily on govern- mental assistance. Later the slogan was reversed: community development was defined as a peOple's program with government participation. Yet for a long time people were actually 61bido' pp. 30-310 10 involved only in the executive stage and developmental schemes were planned entirely by a permanent body of offi- cials called the extension service. Naturally, people's participation in community development was inadequate and ineffective; community leaders had no genuine interest since they had no significant role in program planning. It was this belated realization that led to the introduction of the Panchayati Raj—a three-tier democratic structure of local self—government, namely Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Union Council at the Block level and the District Development Council at the district level. These statutory local bodies of elected representatives of the people are today in complete charge of rural development. It is these popular representatives who plan and initiate programs Of development in any sphere of rural life and the extension agency is to give technical help and assist- ance and to carry out the programs planned by people's representatives. Thus, the socially influential actors of the rural communities in India, whose influence has hither- to been confined to caste panchayats and who directed the affairs of the local community through the numerous tradi- tional institutions, now hold the reins of power delegated to them through statutory local bodies and are in a position to control governmental activities in so far as they relate to rural development. It is generally conceded that, since the introduc- tion of Panchayati Raj, new patterns of leadership are ll emerging in rural India. In their preliminary report of a nation-wide survey of the "Awareness of Community DevelOp- ment in Village India" Sen and Roy (1967) have documented the salient characteristics of emerging leaders. Reports of the diffusion studies done in India have tried to dis- tinguish opinion leaders from their followers. But to the knowledge of the present researcher, no study done in India has attempted to predict who are most likely to emerge as community leaders in rural India, and it is precisely what the present study attempts to do. However, leaders in the Indian villages are not necessarily formal leaders; political affiliations, offi- cial positions and professional attainment may not be characteristic of the most influential leaders in the rural community. But these are men who are silently trusted; people consult them, seek their advice and listen to them patiently and with respect. They are invited to important ceremonies, are called upon to settle disputes and are chosen to places of responsibility. Their influence may or may not overflow the village boundaries; they may not be active in party politics, and some of them probably have never contested elections for any office. It is easy to identify formal leaders who hold offices in formal organi- zations or are elected to places of responsibility. But what about the hundreds of socially influential actors in the Indian villages who hold no offices, and yet enjoy 12 considerable prestige, are sought after for advice on vari- ous community affairs, and who can successfully gear com- munity activities in defined directions. It is imperative in the interest of democratic social action that we identify and strengthen these socially influential actors. The present study is designed to predict who is a leader in the Indian villages. That is, to single out the salient individual characteristics of Indian villagers who are most likely to be chosen as leaders by their fellow villagers. Using the data gathered as part of the larger project entitled "Diffusion of Innovations in Rural Socie- ties" directed by Everett M. Rogers, we shall identify the most important correlates of socio-metric leadership in six Indian villages. The data enable us to construct a hierarchy of leadership based upon sociometric scores and single out the most important determinants of leadership by means of correlational analysis. Traditionally, ownership of considerable amount of arable land and the ritual superiority of one's caste are considered to be the major determinants of leadership in village India. But in the wake of modernization do they still continue to be the major criteria of community lead- ership? Or, have the processes of modernization and planned social change considerably altered the dynamics of rural leadership? Since the introduction of community develop- ment and panchayati Raj which have involved rural 13 communities in integrated programs of total transformation, what information on community backgrounds, socio-economic status or personality variables would help us identify the most influential actors in village India? Our inquiry is intended to answer these and similar questions. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Before we embark upon a full—scale analysis of the data, it is important that we have a glimpse of the rele— vant literature that will provide a historical as well as theoretical perspective on the problem under consideration. The discussion may be subsumed under: The concept of leadership, Qualities of leadership, Approaches to leader- ship and the Theoretical frame of reference. The Concept of Leadership In the International Encyclopedia Of the Social Sciences Arnold Tannenbaum wrote in 1968: Leadership defines, initiates and maintains social structure. The social system is, so to speak, pro- grammed through leadership. Understanding leadership, then, should be a simple and parsimonious approach to understanding the larger social system. Leadership can have consequences for the lives and welfare of large numbers of people, and therefore, those who are con— cerned with the practical consequences of human actions must be concerned with leadership.1 The dynamics of leadership, its social origins and social consequences, have always fascinated sociologists, social lArnold Tannenbaum, Leadership: Sociological As- pects, p. 102. 14 15 psychologists, political scientists and historians. How- ever, the concept Of leadership is variously defined by social scientists. For instance, Fairchild defined leader— ship as "The act of organizing and directing the interests and activities of a group of persons, as associated in some project or enterprise, by a person who develops their cooperation, through securing and maintaining their more or less voluntary approval of the ends and methods proposed and adopted in their association."2 Leadership, as Bernard Bass (1960) points out, is a kind of interaction between or among people. Any attempt on the part of a group member to change the behavior of one or more members of a group is an attempt at leadership. However, leadership does not consist merely of the attempt; the degree to which it has occurred is indicated by the ex- tent to which the intended change takes place. Katz and Kahn (1966) maintain that the concept of leadership, as generally understood in social science literature, has three major meanings: the attribute of a position, the characteristics of a person, and a category of behavior. Tannenbaum, Weschler and Massarik (1961) define leadership as interpersonal influence, exercised in situation and di- rected through the communication process, toward the attain— ment of a specified goal or goals. Leadership always 2H. P. Fairchild, Dictionary of Sociology, p. 174. l6 involves attempts on the part of a leader (influencer) to affect (influence) the behavior of a follower (influencee) or followers in situation. And Laswell and Kaplan main- tain: "The leaders of a group are its most active power- holders, effectively and in the perspectives of the group. The rank and file are the non-leaders."3 Sociologists normally define leadership in terms of power or the capacity of any actors in a social system to influence the behavior of others. According to Davis, power is "the determination of the behavior of others in 4 In his study of influen- accordance with one's own ends." tials Merton distinguishes between the local man of influ- ence and the cosmOpolitan man of influence. And according to Merton interpersonal influence "refers to the direct interaction of persons in so far as this affects the future behavior or attitude of participants (such that this differs from what it would have been in the absence of interaction.)"5 On the other hand, authority is viewed by Parsons as an in- stitution and as such it represents the institutionalized rights of leaders to expect support from the members of the 3Harold D. Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan, Power and Society: A Framework for Political Inquiry, p. 52. 4Kingsley Davis, Human Society, pp. 94-95. 5Robert Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure, Chapter XII. 17 collectivity as well as the right to control and regulate within the institutional framework. There must be sufficient power generated to mobil- ize societal resources for the attainment of collective goals and there must be allocation of power to various subsystems prOportionate to the differential societal needs of the products of the subsystems. This inter- pretation of power reflects Parsons' subscription to the Hobbesian thesis that controlled power integrates societies (or that uncontrolled power is disintegra- tive), as well as his rejection of the Max Weber thesis that the sum of total power can be expressed in the "zero-sum" concept: that power is the capacity of one unit in a system to gain its ends over the opposition of other units. Historically speaking, we do not encounter any so- ciety, whether a modern complex society like a nation state or a simple preliterate, tribal society of the primi- tive type that functions without a leader or a set of leaders, whatever variations there may be in the types, characteristics and careers of those leaders. There are different types of leaders who exert differential degrees of influence on the variegated structure of social organi- zation. Max Weber's typology of authority--charismatic, traditional and legal--is classic. Killian distinguishes among three types of leadership in social movements--the charismatic leader, the administrative leader and the in- tellectual leader. The charismatic leader simplifies and symbolizes the values; the administrative leader promotes 6See Charles P. Loomis, Modern Social Theories, 18 them; and the intellectual elaborates and justifies them by providing the ideology of the movement. In modern mass society leaders function in numerous capacities and accordingly we have the administrator, the bureaucrat, the policy-maker, the expert, the ideologist, the charismatic leader, the political leader, the symbolic leader and the parent-figure. Since our concern is with the socially influential actors in community contexts, we may stress William Biddle's classification given below.7 1. The celebrity - any person who is prominent in some specific field; 2. The expert - a person with specialized knowledge or ability; 3. The father-substitute - Hitler-type, demanding blind, child-like obedience; 4. The natural leader - persons endowed with unique and rare abilities; 5. The manipulator - "leader who lays claim to the title by exploiting other leaders"; 6. The community organizer or community educator- professional or voluntary community leaders involved in social action programs; 7See Biddle and Biddle, Encouraging Community De- velopment, pp. 4 ff. l9 7. The participant leader - the active community in- fluential who mobilizes local resources and ini- tiates the community into program-building and execution. To this list we may add the Opinion leader, who is sought after by members of a com- munity for advice on various activities. Qualities of Leadership The differentiation between leaders and non-leaders depends on personal characteristics, the structure of in- terpersonal relationships and the general community setting. The qualities of leadership have always fascinated his- torians as well as political scientists. From Plato's Republic to Twentieth century treastises on leadership, there have been continuous efforts to document the distinct attributes of leadership. Whereas Plato's emphasis was on character and habit to be acquired by training, Aristotle also stressed so-called natural endowments. Numerous studies have explored the personal characteristics or social psychological correlates of leadership. For instance, in his masterly treatment of political parties Michels wrote: Numerous and varied are the personal qualities thanks to which certain individuals succeed in ruling the masses. These qualities, which may be considered as specific qualities of leadership, are not necessari- ly all assembled in every leader. Among them, the chief is the force of will which reduces to obedience less powerful wills. Next in importance come the following: a wider extent of knowledge which impresses the members 20 Of the leader's environment; a catonian strength of conviction, a force of ideas verging on fanaticism, and which arouses the respect of the masses by its very intensity; self-sufficiency, even if accompanied by arrogant pride, so long as the leader knows how to make the crowd share his own pride in himself; in ex- ceptional cases, finally, goodness of heart and disin- terestedness, qualities which recall in the minds of the crowd the figure of Christ, and re-awaken religi- ous sentiments which are decayed but not extinct. Not all these qualities are to be found in all leaders, nor in equal degrees: However analyzed and discriminated, leadership exhibits the basic characteristics of a deference relationship. Power is being exercised. The domi- nance of the leaders is not purely formal but effec- tive among the rank and file at least, if not outside the group. The leader is respected: in part because of his personal qualities, in part because of the possession of power itself, he enjoys prestige. He is accorded rectitude: his power is not naked, but appears in the group perspectives as right and proper. In the present study, though we would look into personality traits of the leader, we are more interested in the social, economic and cultural backgrounds of com- munity influentials. Let us, therefore, turn to some com- munity studies that have tried to identify emerging patterns of leadership. According to Scott Greer 90 per cent of the popula- tion in any residential area falls into one Of the three 10 "social types" --the "isolates," the "neighbors," and the 8Robert Michels, Political Parties, p. 172. 9Lasswell and Kaplan, op. cit., p. 154. 10Scott Greer, The Emerging City, p. 120. 21 "community actors." Isolates are those who are literally disengaged from the organizational structure of their geo- graphical space in the community; they Operate as neighbors little if at all and they belong to none of the voluntary organizations in the area. Neighbors are those who are involved in the household and its immediate social environ- ments. Locally they live in the small world of casual in- teraction and family friendships. Community actors are those who are actually involved in local affairs and who control most of the local organizations. They are likely to be somewhat better educated than others and somewhat older on the average. Community actors supply a dispro- portionately large part of the local electorate and are by far the most knowledgeable type with respect to local personages, leaders and the electoral contests of the area. Jennings' study of the elites of Atlanta focused on three select status groupings: economic dominants-- occupants of major economic posts in the community; pre- scribed influentials--those who hold positions formally designed to sanction and facilitate the exercise of in- fluence in the community; and attributed influentials—- those who are perceived by significant others as being the most influential in community decision-making. Jennings concluded: In general, the attributed influentials have the most privileged backgrounds, the deepest roots in the community, and the highest socio-economic status. The 22 economic dominants are next to the attributed influen- tials in socio-economic status but they have the weakest ties to the community and the least privileged back- grounds of all three status groups. Occupying an in- termediate position, the prescribed influentials do not have so high a socio-economic status as the two other elites, but their ties to the community are stronger, and their social backgrounds somewhat more privileged than those of the economic notables. A large majority of the actors in each elite have far above-average social backgrounds and socio-economic status. In his study of Village Life in Northern India, Oscar Lewis has come to the conclusion: "An analysis of the personal and socio-economic characteristics of Jat leaders reveals that leadership depends upon the following factors in order of importance: wealth, family reputation, age, and genealogical position, personality traits, state of retirement, education, connections and influence with outsiders and, finally, numerical strength of the family 12 and lineage." H. S. Dhillon's (1955) study of Leadership and Groups in a South Indian Village reveals three categories of leaders: (1) Primary or major leaders, (2) secondary leaders and (3) tertiary or minor leaders. The primary leaders are those whose presence is considered essential in all important meetings of the village panchayat, whether held for settling disputes, arranging festivals or for any 11M. Kent Jennings, Community Influentials: The Elites of Atlanta, pp. 59-60. 12Oscar Lewis, Village Life in Northern India, p. 127. 23 other matter of village-wide importance. Secondary leaders are persons who occupy an important position in their re- spective factions and their presence is considered essen— tial for all important meetings of their own faction panch- ayats and of the village panchayat when matters concerning their faction are discussed. And minor leaders represent small kinship units of four or five families. They are not very influential in village affairs and are leaders only in the sense that they represent their own small groups who are not otherwise represented. According to Dhillon, factors contributing to leadership can be classified into three categories: social status of the family, economic status of the family and in- dividual personality traits. The inherited social position and reputation of the family, size of the family, elaborate performance of ceremonies, especially at the time of mar- riage or death, and wealth, especially ownership of land, contribute to leadership. Other factors that improve lead- ership chances are age, leisure time available, inclination to attend social and ceremonial matters, hospitality, in- fluence outside the village either through marital relations with important families or contact with officials, knowledge of court affairs and education. Very recently the National Institute of Community Development conducted a nation-wide survey on the awareness of community development in village India (Sen and Roy, 1967) 24 covering 365 villages and interviewing 7224 persons includ- inglq4l4 leaders and a random sample of 3,375 men and 2,435 women. The study revealed that 54.3 per cent of the leaders belong to high castes--Brahmins or high caste non-Brahmins-- have better economic status and a higher level of education when compared with randomly chosen males and females. The leaders were also more innovative, cosmopolite, secular- oriented, and politically knowledgeable than non—leaders. Similarly, Barnabas' study of the characteristics of Lay Leaders in Extension Work (1958) also indicates that leaders, as compared to non-leaders, have high social status, own more land and are better educated. Reports of the diffu- sion studies done in India clearly show that leaders have higher caste status, higher level of living, greater poli- tical awareness of the national scene and are on the whole more progressive than non-leaders. And Sen concludes: Status and authority in Indian villages are still ascribed, and the fact is recognized and accepted by all. With changing times, the leaders have sought for other secular forms of power such as holding elective and nominative offices, but the overall effect of their position is the same as before. Approaches to Leadership Most of the studies that bear upon leadership can be classified as emphasizing one or a combination of the l3Lalit K. Sen, Opinion Leadership in India, p. 56. 25 following six approaches to leadership: 1. Experimental-psychological approach. 2. Positional or a formal leadership approach. 3. Reputational or nominal leadership approach. 4. Social participation approach. 5. Opinion leadership or personal influence. 6. Event-analysis or decision-making. Since community power structure is the focus of the present inquiry, the psychological-experimental ap- proaches and the analysis of leadership in small groups will be largely excluded from the current review. The Positional or Formal Leadership Approach One of the most distinct ways of identifying leaders is to select those persons who occupy 'key' posi- tions in 'important' organizations within a social system. The meaning of the words 'key' and 'important' would large- ly depend upon the personal judgement of the researcher who determines which positions are influential or indicative of leadership. However, social scientists have been generally concerned with elected political officials, top civil ser- vants, chief executives in business and industry, officials of labor unions and various voluntary organizations, heads of religious groups, and others. Christopher Smith's study (1937) of a Connecticut industrial city is one of the 26 earlier attempts of identifying community leaders by means of positional approach. Smith compiled a list of 39 most prominent community organizations in the area and made up a sample of leaders by selecting the 119 persons who head elective positions in at least three different organiza- tions. Similarly, Stouffer's well known work on civil liberties (1955) included a sample of community leaders, most of whom were Office holders in voluntary organizations. In recent years Freeman and Mayo (1957), White (1950) and others have made several attempts to refine the positional approach. They recommend a measure of formal leadership based on the differential weighting Of the offices held by an individual. It is suggested that chair officers be given a weight of 5 or 4, committee members a weight of 1, and board officers and committee chairmen be given propor- tionate weightage in between. The Reputational Approach In this approach, members of a community are asked to tell the investigator, who they think are the most in- fluential actors in the system. Sometimes sociometric techniques are used to identify the social actors who re— ceive the largest number of nomination scores. In either case the researcher has to develop a criterion of consen- sus and identify the most dominant community leader. How- ever, the validity of the reputational approach depends 27 almost exclusively upon the informant's ability to name the leaders. According to Bell, et al., Studies using the reputational approach vary, among other ways, in the following important features: the number and kind of people who name or identify the leaders; the way in which these informants are selected; the specific questions used to elicit their judgments; and the criteria used by the researcher in deciding which of the designated leaders are, for his study, actually leaders. First, some studies use a sample or cross section Of the population as informants. Others use a small number of "key" informants, or a "panel of experts" whose position in the community presumably makes them informed and qualified to identify its leaders. Still other studies start with a small number of key infor- mants, then expand the list of such judges by adding to them peOple who have been named by the original in- formants as leaders or as informed persons--in a "snow- ball" or "cobweb" method of sampling. Sometimes a combination of these methods is used. Secondly, differences appear in the types of ques- tions posed to the informants. In some studies infor- mants are asked simply to say who are the "leaders" in their community or society. In others, they are asked specifically to name leaders in particular fields, such as national politics or local affairs. And sometimes the question is couched in terms of power or "influence," to discgver who affects the decisions on community problems.l Floyd Hunter (1953) in his study of community power structure in a Southern city, used a combination of posi- tional and reputational methods. First he identified per- sons occupying prominent positions in four areas of business, government, civic associations, and "society" activities, 14Bell, Hill and Wright, Public Leadership, pp. 13-14 0 28 and Obtained a list of 175 leaders. Later he instituted a panel of 14 knowledgeable persons who were asked to single out the tOp leaders from the list of influentials in each of the four areas. The original list was then reduced to 40 individuals of whom 27 were interviewed and asked to identify the top ten community leaders either from the list or from without. Tumin and Rotberg combined "Snowball" and panel of expert techniques in their study of desegregation and leadership in a North Carolina county. To begin with they identified with the help of a local newspaper editor a small number of men holding office, and then each of these men was asked to list the top influentials in the commun- ity. In this fashion a total of 28 leaders were singled out. Delbert Miller's well known study of power in a Pacific city (November, 1958) employed sociometric tech- niques also in order to identify the 12 key influentials who hold the reins of power in that West-coast city. Several researchers have tried to compare the re- sults Obtained from the positional and the reputational method. However, Freeman and Mayo (1957) in a study of community decision making and leadership in a rural setting found a general positive relationship between the leader- ship standings obtained through the two methods; Schulze and Blumberg (1957) in a study of the local power elite in a midwestern industrial city, came to the conclusion that 29 the composition of the community's power elite differs significantly from one method to the other. Belknap and Smuckler (1956) found considerable disagreement between the names of leaders picked by persons who are active in the community public affairs and those names picked by persons who are inactive. These findings suggest that prOper in- sight into the dynamics of local power structure requires the utilization of a combination of approaches. The Social-Participation Approach Several social scientists have used social partici- pation as an index of public leadership, the underlying assumption being that the extent to which an individual involves himself in community public affairs, is indica- tive of his social influence. An index or scale of social participation is constructed, based on the information about an individual's participation in various community activities, his membership or official status in different organizations, etc. For instance, as early as 1937 Chapin develOped a scale Of social participation which included items dealing with a person's membership, attendance, con- tributions, offices held, and committee service in volun— tary associations. In 1955 Foskett constructed a more inclusive index of social participation which includes 16 items and is specially designed for the study of policy- formation process. 30 Agger and Ostrom (1956) used a variation of the social participation approach in the study of a rural Ore- gon community of 3,000 people. They constructed a random sample of 260 persons in terms of their participation in community affairs and concluded that, on the basis of social participation index, the social actors could be Classified as advisors, talkers, listeners, workers and non-partici- pants. However, numerous studies have established signifi- cant correlation between social participation Of individuals and their social influence. For example, Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) found positive correlation between gregariousness and opinion leadership, whereas Wright and Hyman's findings from Denver study (1958) support the idea that members of voluntary associations are more interested in public affairs than are non-members. The Decision-Making or Event-AnalySIs Approach Another approach to the study of public leadership is what Kimball and Pearsall (1955) call "event analysis" which involves tracing the history of a particular public decision about some community issue or policy. This ap- proach focuses on the decision making process, locating the various decision-makers and tracing the course of policy formulation and development. 31 Many authors hold the View that the structure of community power and leadership varies from one issue to another, or at least from one field to another. Therefore studies of actual decision-making on an issue may direct attention to leaders other than those de- tected through inquiries into general leadership. To date, however, many--but not all--of these studies of particular issues or decisions appear impressionistic and exploratory than rigorous. They point to leadership as it arises in a specific commun— ity context and cannot adequately explain the dynamics of community power structure. The Miller-Form theory of "issue-outcome" is some- times used in predicting the outcome of community decisions. Miller studied the circumstances and influential forces surrounding the right—to-work initiative on a state ballot in 1956 and successfully predicted the outcome of the elec- tions, using the theory of "issue-outcome." Again, in 1958 Hanson further tested the Miller-Form theory in Denver, concerning the proposals on the ballot. Since we have detailed the major approaches to the study of community power structure, we must also refer to the heated methodological controversy between the advocates of positional and reputational methods and those of deci- sion making approach. Kaufman and Jones (l954),both poli— tical scientists, were among the first to attack the validity of positional and reputational methods of detecting leaders. They argued that power wielders could be identified only 15Ibid., p. 28. ~ " I e.‘ . 3.: ‘ N‘Ei -. ". \:‘4) '4 V. R V 9+ “x 3‘ 32 by examining instances in which power was actually employed by individuals or groups to influence the outcome of a de- cision in the direction desired. Dahl was emphatic when he argued But I do not see how anyone can suppose that he has established the dominance of a specific group in a community or a nation without basing his analysis on the careful examination of a series of concrete decisions. And these decisions must either constitute the universe or a fair sample from the:universe of key political decisions taken in the political system.16 According to Wofinger the reputational technique of em- ploying a panel of experts makes the erroneous assumption that appearance and reality are equivalent. Most of the reputational researchers by their failure to specify scopes in soliciting reputations for influence assume that the power of leader-nominees is equal for all issues, some researchers specifically state that they are concerned with "a general category of community leadership." This is an exceedingly dubious assumption. It is improbable, for instance, that the same people who decide which houses of pro- stitution are to be protected in return for graft payments also plan the public school curriculum. Another weakness of the reputational method is that it re- ports a static distribution of power whereas in reality there is a continuous shift in the balance of power. 16Robert A. Dahl, A Critique of the Ruling Elite Model, The American Political Science Review, LII (June, 1958). PP. 463-69. 17Raymond E. Wolfinger, Reputation and Reality in the Study of Community Power, American Sociological Review, XXV (October, 1960), pp. 636-644. 33 Ehrlich (1967) has, however, tried to clarify many of the problems involved with the reputational approach to community power and contends that a reputation for power is a phenomenon that is relevant to the study of community power, even if it is not always an accurate indicator of power itself. He also points out that almost all the vari- ous approaches to community power structure, including the decision-making approach, rely to some extent on the judge- ment of observers (other than the researchers themselves) about the role played by alleged leaders. Anton (1963) has provided one of the most thorough—going critiques of the decision-making approach and contends that event- analysis is ill-suited to discovering significant conclu- sions about community power. Presthus (1964) points out that decisional methods tend to overlook the more subtle manifestations of power whereby certain individuals with impressive resources play a quiet role in decisions, often through their "leg-men." Moreover, it is seldom recognized by community power analysts that the decision making pro- cess is multi-staged in character and the fact that an individual or a group is active at one of these several stages is not by itself evidence of general social influ- ence. Agger, Goldrich and Swanson (1964) have formulated a six-step decision making model which illustrates that influence on policy may often occur at stages of the de- cision-making process prior or subsequent to the authoritative 34 conSideration of issues and the promulgation of decisions. A person has influence only to the degree that his action, or his anticipated action, affects the substance of the ultimate policy or results in its success or defeat. In addition, Long warns against the error of assuming that the policy outcomes always reflect the victory of one set Of contending forces over another. The fact that a political or social system may produce a policy output which was not intended seems to have received inadequate attention from most community power analysts. Two more fundamental problems underlying the deci- sion-approach must be emphasized. The first of them is to ascertain which issues to study and how to weigh their relative importance. Secondly, "Even if researchers are able to analyze carefully all of the important community decisions, there is always the possibility that other 'issues' or problems are not being discussed or perceived, or in fact are being directly or indirectly suppressed; these other issues may be more important for an understand- ing of a community's power structure than those which reach relatively high levels of political 'visibility'."18 Eval- uating the methodological problem, Bachrach and Baratz argue that power has two faces-—one manifest in the outcome 18Willis D. Hawley andFrederick M. Wirt, The Search for Community Power, p. 213. 35 of the overt decision-making process, the other manifest in the capacity of individuals and groups to prevent issues or contests from arising which could threaten their inter— ests, and hence call for a freer approach to the study of power: Under this approach the researcher would begin-- not, as does the sociologist who asks, "Who rules?" nor as does the pluralist who asks,"Does anyone have power?"--but by investigating the particular "mobili- zation of bias" in the institution under scrutiny. Then, having analyzed the dominant values, the myths and the established political procedures and rules of the game, he would make a careful inquiry into which persons or groups, if any, gain from the existing bias and which, if any are handicapped by it. Next, he would investigate the dynamics of non-decision-making; that is, he would examine the extent to which and the manner in which the status-quo oriented persons and groups influence those community values and those political institutions (as, e.g., the unanimity "rule" of New York‘City's Board of Estimate) which tend to limit the scope of actual decision-making to "safe" issues. Finally, using his knowledge of the restric- tive face of power as a foundation for analysis and as a standard for distinguishing between "key" and "rou- tine" political decisions, the researcher would, after the manner of the pluralists, analyzg participation in decision-making Of concrete issues.1 Freeman and his colleagues undertook a comparative analysis Of four techniques and found that each method discovered a different set of leaders. The researchers identified three types: Institutional leaders, Effectors and Activists and concluded 19Peter Bachrach and Morton S. Baratz. The Two Faces of Power, American Political Science Review, LVII 36 The various differing approaches to the study of com- munity leadership seem to uncover different types of leaders. The study of reputation, position or organi- zational participation seems to get at the Institutional Leaders. Studies of participation in decision making, on the other hand, tap the Effectors of community action. And studies of social activity seem to seek out the Activists who gain entry by dint of sheer commitment, time, and energy. The various studies have led to the conclusion that no one method can furnish the complete picture of community power structure. But a combination of methods is required to gain a deep insight. Opinion Leadership or Personal Influence The hypodermic needle model portrayed the image of communication media as acting directly upon the individual audience members, reaching each member or not, influencing him directly or not. This model assumed that the audience was an atomized mass of disconnected individuals, and that there was a direct and immediate stimulus-response rela- tionship between the sending and receiving of mass media messages. Later this concept was found questionable. Re- search revealed that in many instances the members of an audience are participating in a group experience. And the social connections of the individual provide him with a 20Linton C. Freeman, et al., Locating Leaders in Local Communities: A Comparison of Some Alternative Ap- proaches, American Sociological Review, XXVII (October, 1963). pp. 791-798. 37 communication network on a personal face-to-face basis. There is growing evidence to support the hypothesis that mass media messages do not always reach all members of their ultimate audience directly. Sometimes, through a two-step process, they first reach one layer of society-- called Opinion leaders or influentials--who in turn pass the message on by word-Of-mouth to persons who consult them or utilize the message in the advice or information which they pass on to their circle of influencees. An early recognition of the importance of individuals in mediating between the mass media and the general public was part of a pioneering study by Paul Lazarsfeld and his colleagues21 during the presidential campaign of 1940. To the researcher's initial surprise, they found almost no influence of the mass media on voting patterns. Instead, interpersonal influence from opinion leaders was recognized as an important intervening mechanism which operated between the mass media messages and their effects on human behavior. And the two-step flow of communication, probably the most exciting idea in the past 25 years of communication research, was postulated: Ideas Often flow from radio and print to opinion leaders and from them to the less active sections of the pOpulation. Obviously, 21For details see Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet, The PeOple's Choice. 38 one of the important implications of the two-step flow model was the central place that it accorded to opinion leaders and to their interpersonal communication with followers. It put pe0ple back into mass communication. The study in— dicated that personal influence affected voting decisions more than the mass media did. The study also indicated high degree of homogeneity of political Opinion among mem- bers of the same families, among workers and friends. The study also examined some of the reasons why personal influ- ence might be expected to be more influential in changing Opinions than the mass media did: it is Often non-purpo- sive; it is flexible; it is trustworthy. Opinion leadership was found to be distributed throughout the social structure, suggesting that personal influence flows not only from top to bottom within the society but also horizontally within social classes or other status groups. Second, the opinion leaders turned out to be especially alert, interested, and active politi- cally. They were more fully exposed to the mass media campaign than were non-opinion leaders. There was also evidence that the Opinion leaders used the ideas and in- formation Obtained from the mass media in the information they passed on to their followers. It was in the discovery and analysis of such effective personal contacts that the concept of Opinion leader and the two-step flow hypothesis developed. 39 According to Elihu Katz the hypothesis has three distinct components: 1. The impact of personal influence. It is reported that peOple who made up their minds late in the campaign, and those who changed their minds during the course of the campaign, were more likely than other people to mention personal influence as having figured in their decisions. Personal contacts appeared to be more frequent and more effective than mass media in influencing voting decisions. 2. The flow of personal influence. From the almost even distribution of leaders throughout every class and occupation, as well as the frequent mention by decision- makers of the influence of friends, co-workers and rela- tives, it was concluded that opinion leaders are to be found on every level of society and presumably, therefore, are very much like the people whom they influence. 3. The opinion leaders and the mass media. Compared with the rest of the pOpulation, Opinion leaders were found to be considerably more exposed to the radio, to the newspapers and to magazines, that is, to the formal media of communication.22 A vast complex literature accumulated on the two- step flow over the past twenty-five years. It includes 22Elihu Katz, The Two-Step Flow of Communication: An Up-to-date Report on an Hypothesis, p. 61 ff. 40 research on political Opinion leaders in election campaigns, personal influence in fashions, movie and public affairs in a judgemental sample of women and drug adoption in an ex- haustive sample of physicians. It also includes the opin- ion leadership aspects of the diffusion of innovations among farmers and studies comparing the characteristics of both formal and informal leaders. Recent awareness of the two lines of study and of similar works in education and anthro- pology have led to a convergence Of the two traditions and further explication of the two-step flow by Troldahl, Van Dam, and others. Merton's study of interpersonal influence in a small town (1949) showed that the entire concept of the influential is inadequately specific, for there was no such single type who stood apart from the general people in the community. Rather, there seemed to be different types of influentials two of which are particularly signif- icant, whom Merton identified as local and cosmopolitan influentials, the former being preoccupied essentially with local community affairs and the latter being also concerned with the larger world and its problems. In the Decatur study, Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) emphasize the advantage of the interpersonal aspects of face-to-face communication in affecting marketing, fashion and movie selections. Whereas the mass media depend pri- marily on the content of their communications, personal 41 communications influence people not only through what is said but also by personal control in which the source of the directive is as important as the content itself. Lar- sen and Hill's study (1954) emphasized the importance of primary groups in personal communication about events. They also demonstrated that people do more than just listen to mass-communicated news--they talk about it with friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers. De Fleur and Larsen's Project Revere (1958) showed that "under low stimulus con- ditions nearly two-thirds of the message knowing was achieved through social channels, while under high stimulus conditions nearly one-half of the knowers learned through social contact in the community."23 Katz (1964) summarizes several findings that sup- port the two-step flow hypothesis as follows: (1) In both urban and rural settings personal influence appears to be more effective in gaining acceptance of change than are the mass media or other types of influence. Several studies have testified to the tendency for adopters of innovations to credit other people with having influenced their deci— sions. (2) When decision-making is broken into phases, the mass media appear relatively more influential in the early informational phases whereas personal influences are more effective in the later phase of deliberation and 23See De Fleur and Larsen, The Flow of Information. 42 decision. (3) The earliest to accept an innovation are more likely than those who accept later to have been in- fluenced by agricultural agencies, mass media and other formal sources whereas the latter are more likely to be influenced by personal sources, by the former. A number of recent studies have proposed amend- ments to the original model of two-step flow. Research on the diffusion of new ideas, technique, etc., and es- pecially a recent study on the diffusion of new farming methods in the Netherlands shows that both Opinion leaders and their followers are influenced by mass media as well as personal influence. Farmers usually hear for the first time of the existence of a new method through the mass media, but the decision to adopt an innovation is mainly influenced by personal contacts. However, the kinds of mass media influencing Opinion leaders and the kinds of personal contacts influencing them differ from those which influence their followers. Van Den Ban (1968) suggests the following hypotheses: (1) Mass media are major agents in arousing the interests in new methods early in the adoption process, but during a later stage personal contacts are especially influential in the decision to adopt a new method. Basically, this process is the same for opinion leaders and for their followers. (2) The first persons to adopt a new idea make intensive use of all sources which can provide reliable information about the idea including 43 mass media as well as personal contacts with qualified informants. (3) Often these innovators and early adopters are also the opinion leaders of their group, but the rela- tionship between pioneering and opinion leadership is much closer in progressive than in traditional groups. (4) Problems about which more information is badly needed will Often make people turn for advice to the best informed people in the community. These are usually people of a high social status. (5) On most new ideas, however, people will get their information personally through casual con- versations, mainly with people of about the same social status. Menzel and Katz (1959) had concluded that on the basis of their pilot investigation of a new medical drug, "We have found it necessary to propose amendments for the model of the two-step flow of communications: by consider- ing the possibility of multi—step rather than two-step flow."24 This idea of the multi-step flow model emerged from one of the first tests of the two-step flow in the diffusion of an innovation. Opinion leaders and the peOple whom they influence are very much alike and typically be- long to the same primary group. While the opinion leader may be more interested in the particular sphere in which 24Menzel and Katz, Social Relations and Innovation in the Medical Profession, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 19’ 1959' pp. 337-52. 44 he is influential it is highly unlikely that the persons influenced will be very far behind the leader in their level of interest. Influentials and influencees may ex- change roles in different spheres of influence. Similarly, despite their greater exposure to the mass media, most Opinion leaders are primarily affected not by the communi- cation media but by still other peOple. The main emphasis of the two-step flow hypothesis appears to be only on one aspect of interpersonal relations-- interpersonal relations as channels of communication. But the studies reviewed here indicate that these very same interpersonal relations influence the making of decisions in at least two additional ways--interpersonal relations as sources of social pressure, and as sources of social support. The overall criticism of the two-step flow, as originally stated, is that it does not tell us enough. The communication process is far more complicated than the two steps. The two-step flow model does not distinguish between the knowledge versus persuasion function in decision-making. The large number of studies done in the area of opinion leadership since 1940 could, perhaps, be summarized in one sentence: the mass media probably reach both opinion lead- ers and followers to create knowledge and awareness, but (2) persuasion or acceptance of new ideas occurs mainly as a result of interpersonal communication from opinion 45 leaders. In summary, transfer of information from person to person may take place as a two-step flow, but the pro- cess postulated from mass media to Opinion leaders to audi— ence is certainly an oversimplification. As Rogers points out: Recent research suggests a multistep flow where Opinion leaders may influence other opinion leaders and they, in turn, influence their followers. Per- haps models similar to those utilized in organic chemistry to show complex hydrocarbons are needed to depict the chains of influence relationships actually found in the diffusion process. Of course the term "two-step" is more heuristic than definitive. That is, it suggests that some--by no means all--communication content reaches a mass audience indirectly through the mediating efforts of Opinion lead- ers. But it is quite possible that there may be more than two steps in the process. Sometimes Opinion leaders on some topic look in turn to other people for information and advice on that subject. And some of these second level influentials may depend on the mass media while others turn to still a third circle of Opinion leaders for advice, and so on. That the communication process may be more complex than originally suggested by the term "two- step" flow does not detract from the important concep- tualization signified by that term. Comparative studies on specific aspects of opinion leadership and phases of 5Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, p. 214. 46 information flow are required before a more systematic formulation of the concept that would generalize across various cultures. However, the research to date is broad enough and consistent enough to amplify the importance of influentials in the flow of communication. Furthermore, a myriad of re- search studies have attempted to identify a battery of characteristics attributed to innovators and Opinion lead- ers. Summarizing numerous diffusion studies, Rogers (1962) found that the relatively early adopters in a social system tend to be younger in age, have higher social status, a more favorable financial position, more specialized opera- tions, and a 'different type of mentality' from later adopters. The social relationships of earlier adopters are more cosmopolite than for later adopters, and earlier adopt- ers have more Opinion leadership. Diffusion studies have also pointed out that Opinion leaders are more cosmopolite, have more social participation, higher social status, and are more innovative than their followers. These findings lead us on to the central question: to what extent are these attributes characteristic of community influentials in Village India? The Theoretical Frame of Reference I Broadly speaking, social scientists concerned with community power structure usually subscribe to one of the 47 three theories: Mass, Elitist and Pluralist. From the work of Ferdinand Toennies'in describing Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft as basic types of societies, several generations of sociologists have drawn a set of conclusions about the organization of modern society. Some have emphasized the loss of personal relations and the complementary loss of social ties that bound the person to the society. Thus emerged the concept of mass society, which in the terms of Durkheim approximates a "social dust- heap," or a "lonely crowd" in the words of Riesman. Ac- cording tO this perspective the large and complex, indus— trial, urbanized and bureaucratized Western society is a mass society in which the individual becomes a mass man, the isolated person, bereft of meaningful social relation. To quote Ritchie Lowry: Mass theories tend uniformly to adopt a negative orientation, theoretically and philoSOphically. Alienation, apathy, and other forms of dissociative behavior are considered a natural consequence Of trends in modern society. Furthermore, these forms of behavior are assumed to be associated primarily with the led rather than the leaders and to be dysfunctional to the orderly process of a vital democratic society. This approach, however, poses several conceptual and methodological problems. As Daniel Bell notes, there is in the concept of mass society a confusion between "a judgment regarding the quality of modern experience," and 26Ritchie Lowry, Who is Running this Town? p. XX. 48 "a presumed scientific statement concerning the disorgani- zation of society created by industrialization and the de- 27 mands Of the masses for equality." Similarly, Edward Shils decries the mass perspective in more emphatic terms: As I see it, modern society is no lonely crowd, no horde of refugees fleeing from freedom. It is not Gesellschaft, soulless, egotistical, loveless, faith- 1ess, utterly impersonal and lacking any integrative forces other than interest or coercion. 8 Further, the mass perspective ignores the fact that certain forms of alienation and apathy may meet certain Operational requirements of the society. For instance, several social scientists have pointed out how the existence of a large apathetic group in the American electorate is instrumental in sustaining the two—party system in the U.S. Moreover, as McKee points out "To interpret modern society as mass society, then, is to use a selective frame of reference that depends, for its historic referent, on a conservative, idealized, and historically inaccurate image of folk 29 In other words, society." What joins together in the concept of mass society, then, is a tradition Of sociological analysis that draws heavily from (but does not begin with) Toennies' social analysis and a tradition of social criticism 27Daniel Bell, The End of Ideology, pp. 26-27. 28Edward Shills, Primordial, Personal, Sacred and Civil Ties, p. 131. 29James B. McKee, Introduction to Sociology, p. 140. 49 that draws from both radical and conservative sources in the nineteenth century and to this very point of time in the twentieth. The first is an effort at scientific analysis that seeks to understand the kind Of society that industrialism made possible, whereas the second is concerned with severely criticizing the quality of life in such a society. The ruling elite model assumes that economic, social, and political power invariably rests in the hands of a fairly autonomous few whose interests are relatively co- hesive and who dominate key decisions in a community. 'For instance, the Lynds, Floyd Hunter and C. Wright Mills have concluded that public policy-decision-making in American society is either directly or indirectly dominated by an elite with varying degrees of political autonomy and value consensus. The pluralistic perspective questions the existence of a single center Of power, or a cohesive coalition of groups which wield power in American communities. The critics of the ruling elite model argue that there are usually (though not always) multiple centers of power, none of which is completely sovereign. In addition, these centers of power do not overlap or coalesce from issue- area to issue-area in any consistent way. The power of leaders is significantly limited by other leaders and by those whom they lead, although direct mass participation 3°Ibid., p. 138. 50 in decision making is not required or expected. According to pluralists Wallace Sayre and Nelson Polsby: ". . . in a wide range of community situations, participation in de- cision-making is limited to a relatively few members of the community, but only within the constraints of a bargain- ing process among elites and of an underlying consensus supplied by a much larger percentage of the local popula- tion whose approval is costly to secure."31 There is usually a normative dimension associated with the two perspectives. The theoretical assumptions of the pluralists seem to carry the implicit judgment, that pluralistic political systems are "better" or in any case, more democratic than elite political systems. Of course, those who have found varieties of elite rule have often expressed their distaste for such structures, as the writings of the Lynds, Hunter, and others clearly demonstrate. While most of us would agree that a relatively broad dispersal of political power is preferable to the domination of community policies by the few, a pluralist structure of leader- ship is not in itself adequate evidence that the poli- tical system is serving the interest of the many. Indeed, a number of political scientists have recently become critical of those who have too readily equated pluralistic leadership structures with democracy. These scholars have warned that before one can begin to say that pluralism leads to democracy, it is mini- mally necessary to demonstrate, and not merely assert, that (l) a balance of power exists among competing interests, and (2) perhaps more important, that the leaders of competing groups are i3 some way responsible to the wishes of those they lead. 2 31Hawley and Wirt, The Search for Community Power, pp. 89-90. 32Ibid., p. 90. 51 In short, as Hawley and Wirt put it, "it seems that those authors who find elite systems are more likely to see their role as that of the critic or reformer; those who report pluralistic findings, though not always satisfied with things as they are, are more likely to View themselves as defenders of democratic theory."33 Another difference between the two perspectives is that the concept of elite rule usually has a class compo- nent; that is, those who rule are economically or socially privileged. On the other hand, political pluralism implies that the distribution of power is somewhat dispersed and that class lines are not the determinants of that distri- bution. Moreover, in a pluralist political system the balance of power is not invariable over time. It tends to adjust to new levels of equilibrium in response to demands from those who seek a greater share of the rewards that power brings. Yet another difference between elite and pluralist studies lies in the methodology generally utilized by the authors of each type. Elite studies generally employ posi- tional and/or reputational methods. They seek to identify community actors who have a reputation for being influen- tial, "for getting things done" or persons who are strate- gically located in any social system. The pluralists, on 33Ibid., p. 38. 52 the other hand, tend to regard position and reputation as incidental, secondary, or even irrelevant, and to focus on concrete manifestations of influence in the process of political decision-making. They take up one or two con- crete issues and trace the process of decision-making, thereby identifying influentials who dominate the process. Moreover, elite studies seem to differ from plura- list studies in that the frame Of reference of the former is broader. Those, who find elite rule, are concerned with the exercise of power in social, educational, religious, political, and economic institutions and the greatest em- phasis Often placed on the last of these. Pluralist studies, on the other hand, tend to focus on the way in which social, economic, religious and educational influ- ences, etc., are manifested in more or less structured political decisions. As a result of these emphases, elite studies often center on economic dominants while pluralist studies often center on political dominants. In recent years, the ruling elite model has been subjected to severe criticism, especially by political scientists. Dahl (1958) argues that the ruling elite model assumes the existence of important characteristics of the community without empirical backing: "The evidence for a ruling elite, either in the United States or in any speci- fic community, has not yet been prOperly examined so far as I know. . . . because the examination has not employed 53 satisfactory criteria to determine what constitutes a fair 34 In addition to using and test of the basic hypothesis." refining Dahl's techniques of decision-making analysis and opinion surveys, Wildavsky (1964) considered all the issues of conflict in the community instead of the limited number, examined by Dahl and argues that the small town in America is not a cheese press of homogeneity and conformity, but on the contrary, a center of considerable controversy, en- gendered by leadership elements who have conflicting inter- ests. Sayre and Kauffman's study of New York City (1960) provides us with a clear, systematic statement of the com- petitive, multi-centered nature of decision-making in a large city. The counterpoised fears of these decision- makers in New York prevent the development of a cohesive, internally consistent elite who "run the town." The deci- sion centers are numerous and they are kept from flying apart by a series of "balance wheels" in the system. In the words of the authors: Taking the system overall, however, none, nor all combined, can be said to be in command; large segments of the city's government do not attract their attention at all. New York's huge and diverse system of govern- ment and politics is a loose-knit and multicentered network in which decisions are reached by ceaseless bargaining and fluctuating alliances among the major categories Of participants in each center and in which the centers are partially but strikingly iSOlated from one another. 34Robert A Dahl, op. cit., pp. 463-469. 3SWallace S. Sayre and Herbert Kaufman, Governing New York City, pp. 709-716 54 Thus, pluralists frequently point out that the ruling elite model involves the imputation of motives to covert leader— ship, who cannot be subjected to rational, scientific in- vestigation and that the approach uniformly overlooks factional disputes and conflicts within leadership groups. Moreover, this model makes the erroneous assumption that power structure tends to be stable over time and above all, it wrongly equates reputed with actual power. Thomas Anton has provided one of the most thorough- going critiques of the pluralist perspective. According to him, ambiguity with regard to the concept of power and community is a central characteristic of pluralism. To quote Anton: The pluralist conclusion reveals an interesting conception Of power not only as something physical, but also as something usable only in situations of Open conflict. Since power depends upon the existence of conflict (or issues), there can be no power unless there is recognizable competition between individuals and groups. Thus all that has been learned in the twentieth century about psychology of mass manipula- tion or about the persuasive power of such devices as credit, jobs, or social ostracism is ignored by this curiously one-sided notion of power. Further, the pluralists do not take account of the fact that power may be, and Often is, exercised by confining the scope of decision making to relatively 'safe' issues. 36Thomas J. Anton, Power, Pluralism, and Local Politics, Administrative Science Quarterly, VII (March, 55 The other is that the model provides no objective criteria for distinguishing between important and unimportant issues arising in the political arena. Also, there is no way of knowing if those who dominated the particular issues are generally influential in the community as a whole. At this point it must be emphasized that the dis- tinction between elite and pluralist systems are matters of degree, rather than of mutually exclusive contrasts. As Presthus contends, elitist and pluralist perspectives un- cover two different facets of social reality. In his judgment, "To some extent, where the sociologists found monopoly and called it elitism, political scientists found OligOpoly but defined it in more honorific terms as pluralism."37 II Now let us turn to some Specific theories of lead- ership. During the past sixty years social scientists have advanced different theories of what makes for good leader- ship, focusing first upon one aspect and then upon another. This shifting focus in the theoretical formulations of the leadership concept may be explained in terms of five basic approaches. 37Robert V. Presthus, Men at the Top: A Study in Community Power, 1964. 56 (l) The Trait Approach. During the first decades of the twentieth century leadership research focused on the leader himself, to the virtual exclusion of other variables. Hundreds of studies have been made comparing the physical, intellectual, or personality traits of lead- ers and followers. These studies were guided by the assump- tion that leadership effectiveness could be explained by isolating psychological, physical and demographic charac- teristics which were presumed to differentiate the leader from the other members of his group. However, they failed to make any substantial contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of leadership, for universal traits proved elusive, and there was little agreement as to what consti- tuted 'good leadership.‘ Only 5 per cent of the traits in over 106 such studies appeared in four or more studies. Gouldner reviewed several studies in 1eadership--empirical studies as well as theoretical treatises--and analyzed evidence relating to "universal traits," such as intelli- gence, psycho-sexual appeal, etc. However he arrived at the inevitable conclusion: "At this time there is no re- liable evidence concerning the existence Of universal leadership traits."38 (2) The Situationist Approach. The Situationist approach is based on the assumption that different situations 38Alvin Gouldner, (ed.) Studies in Leadership, p. 34. 57 require different leadership behavior and that the variables which enter into producing 'good' leaders are determined by the particular situation. Stogdill, having examined a large number of leadership studies aimed at isolating the traits Of effective leaders, concludes: "The qualities, characteristics and skills required in a leader are deter- mined to a large extent by the demands of the situation in 39 To this Sanford which he is to function as a leader." adds: "We can conclude with reasonable certainty that (a) there are either no general leadership traits, or if they do exist they are not to be described in any of our familiar psychological or common sense terms, (b) in a specific situation leaders do have traits which set them apart from followers but what traits set what leaders apart from what followers will vary from situation to situation."40 (3) The Behavior Approach. The behaviorists hold that leadership is whatever the person does who is in the position of a leader or that leadership is whatever be— havior influences a collectivity. They analyze the kinds of functions which people carry out when they are in posi- tions of leadership and have found, according to Lippitt, 39Ralph Stogdill, Personal Factors Associated with Leadership: A Survey of the Literature, p. 63. 40Fillmore H. Sanford, The Psychology of Military Leadership, 1952. 58 that most leaders perform four major functions: (1) A leader may perform a symbolic function, such as the queen of Eng- land performs at present. (2) Or a leader may perform primarily a decision-making function. This could be exem- plified by the political "boss," who makes decisions behind the scenes to be carried out by other individuals. (3) An- other function that most leaders perform in one degree or another is giving information or advice. (4) A function that is common to most positions of leadership is the one of initiating plans.41 (4) The Styles-of—Leadership Approach. This ap- proach is based on the hypothesis that different styles of leadership behavior generate different kinds of group climate. Studies done at the University of Iowa in 1938 and 1940 identify three styles of leadership in terms of the location of decision-making function: autocratic, laissez-faire, and democratic. In the autocratic group the decision-making function resides in the leader, in the laissez-faire group, it resides in the individual and the democratic group is collectively responsible for decision- making. Several studies have been done in the field of industry to determine the various types of supervision and the resultant group personalities. Four such types have 41Gordon Lippitt, What Do We Know about Leadership? 59 been frequently identified: hardboiled autocratic, benevo- lent autocratic, laissez—faire and democratic.42 However, more recent research findings tend to question the stereo- type image Of a leader but emphasize the shifting leader- ship behavior in varying situations. (5) Functional Leadership Approach. The functional perspective interprets leadership in terms Of functions to be performed in helping the groups, not in terms of quali- ties inherent in certain persons. In the words of Benne, the functional approach helps explode "two dangerous and all too prevalent myths about leadership." One is the myth that we must wait for "nature" to give us our leaders--a person is just "naturally" born to be a leader or he is not. The other has it that social situations automatically pro- duce the leadership which they require-—the Civil War pro- duced Lincoln, didn't it?"43 The functionalists do not regard leader as an en- tity who can be considered apart from his functional rela- tionship to his followers, nor do they conceive of leader- ship as inherent in certain persons or classes of persons. On the other hand, the leader emerges as a consequence of 42See, for instance, Bradford and Lippitt, Building a Democratic WOrk Group, in National Education Association, 9p. cit., p. 52. 43Kenneth D. Benne, Leaders are Made, Not Born, in National Education Association, op. cit., p. 19. 60 the needs of a group of people and of the nature of the situation within which that group is to function. Review— ing a vast body of literature dealing with leadership, Jenkins came to the conclusion: The situation does not appear to be a particularly happy one with regard to the deriving of general prin- ciples or of setting up a systematic theory of leader- ship from the available information. A few statements may be set forth, however, that appear to hold for the findings Of a number Of the investigations reviewed; this list should be thought of as a series of hypotheses for further investigation. (1) Leadership is specific to the particular situation under investigation. Who becomes the leader of a given group engaging in a par- ticular activity and what leadership characteristics are, in a given case, are a function of the specific situation including the measuring instruments employed. Related to this conclusion is the general finding of wide variations in the characteristics of individuals who become leaders in similar situations, and even greater diveigence in leadership behavior in different situations.4 These approaches have been discussed and evaluated in recent years by a number of authors including Stogdill, Jenkins, Gouldner and Sanford. And in the light of latest develOpments Sanford writes: "It now looks as if any com- prehensive theory of leadership will have to find a way of dealing, in terms of one consistent set of rubrics, with the three delineable facets of the leadership phenomenon: (a) the leader and his psychological attributes, (b) the follower with his problems, attitudes and needs, and (c) 44William O. Jenkins, A Review of Leadership Studies with Particular Reference to Military Problems, p. 75. 61 the group situation in which followers and leaders relate with one another."45 In summarizing the current theories on leadership Cecil Gibb observes: The principal insistence of interaction theories. . . . is that the major variables in terms of which leadership might be understood are: (l) the leader's personality; (2) the needs, attitudes, and problems of followers; (3) the group itself, in terms of both in- terpersonal structure and syntality; and (4) the sit- uation in terms of both the physical circumstances and the group task.46 And commenting on the sociological aspects of leadership Tannenbaum maintains: Sociological treatments Of leadership have leaned heavily on conceptions applying to elites, to auto- cratic systems and to rigid class or caste systems. Almost all of the literature on leadership, according to Bell, stems from the works of Aristotle and Machia- velli and is committed to "the image of the mindless masses and the image of the strong-willed leader. Lasswell and Kaplan (1965) put forth the following propositions: (1) Acquisition and maintenance of leadership is a function of the prestige of the leaders. The leader is 45Fillmore H. Sanford, op. cit., p. 60. 46Cecil A. Gibb, Leadership: Psychological As- pects, p. 97. 47Arnold Tannenbaum, Leadership: Sociological As- pects, p. 102. . 48Lasswell and Kaplan, 9p. cit., p. 154 ff. 62 not only powerful but respected as well. Thus leaders are likely to be recruited from among the select within the group. The composition of the select varies, of course, with both conditions and considerations. (2) The rank and file identifies with the leader and adopts his perspectives. According to Lasswell and Kaplan certain features of the leadership relation itself contribute to the tendency toward identification resulting from the leader's prestige and from cooperation with him. The leader acts as a representative of the group, and other groups and leaders react to him in that perspective. Sym- bols of identification make the relationship explicit. As a result of the identification the perspectives Of the leader permeate the rank and file. His demands and expectations, faiths and interests, are not so much "his" as "ours." Independently of this linkage by identification, the prestige of the leader adds weight to his opinions within the group. The leader is re- garded as capable and informed, and these values are transferred by the group to his perspectives. (3) Circulation Of leadership is less than that of the rank and file. Leaders are not only more active but also more stable members of the group; and changes in the leadership occur less frequently than among the rank and file. To this Michels adds: "Leaders when compared with the masses, whose composition varies from moment to moment constitute a more stable and more constant element of the organized membership." (4) The circulation of leadership varies inversely with the disparity between its skills and those of the rank 63 and file. This is one of Michels' basic theses, elaborated throughout his study of political parties: "The leader's principal source of power is found in his indispensability." Michels continues: The leaders cannot be replaced at a moment's notice, since all other members of the party (or other group or community) are absorbed in their everyday occuatpions and are strangers to the bureaucratic mechanism. This special competence, this expert knowledge, which the leader acquires in matters inaccessible or almost in- accessible to the mass, gives him a security of tenure. Lasswell and Kaplan summarize their position thus: What is fundamental is that the possession of cer- tain values is a requisite of leadership, and that these values are non-transferable. Skill is the most striking of the non-transferable values; but there are others as well. Thus prestige is an important requisite of leadership not readily transferable. Hence stability Of leadership will also vary with the disparity in the respect accorded the leaders and the rank and file. And the same will be true with regard to personal character- istics (for instance, prowess6 on which leadership in a given case might be based.5 An inevitable consequence of the skill condition is that leadership is rarely completely replaced by its rivals. Criticizing Pareto's theory of the circulation of elites, Michels points out that: "In most cases there is not a simple replacement of one group of elites by another, but a continuous process of intermixture, the old elements in- cessantly attracting, absorbing, and assimilating the new."51 49Robert Michels, op. cit., p. 84. 50Lasswell and Kaplan, Op. cit., p. 58. 51Robert Michels, op. cit., p. 378. 64 The rival leaderships are indispensable to one another as well as to the group. The new leadership cannot dispense altogether with the experience and the expertice of the Old, nor can the old better maintain its favorable power position than by extending its rivals a restricted share in their own power. Hence, "very rarely does the struggle between the Old leaders and the new end in the complete de- feat of the former. The result of the process is not so much a 'circulation des elites' as a 'reunion des elites,‘ an amalgam, that is to say, of the two elements."52 These prOpositions are particularly relevant to the Indian context where new patterns of leadership are believed to be emerging. However, several studies have shown that the Old guard leadership based on caste, ritual superiority, inherited position and ascribed status is still the dominant form of leadership and its total replacement by progressive, youthful leadership is held to be a remote possibility. III Studies in Opinion leadership present a different but related theoretical orientation on leadership patterns. Findings from the Decatur study and the later Elmira study revealed that Opinion leaders themselves Often reported 521bid., p. 177. 65 that their own decisions were influenced by still other people. It began to seem desirable, therefore, to think in terms of the opinion leaders of opinion leaders. Sec- ondly, it became clear that Opinion leadership could not be viewed as a "trait" which some people possess and others do not, although voting study sometimes implied this View. Instead, it seemed quite apparent that the opinion leader is influential at certain times and with respect to cer- tain substantive areas by virtue of the fact that he is "empowered" to be so by other members of his group. Why certain people are chosen must be accounted for not only in demographic terms (social status, sex, age, etc.) but also in terms of the structure and values of the groups of which both advisor and advisee are members. Thus the unexpected rise of young men to Opinion leadership in traditional groups, when these groups faced the new situations of urbanization and industrialization, can be understood only against the background of old and new patterns of social relations within the group and of Old and new patterns of orien- tation to the world outside the group. According to Katz and Lazarsfeld "Nomination, loca- tion and certification are the three diagnostic keys to the "54 Leadership strategic points of interpersonal influence. is not so much a trait which some people possess and others do not but rather it is a response of individuals reacting together to the situation in which they find themselves and 53Katz and Lazarsfeld, 9p. cit., p. 241. 54Ibid., p. 99. 66 the leader is the one who has been nominated by his fol- lowers as the man most appropriate to the group's particu- lar needs. "There dornot appear to be any 'born' leaders, nor any infallible leadership traits, but that the situa- tion in which an informal group finds itself will be one of the major determinants of who will be called on to lead."55 A second way by which a person may assume leader— ship role is by being strategically situated in the group relative to some desired goal. According to Homans it is better to define a leader not as the man who originates interaction for many people at once, but by his key posi- tion in the channels of interaction; the leader is a kind of trigger position for the entire group. To analyze his findings, Leavitt (1952) proposes a measure called "cen— trality" which describes the degree of access a given member has to all others in the group. The man in the middle of the wheel, for example, clearly has the highest "centrality" measure in that group. Now, in those patterns which were characterized by a relatively even distribution of "centrality" among all members, the influence of members on group affairs tended to be equal, but where high cen- trality was allotted by the structure to only one member then that particular member was most likely to take con- trol. Centrality in the latter type of structure, functioned 551bid., p. 101. 67 as the major determinant of leadership, for the others recognized their dependence on this key position. Then there is the culturally certified leader who influences others because he occupies a position in a group which the group's particular culture endows with the "right" to influence. Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) contend that cultures ascribe influentiality to certain:roles in certain groups--as in the case of religious leaders in traditional cultures or the twice-born castes in India-- and we must, therefore, look into the organization of those relatively more formal groups for which culture--rather than situational patterns of activity or interaction-- provides behavioral prescriptions, and single out those roles which are endowed by the culture with the "right to influence." According to Katz "influence is related (1) to the personification of certain values (who one is); (2) to competence (what one knows); and (3) to strategic social location (whom one knows). Social location, in turn, di- vides into whom one knows within the group, and 'Outside.'"56 Influence is Often successfully transmitted because the influencee wants to be as much like the influential as possible. Illustrating from his Decatur study Katz main- tains: 56Elihu Katz (1957), op. cit., p. 73 ff. 68 That the young, unmarried girls are fashion leaders can be understood easily in a culture where youth and youthfulness are supreme values. This is an example where "who one is" counts very heavily. But "what one knows" is no less important. The fact is that older women, by virtue of their great ex- perience, are looked to as marketing advisers and that specialists in internal medicine-—the most "scientific" Of the practicing physicians--are the most frequently mentioned Opinion leaders among the doctors. The in- fluence of young peOple in the realm of movie-going can also be understood best in terms of their familiar- ity with the motion picture world. The Elmira study found slightly greater concentration of Opinion leader- ship among the more educated people on each socio- economic level, again implying the importance of competence. Finally, the influence of the "cosmopolitans" in Rovere rested on the presumption that they had large amounts of information. It is, however, not enough to be a person whom others want to emulate or to be competent. One must also be accessible. Thus the Decatur study finds gregariousness--"whom one knows"--related to every kind of leadership. The Rovere study reports that the lead- ership of the "local influential" is based on their central location in the web of interpersonal contacts. Similarly, studies of rumor transmission have singled out those who are "socially active" as agents of rumor. These theoretical formulations and empirical illustra- tions show that situational, structural, and cultural elements are important in determining the selection of individuals who will emerge as socially influential actors in any com- munity. In the next chapter we have attempted to relate these theoretical formulations to the frame of reference of the present study. CHAPTER I I I METHODOLOGY Social scientists interested in leadership, diffu- sion of innovations and interpersonal influence have tried to identify the "distinct" characteristics of decision— makers, early adopters and opinion leaders. Several com- munity studies done in India and abroad have delineated the process of decision-making in different social settings. None of them have, however, attempted to predict leadership in community contexts. This is one of the principal rea- sons that prompted the selection of the problem on hand. In the second place, a new pattern of leadership is believed to be emerging in village India, since the in- ception of community development and panchayati raj which have led to a decentralization of governmental authority and delegation of substantive power to statutory local bodies which are entrusted with the task of planning and implementing programs of rural development at the initiative of and with the maximum possible reliance upon community resources. Several studies cited in the previous chapter have testified to the development of new leadership in rural India and have suggested further studies into the dynamics of community leadership. 69 7O Objectives of the Study The primary objective of the study, therefore, is to predict and/or explain what type of community actors are likely to emerge as leaders in modernizing Indian vil- lages. That is, we seek to identify the most significant individual characteristics of the Indian villagers that would help us predict their being chosen as leaders by fellow villagers. Such a study, it is hOped, will enable us to single out the most important correlates of socio- metrically determined leadership and thereby identify the socially influential actors in village India today. Statement of the Problem Stated simply, the problem is to predict who are most likely to become leaders in rural India and to explain why they are leaders. That a leader can be identified in virtually every social system is something taken for granted. "Leaders" may not always be the best term, of course. Some- times, influential or 'initiator' or 'most popular' might suit the situation better. Sociometric maps of groups of all kinds consistently show individuals who are the center of attraction for others. Group researchers who delineate group boundaries by frequencies of interaction among sets of peOple can invariably point out those individuals with whom members of the group tend to interact most, or those who initiate most activities, or those from whom approval 71 is most often sought, or those whose actions are most fre- quently imitated or those in "control." The influential, we shall talk about in the present study, is the leader who has been nominated by his followers as the man most appro- priate to the group's particular needs. He may be the cen- ter of attraction for others in the community and also generate interaction among them. In this study we are not particularly interested in formal 1eaders--elected officials or Office-bearers of voluntary agencies. Rather, we are interested in all those who were nominated by their fellow villagers as in- fluential community actors. Such sociometrically chosen leaders are the focus of our inquiry. Method The present study is based upon data gathered from eight Indian villages as part of a larger research project1 on the diffusion of innovations in Indian villages. The project was divided into three phases. The first phase, which involved a study of 108 villages, was an attempt to analyze the community setting in which rural people live, to determine to what extent the nature of the community affects the adOption of modern technology. The second phase 1The Indian Project was part of a larger study en— titled "Diffusion of Innovations in Rural Societies," di- rected by Everett M. Rogers under contract with the United States Agency for International DevelOpment. ‘1 72 of the study focused on the individual farmer to determine what factors affect his innovative behavior. Eight vil- lages were selected from the original 108 villages which provided a sample of 680 farmers on sociometric leadership. Farmers were interviewed in the three States of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. While the villages selected may not be representative of India in a statistical sense, the States were so selected as to pro- vide geographic variability and to represent different types of develOpment administration. West Bengal, for example, is in the initial stages of introducing panchayati raj. Andhra Pradesh is a pioneer in democratic decen— tralization and has introduced a substantial degree of citizen control at the level of the community development block. And Maharashtra has a different pattern of local self—government where governmental authority has not been delegated beyond the district level. In these three states, therefore, community actors may have different conceptions of community power structure and civic control of develop- mental administration. Two to three villages were selected in each State from among the 108 villages included in the first phase of the study. The villages were selected in such a way as to represent different degrees of agricultural modernization encountered in the first phase of the research project. Interviews were conducted with all farm operators in the 73 eight villages who were 50 years of age and younger, and who cultivated at least 2.5 acres of land at the time of data-gathering. For the purpose of the present study, however, re- spondents in two West Bengal villages, which were predomi- nantly Muslim, were excluded from the sample, since no meaningful caste ranking could be obtained for them. Thus, our sample consisted of 559 respondents and the names of the villages with the sample size are listed below. Table l.--Description Of the sample. . Number of State Village Respondents Andhra Pradesh Manchili 78 Kanchumarru 33 Polamuru 99 Maharashtra Pophali 100 Mulawa 146 west Bengal Amdole 103 Total 559 Selection of Sociometric Leadership Sociometric leadership was ascertained on the basis of six questions asking for nomination of influentials for different purposes. Using Katz and Lazarsfeld's (1955) ty- pology of influentials, we may divide the sociometric 74 leadership into two categories: General influential and Specific influential. The General influential is one whose influence is not confined to any narrowly defined field but is felt in the affairs of the community as a whole. For the purpose of the present study we shall desig- nate the general influentials as community leaders. The community leaders were identified by the following questions: Suppose, that the district Officer has asked you to name a few persons of this village who could go and talk with him (about the most vital problem in the village identified by the previous question in the questionnaire) and take general charge regarding con- tacting Officials and handling financial matters. Whose names would you suggest? Let us limit our- selves to three names only. The project we are talking about here will need participation from villagers. It will also need the direct supervision of a few people who are respected and trusted in the village. These people will see that the work is actually being done. Who do you think are the best people to give such leadership? Again let us limit ourselves to three names only. The first question is designed to identify what we might call "organizing" leadership and the second points to "overseeing" leadership. We have tested the correlation between the two types of leadership and the coefficient of correlation is .96. Since the correlation is so high we have considered for the present study only responses to the first question. Table 2 gives the distribution of socio- metric scores on community leadership. As it is obvious from the table, it is difficult to describe a common pat- tern since the sample size varies from 33 to 146. However, 75 Table 2.--Distribution of sociometric scores on community leadership. Village Manchili Code 3 10 13 59 Frequency 66 6 1 l l Kanchumarru Code 0 22 24 28 Frequency 25 1 Polamuru Code 0 l 26 62 Frequency 79 l POphali Code 0 3 l4 19 30 43 Frequency 84 l 1 l Mulawa Code 0 l 3 20 24 31 52 89 91 Frequency 119 ll 3 l l l l l Amdole Code 0 l 18 29 45 Frequency 74 10 l l l iv“ .‘fiu—1uau‘n‘w' 76 it may be observed that almost 90 per cent of each sample receives no nomination at all and as the sociometric scores rise the frequency of nomination records a sharp decline. The specific influential is one whose influence is normally confined to specific areas of problem-solving and decision-making. Respondents were asked to name one per- son whom they sought first for advice and information on agriculture, credit, health and marketing. The specific influentials may be designated as opinion leaders. The questions that identified opinion leaders were: "If you needed advice on problems regarding the following matters, who is the person in this village you seek advice from EEEEE? (If respondent mentions an extension agent, e.g. Village Level WOrker, then ask again). 1. technical problems associated with farming; 2. obtaining credit; 3. health; and 4. how to get the maximum return for your products. The respondents were discouraged from naming agricultural extension agents or public health agents, since the purpose of the study was to obtain information on the extent of interpersonal influence. Each respondent was given a sociometric score based on the number of nominations re- ceived from other respondents on any of the six questions. Nominations were unit-weighed and all respondents who re- ceived at least one nomination were included in the 77 sociometric leadership choice. Table 3 gives the distri- bution of sociometric scores on agricultural opinion lead- ership. When compared with the distribution of sociometric scores on community leadership, Table 3 presents an inter- esting phenomenon: there are fewer nominations here than in the case of community leaders. Here again while the vast majority does not receive any nomination at all, Opinion leadership is more concentrated than community leadership. This may be explained by the fact that opinion leaders are specific influentials who are regarded as competent and ex- perienced in farming. On the other hand, a general influ- ential whose main task is to function as a liaison between the community and the district officials need not be an expert in any technical domain. Naturally, more people tend to be nominated as community leaders whereas the choice of Opinion leaders is limited to those who are competent and 'learned' farmers as perceived by fellow villagers. Again, we have tested the correlation between dif- ferent types Opinion leadership: agricultural marketing, health and credit. Table 4 indicates the extent of correla- tion. Since the intercorrelation among the four types of Opinion leadership is moderately high we have decided to concentrate on agricultural opinion leadership alone. More- over in the present study we have been primarily interested in community leaders, for these are the men chosen to places 78 Table 3.--Distribution of sociometric scores on agricul- tural Opinion leadership. Village Total Manchili Code 0 l 4 15 Frequency 64 10 l 78 Kanchumarru Code 0 l 12 Frequency 27 2 l 33 Polamuru Code 0 8 Frequency 82 7 99 Pophali Code 1 18 Frequency 83 11 l 100 Mulawa Code 0 1 14 Frequency 120 15 2 146 Amdole Code 0 l 5 23 Frequency 77 14 103 79 Table 4.--Correlation matrix of six items on the frequency of sociometric nominations. Sociometric Leadership I II III IV V VI I Community Leadership A II Community Leadership B .96* III Agriculture .58* .58* IV Credit .68* .64* .59* V Marketing .63* .63* .74* .69* VI Health .46* .47* .52* .50* .52* *Significant at .01 level of confidence. of responsibility by fellow villagers and are active in social action programs. Secondly, since most of our respondents are farmers, we would like to know the extent to which agricul- tural Opinion leadership and community leadership overlap. Even more, we would like to know if the same variables could predict both types of leadership and if so, to what extent. The Framework of Analysis and Hypotheses In designing this study we have relied heavily on earlier studies which have attempted to identify the most outstanding characteristics of leaders in different community contexts. Katz and Lazarsfeld have, for instance, employed three factors to serve as frameworks in terms of which re- spondents were differentiated. These factors are: positions in the 'life-cycle,‘ position on the community's social and economic ladder, and gregariousness or the extent of social 80 contacts. Katz and Lazarsfeld have shown that holding a position in one phase of the life-cycle rather than an- other will incline a person to some interests rather than others and will make him or her more or less likely to be an Opinion leader in certain influence arenas. Similarly, high status has been traditionally regarded as the almost exclusive determinant of influence in a community. Merton and Homans have placed the authority figure at the nexus of a two-way communication. In the Humgp Egpup, Homans postulated: "The higher a man's social rank, the larger will be the number of persons that originate interaction for him, either directly or through intermedi- aries." And, "The higher a man's social rank, the larger the number of persons for whom he originates interaction, either directly or through intermediaries."2 Broader so- cial contacts and active involvement in community organiza- tions generate greater interpersonal influence. Katz and Lazarsfeld state: "Almost by definition--for the idea of the leader implies followers--it would be reasonable to postulate that persons who influence the Opinions and habits of others are more likely to have a broader range of social contacts than non-opinion leaders."3 2George C. Homans, The Human Group, p. 37. 3Katz and Lazarsfeld, op. cit., p. 227. 81 A number of studies suggest that perhaps the most important relationship between the emergent leader and the group that he leads is the leader's subservience to the norms of his group. This has been the major thrust of the study by Merei (1952) who found that reintroducing into a group someone known for past leadership will not result in the Old leader's return to power unless he adopts the new conventions which were generated during his absence. Sum- marizing various studies dealing with the relationship be- tween leaders and followers, Katz and Lazarsfeld maintain that "the leaders (1) conform most closely to group norms; (2) are best acquainted with prevailing group opinion on salient matters; (3) are aware that they have been nominated for leadership; and (4) are best liked."4 In the previous chapter we have said that nomina- tion, strategic social location and cultural certification are the three major determinants of leadership. Accordingly we hypothesize that situational, structural, and cultural elements determine the selection of individuals who will emerge as community actors. In more specific terms, our hypotheses may be stated as follows: First, those indivi- duals who, for whatever reason, have greater access to all of the elements involved in a community problem or who are associated with more detailed and dependent aspects of 41bid., pp. 103-104. 82 community life, are likely to be looked upon as leaders. Second, broader social contacts and expertise are important determinants of interpersonal influence. Third, strategic social location--resulting either from cultural certifica- tion (caste rank, for example) or better economic standards-- leads to a key social role. Fourth, certain personality traits as well as one's position in the life-cycle affect one's chance of being nominated as a leader. Finally, we may hypothesize that knowledgeability, accessibility and conformity to norms are characteristic of social actors who are most likely to emerge as community leaders in village India. Whereas these hypotheses are stated in a very gen- eral form specific research hypotheses will be explicated in the later analyses which are typically restatements of the general hypotheses in more concrete, usually bivariate terms. Specific hypotheses will be explicitly stated as we discuss the correlates of sociometric leadership in terms of demographic characteristics, measures of socio- economic status, index of systemic linkage, sociO-psycholog- ical characteristics and measures of expertise or know- ledgeability. The index Of the degree of leadership was calculated first by counting the total number of nominations received across the various sociometric items identifying the general and specific influentials. This gave us the raw score 83 which was then standardized for the differences in village sample size in terms of the percentage of nominations re— ceived by each respondent. And the statistic used in the analysis is multiple correlation technique by means of least square delete program. Definition of Variables Studies of community power structure, diffusion of innovations, opinion leadership, and modernization of devel- Oping societies have brought out a number of characteristics generally attributed to community leadership. Social sci- entists interested in the process of decision—making in rural communities have sought to evaluate the variables in different social settings and singled out the salient ones. For the present investigation, we shall consider the follow- ing variables particularly relevant to the Indian rural context. Agg,--Age was computed on the basis of actual age reported by the respondent. Family Composition.--Families were classified into nuclear and joint or extended types depending upon the composition of the family. A nuclear family consists of husband, wife and their unmarried children, if any. Two or more nuclear families living in the same household and sharing the same kitchen constituted a joint family. Caste Rank.--The relative status of two sub-castes cannot be defined precisely on the basis of a single 84 criterion. Traditionally, however, castes are ranked on the basis of ritual status. According to T. S. Epstein "If two castes freely interdine, they demonstrate that they regard one another as having equal status; if the two castes have a mutual interdining ban, this reflects that each of them questions the superiority of the other caste; if the dining arrangements are not mutual, the caste which accepts cooked food from another indicates that it accepts its own status as inferior."5 Accordingly for the purpose of the present study, ritual status was defined on the basis of interdining and sharing of water. The relative ranks of caste in each village were first determined with the help of knowledgeable persons selected from among the respondents. In the course of interviews, these judges were shown photographs of people engaged in the caste oc- cupations, and were asked to rank them in accordance with established ritual caste hierarchy in the village. The majority opinion of the judges was used to score the caste ranks in each village from high to low. Later, the separate caste rankings for the six sample villages were standardized in terms of four broad categories and then combined into a single rank order. 5T. S. Epstein, Economic Development and Social Change in South India, p. 156. 85 Farm Size.--Farm size was measured by the number of acres actually cultivated by the respondent, whether owned or leased for rent. Education.--Respondents' level of education was measured by the actual grade or by the actual number of years in school and formal degrees obtained. Literacy.--In order to distinguish between literates and illiterates, the respondents were asked whether they could read newspapers. This measure was used independently of the respondent's level of formal education. Family Income Level.—-Indian farmers, especially those owning small farms, hardly maintain accounts and therefore, it is difficult to get reliable data. In the absence of a better index of income, panchayat tax paid during the preceding year was used to determine the level of family income. Panchayat tax only was used so as to be uniform across States. Farm Specialization.--We took as measure of farm specialization the number of different crops which the cultivator raised. The sale of only one crop was taken to mean a high degree of specialization, and so on. Extension Agency Contact.--The index of change agency contact was constructed by summing up the number of times a respondent talked with the Block Development Officer and the Village Level Worker, and number of times a respondent had witnessed agricultural demonstrations 86 and educational movies organized by the village extension agency during the year preceding the study. Movie Exposure.--This variable was measured by asking the respondents if they saw any commercial movies during the past year. (Exposure to educational or docu- mentary movies was already recorded as a part of the change agency contact.) Radio Contact: Respondent's Radio contact was measured by the simple question: "Do you listen to the radio?" Newspaper Exposure.--The index of news exposure is based on the number of times newspapers were read during the week preceding the interview. Cosmopoliteness.--Cosmopoliteness is the degree to which an individual is oriented outside his social system. In the present investigation, however, it is defined in a restricted sense and used interchangeably with urbaniteness. The index of urbaniteness/cosmopoliteness was developed by summing up the number of times the respondent visited a town (population of less than 100,000) or city (population of 100,000 or more) during the past year. Innovativeness.--Rogers has defined innovativeness as "the degree to which an individual is earlier than others in his social system to adopt new ideas."6 Knowledge, trial 6 Everett M. Rogers, Modernization among Peasants, p. 159. , 87 and adoption constitute three important phases of innova- tive behavior. Our measure of innovativeness was based on the number of innovations ever used. Trial of the follow- ing improved practices was used in the construction of the index of innovativeness. 1. High yielding variety of seeds 2. Am. Sulphate 3. Super Sulphate 4. Mixed Fertilizer 5. Insecticides 6. Green manure 7. Cultivator Steel Plough 8. Improved breeding of cattle 9. Animal inoculation 10. Rat poison Social Participation.--Membership and offices held in formal organizations served as basis for the construction of a composite index of social participation. Secular Orientation.--A sacred-secular continuum was devised on the basis of the most important social norms governing caste system and the sacredness of the cow. Re- sponses that deviated from the traditional norms regarding these two subjects were scored as secular. The secular (rationaL.non-rational) orientation of the respondent was measured by the following closed-end questions: 88 (a) When your bullocks become too old and feeble to work, what do you do, sell them or keep them? (b) Do you think that non-Hindus and lower caste Hindus should be allowed to eat beef? (c) Can evil eye cause disease? (d) Should Harijans be allowed to draw water from all common wells in the village? (e) Should Harijans and other children take meals together in schools? (f) If your son wanted to marry a lower caste girl, would you allow it? (9) Do you think that Harijans should be allowed to enter and worship in all temples of the village? (h) Do you think that an illiterate Brahmin is superior to an educated Harijan? Educational Aspirations of Children.--Educational aspiration for children was measured by the number of years of education the respondent wished for his children. The pertinent question was: How much schooling would you like your youngest son to have? Empathy.—-Empathy is the ability of an individual to project himself into the role of another person. Where- as limited exposure to other ways of life and extreme socio- psychological distance may make it difficult for the peasant to imagine himself in the role of an elite urbanite, Lerner has amply demonstrated that the capacity to empathise with 89 progressive roles is an essential prerequisite to moderniza- tion. For the purpose of the present study, empathy was measured by a set of questions in the form: "If you were . . . (a role) than what would you do (to solve a relevant problem)?” The roles suggested were those of (a) District Administrative Officer (b) Block Development Officer and (c) President of the village panchayat. Political Knowledgeability.--Since the emergence of new political institutions of local self-government encouraging participation in the democratic processes, peOple's participation appears to be increasing. As such, political knowledgeability may be treated as a measure of villager's political modernization. Political knowledge is the degree to which an individual comprehends facts essential to his functioning as an active and effective citizen. In the present inquiry political knowledge was measured by a general knowledge test asking the respondent to name 1. The Prime Minister of India, 2. The chief minister of the State, 3. The elected representative to the State legislature from the area. Actual sum of items was coded 0-3. Achievement Motivation.--Most descriptions of peasant life seem to imply that peasants are as a whole extremely low on achievement motivation score. Therefore, the level 9o 1- . of aspiration or the 'desire to do well' is viewed as a condition that facilitates modernization. We may define achievement motivation as "a social value that emphasizes a desire for excellence in order for an individual to at- tain a sense of personal accomplishment." And the achieve- ment motivation of the respondent was measured by asking them whether they agreed or disagreed with 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, and 3. One should have determination and driving ambition even if these qualities make one unpopular. Actual sum of items was coded, with 0 for 'No' answers, 1 for 'Dont'know' and 2 for 'Yes' answers. Analysis and Discussion Analysis of the present study is presented in terms of three sets of variables: socio-economic background, systemic linkage and social psychological attributes. Where- as specific hypotheses are explicated in Chapters 4 through 6, we have listed the major hypotheses below so as to give the reader some idea about the nature of discussion that follows. 1. Where change is occurring more rapidly as in modern India, age is no longer a criterion in the nomina- tion of community leaders. 2. Leaders usually stem from large families which have the support of an extensive network of lineage. 3. While leadership in modern India cannot be said to be the absolute monopoly of relatively few high castes, there is a concentration of community lead- ership in the upper strata Of the caste hierarchy. 4. In modernizing Indian villages educated community actors are most likely to be looked upon as spokes- men for the community and chosen to places of re— sponsibility by fellow villagers. 5. As patrons of the poor and the landless, as pro- gressive farmers and as economic dominants of the 91 10. ll. 12. 13. 14. 92 community, the individuals who Operate large farms have a better chance of being elected as leaders. Those community actors who have greater contact with change agents are most likely to be chosen to represent the community in the process of devel- opmental planning. In modernizing villages people who make greater use of mass media tend to emerge as community influentials. There is a positive relationship between community leadership and cosmopoliteness measured in terms of contact with urban centers. Those who are actively involved in local community organizations are most frequently chosen as leaders. Leaders in rural India are those whose activities most nearly conform to the norms of the village community. Leaders tend to have higher educational aspirations for their children than most community actors. Individuals with greater empathic ability are most frequently chosen as community representatives. There is a positive relationship between the index Of political knowledgeability and sociometric leadership. Those who are high on achievement motivation stand a better chance of being nominated as leaders by fellow villagers. CHAPTER IV SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF COMMUNITY LEADERS That socially influential actors emerge from the upper echelons of socio-economic status has been well documented in a number of community studies. The problem, however, is to construct an appropriate index of socio- economic status. Warner used occupation, source of income, house-type and dwelling area as the weighted subindices to construct his famous index of status characteristics. Community studies done in India, especially the recent dif- fusion studies, have used age, family size, caste rank, farm size, income, education, literacy and farm specializa- tion as the major elements that constitute the index of socio-economic status. Let us begin with age. 21193 In his study of the social and cultural change in a Yugoslav community, Halpern Observes: While peOple in their twenties and thirties do most of the heavy labor, prestige and authority still reside for the most part with their elders. This concept is relative, of course. By the time villagers have reached 93 94 forty they are respected as elders by younger people. Rural studies done in developing countries with a traditional orientation largely support this observation. Invillage India, for example, community leadership has been the monOpoly of elders who, in the past, dominated rural social life in all its aspects. However, Lerner's investigation of modernization in the Middle East (1958) revealed that leaders are older than followers in the more traditional villages whereas they are younger than their followers in the more modern communities. This finding has important consequences for the study of modernization, for this leads on to the assumption that the more modern a society becomes the more youthful its leader- ship tends to be. Oscar Lewis' study of village life in Northern India lends support to this assumption. He Observes: In summary, we see that in the traditional pattern of leadership the older men were both the ceremonial and panchayat leaders. With the coming of education and outside employment, however, middle-aged educated people are being given Opportunities by the older peo- ple to represent them in official panchayats, school committees, and deputations outside the village. More- over, youth leadership, particularly of the educated unemployed, is developing and represents a threat to the traditional values of the villagers. These findings lead us to believe that with increas- ing modernization the old-guard leadership will be gradually 1Joel Halpern, A Serbian Village, p. 203. 2Oscar Lewis, op. cit., p. 130. . ‘.—-.n_ 95 relegated to the background and the higher proportion of youthful leaders will come to the forefront. In other words, where change is occurring more rapidly as in modern India, age is no longer a criterion for the selection of community leaders. But the present study points up a positive corre- lation between age and community leadership. However, it must be emphasized that of all the indices positively cor- related with community leadership, age is the least signifi- cant variable, the correlation coefficient being .09. This should indicate that whereas Older people are more likely to be nominated as leaders than younger people, the rela- tionship is faint, though significant. Table 5.--Correlation between socio-economic status and community leadership. Zero Order Characteristics Correlation 1. Age .09** 2. Family composition -.01 3. Caste rank .14* 4. Farm size .35* 5. Education .24* 6. Literacy .15* 7. Family income .03 8. Farm specialization .l3* *Significant at .01 level of confidence. **Significant at .05 level of confidence. 96 Family Composition The next important variable is family structure which is defined in terms of nuclear and joint families and the latter, by definition, is larger in size than the former. Several studies have demonstrated how family com- position and structure are related to social influence, innovative behavior and other dynamics of modernization. McClelland (1964c), for instance, found a relationship be- tween personality traits and family structural variables. Rogers (1969) hypothesized that levels of achievement moti- vation vary directly with the nature of family structure and personality socialization; and from the Colombian study he received tentative support for his hypothesis that achievement motivation is negatively related to patriarch- ialism. In the present investigation we are concerned with the consequences of family size for community leadership. Oscar Lewis' study of a North Indian Village revealed Significant correlation between leadership and family size. Seventeen out of the 20 families of Rampur's leaders have the largest families in their respective factions. Moreover, the families of the primary lead- ers are generally larger than those of secondary lead- ers. There are only four families among the Jats which are as large as the leaders' families but do not have a leadership role. In the case of the three leaders with small families we find that they have the support of very large lineages. 3Ibid.’ pp. 129-30. 97 Even more striking were Dhillon's findings that emerged from his study of a South Indian village. Dhillon found: All of the 6 families having 12 members or more are families of leaders; 5 being families of primary leaders. On the other hand, none of the 55 families with less than 5 members have any leadership status. It may be mentioned that 4 out of the five leaders coming from the lowest socio-economic class (group IVa and IVb on the socio-economic scale) and 3 out of the 5 from group IIIb although poor, are considered as important a'mans (leaders) because of the large size of their families and extensive network of their mari— tal relations within the village. A member of a large family has an initial advantage as he is assured of support of a large group from his own family. Moreover, family size contributes to social prestige, as it is still considered desirable for a joint family to con- tinue undivided. Also in a large family some members, usually the elders, often get adequate leisure time for participation in village affairs. Above all, extended families are in a position to organize elaborate ceremonies--lifecycle as well as ritual- istic ceremonies--which enhance the prestige of the family. We have, therefore, hypothesized that most of the community leaders stem from large families which have the support of an extensive network of lineage. However, the data indicate no relationship between family size and sociometric community leadership. As a Government of India, Leadership and Groups in a South Indian Village, p. 120. 98 matter of fact, family structure has turned out to be the least significant factor, almost entirely unrelated to the sociometric choice of community leadership. It is, per- haps, safe to conclude that the positive evaluation tradi- tionally placed on the concept of joint family as the most desirable arrangement of kinship system is no longer an undiluted convention and that sheer numerical strength of a kinship unit is no guarantee of social power. Caste Rank The relationship between caste superiority and authority has been a celebrated theme in all sociological treatises on Indian society. For instance, tracing the origin and develOpment of caste system the Backward Classes Commission observed: There was a systematic suppression behind the rules and codes of social conduct. The leaders of society thought that the upper classes could be safe only by maintaining the ignorance and poverty of the masses. The masses were told that they would be punished in the other world for any violation of the social laws and that they would be rewarded by way of better sta- tus in the next life if they remained humble, docile and serviceable. Such were the ideas of justice and retribution that were laid down to support the social injustice of minority, towards the ignorant majority. Thus, traditionally, superior castes had the upper hand in society and the nature and types of intercaste relations were detailed by them in clear-cut terms. The system of 5Government of India, Report of the Backward Classes Commission, pp. 22-23. 99 control is built into the caste structure which, in the words of A. R. Desai, "has fixed the psychology of the various social groups and has evolved such minutely graded levels of social distance and superior-inferior relation- ships that the social structure looks like a gigantic hierarchic pyramid with a mass of untouchables as its base and a small stratum of elite, the Brahmins, almost unapb proachable, at its apex."6 A number of village studies have demonstrated the traditional monopoly of leadership by upper castes. Oscar Lewis, Dhillon, Majumdar, Hutton, Epstein and others have observed that socially influential actors usually stem from higher castes who are ritually superior and economically better off than the vast majority of middle and lower classes. The recent nationwide survey on the awareness of community development in village India revealed that almost 55 per cent of the leaders in the Indian villages belong to high castes, Brahmin or high caste non-Brahmin. And on the basis of diffusion studies done in India, Sen concludes: "Belonging to a higher caste immediately establishes a power advantage for the leader over non-leader, an advantage which is ritualized and legitimized by custom."7 6A. R. Desai, Rural India in Transition, pp. 28-29. 7Lalit K. Sen, op. cit., p. 56. 100 Srinivas introduced the concept of 'dominate caste' to delineate community power structure in modern India. Whereas in the traditional system it was possible for a small number of people belonging to a high caste to wield enormous authority over the entire village when they owned a large quantity of arable land and also had a high ritual position, in the modernizing villages, power has passed into the hands of numerically large, landowning peasant castes. Srinivas observes: Western education, jobs in the administration, and urban sources of income are all significant in contri- buting to the prestige and power of particular caste groups in the village. The introduction of adult. franchise and Panchayati Raj since independence has resulted in giving a new sense of self-respect and power to "low" castes, particularly Harijans, who en- joy reservation of seats in all elected bodies from the village to union parliament. The long-term impli- cations of these changes are probably even more impor- tant, especially in those villages where there are enough Harijans to sway the local balance of power one way or other. It is especially true because the legal framework of pan- chayati raj requires that a few Harijans should be co-opted to the local bodies if they are not returned in the course of normal election. Since the governmental power has been decentralized and transferred to peOple's representatives in the local bodies each caste tries its best to put up its own candidate so as to capture the reins of power. Powers 8M. N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India, p. 11. 101 and functions of castes have increased in proportion to the political power that has been transferred to the people. Strinivas recognizes three main axes of power in the caste system--the ritual, the economic, and the politi- cal--and the possession of power in any one sphere usually leads to the acquisition of power in the other two. But he hastens to add that inconsistencies are not very rare. As modernization and politicization gain momentum economic and political power tend to be evaluated more highly than ritual purity. In the present investigation we have hypothesized that, while leadership cannot be said to be the absolute monopoly of relatively few high castes, there is a concen- tration of community leadership in the upper strata of the caste hierarchy. The higher castes are not only strategi- cally located in the social system with access to power but are also culturally certified to be 'superior' because of ritual purity. Our data show that community leadership is directly related to caste rank, the coefficient of correla- tion being .14. The finding lends support to the general assumption that power in Indian rural communities tends to be vested in the hands of higher castes who dominate key decisions in any community. However, this finding has to be interpreted in terms of the Opportunities available to high castes which are economically better off, culturally resourceful and socially dominant. 102 Education Research on the diffusion of innovations in devel- Oping societies invariably shows that education is an im- portant index of modernization. Education facilitates mass media exposure and contact with change agent systems outside the community. Also, change agents in rural com- monities have a tendency to pick the educated persons in the community for the dissemination of information. It is based on the assumption--and the assumption has been supported by numerous studies--that the educated persons are more innovative, cosmopolite and receptive to new ideas. The question, however, is whether in the traditional rural communities educated persons are the most influential actors or whether the old-guard leadership based on ascribed status and inherited position holds the sway. In the pres- ent investigation we have hypothesized that in modernizing Indian villages educated community actors are more likely to be looked upon as Spokesmen for the community and chosen to places of responsibility by fellow villagers. We have separated education and literacy as two dif- ferent independent variables on the basis of the assumption that there is an educational threshold to modernization takeoff. Charles Loomis (1968) terms education as a crucial capital input in the minds of men and demonstrates that educational attainment is positively correlated with various indicators of secularization in Mexico, India and the United 103 States. Based on their investigation in Santiago, Chile, Briones and Waisanen (1966) suggest that there is a point of 'modernization take-off' in certain attitudinal variables like aspirations when the individual has more than five years of schooling. Whereas respondents with two or three years of schooling are not much different in attitudes from those with no education, with increasing levels of education, indicators of modernization also rise propor- tionately. Also Tumin and Feldman report in their Puerto Rico study that "it Would appear that while education up to four years of school may matter, and though its effects may be cumulative, once the fourth year is passed, a new vista of life possibilities seems to be opened."9 Results of the present investigation indicate that education is significantly correlated with community 1ead- ership in the positive direction. The coefficient of cor- relation, .24, is significant enough to suggest that tradi— tional evaluation placed on ascribed status based on birth and inherited position is gradually being replaced by a more positive evaluation of education and achievement. It is interesting to note that the correlation between commun- ity leadership and education is more significant than that 9Tumin and Feldman, Status, Perspective and Achieve- ment: Education and Social Class Structure in Puerto Rico, American Sociological Review, 21:464-472. 104 between caste and community leadership. Further evidence is available from the UNESCO study on status images in changing India which reports education to be the number one status criterion expressed by rural as well as urban- industrial informants whereas caste ranks fifth and seventh according to rural and urban-industrial respondents, respectively. This phenomenon could also be interpreted in terms of the Parsonian pattern variable, quality versus performance: the social status of community actors in con- temporary Indian rural community is not what it is in it- self but what the leaders do and the quality of their performance. Size of Farm Ownership of land is generally considered to be the principal source of power and prestige in the Indian village community. According to M. N. Srinivas (1966) three conditions normally facilitate the dominance of a caste: considerable amount of cultivable land locally available, strength of numbers and a high place in the local hierarchy. Generally the pattern of land ownership in rural India is such that the bulk of the arable land is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of big owners as against a large number who either own very little land or no land at all. The big owners as patrons of the majority of the poor villagers exercised 105 great influence on them. The nationwide survey reported by Sen and Roy (1967) found that almost 60 per cent of the leaders in the Indian villages possessed at least 10 acres of land whereas only 23.46 per cent of the randomly chosen male and 20.5 per cent female have more than 10 acres of land. We have, therefore, assumed that farm size is an index of leadership. However, we have adopted the farm Operation size rather than the amount of land owned as the unit of analysis. The former is considered to be a better predictor of leadership because it is the active enterpre- neur--the progressive farmer-— who leases out land for cultivation. In any event, the larger, wealthier cultiva- tor is likely to be more progressive and innovative than the small farmer. Several innovations, such as modern equipment, require substantial capital outlay which is be- yond the investment and credit resources of the small farmer. Moreover, the big cultivator has advance informa- tion on and better access to supplies, services and credit and is, therefore, in a position to indulge in risk-taking that is involved in any innovative experimentation. Thus, we hypothesize that as patrons of the poor and the landless, as progressive farmers and as economic dominants of the community, those individuals who operate large farms have a better chance of being elected as community leaders. 106 This hypothesis is supported by the present study which reports a correlation coefficient of .35 indicating positive relationship between farm size and sociometric community leadership. Even though the design of the pres- ent study does not warrant conclusions pertaining to the applicability of elitist theory of community power struc- ture to Indian rural scene, the findings, however, indicate that economic dominants are the most influential community actors; whether power is vested in the hands of a small stratum of economic elites is open to question, although results of the present investigation clearly show that economic dominance is a major determinant of social power. Literacy Many experts view literacy instruction as the best possible means for a developing nation to break the vicious cycle of poverty, tradition and underdevelopment, and to accelerate the rate of progress on the road to moderniza- tion. According to Lerner: "Literacy is indeed the basic personal skill that underlies the whole modernizing se- quence. . . . The very act of achieving distance and control over a formal language gives people access to the world of 10 vicarious experience." Rogers treats literacy as a major antecedent variable in his model of modernization. He loDaniel Lerner, Toward a Communication Theory of Modernization, p. 314. ‘ 107 explains why:11 (1) As the individual gains reading skill, he is able to extend the sc0pe of his experience through the print mass media; (2) Print media exposure permits the individual receiver to control the rate of message input; (3) Literacy facilitates storage and retrieval of print information for delayed use; (4) Literacy also unlocks more complex mental abilities. Based on their investigation in Pakistani villages Schuman and others conclude: "Where the social setting itself is changing, the more literate man will be quicker to perceive change and will find it easier to redefine his beliefs in ways that fit his new needs and interests."12 And the UNESCO project on the impact of communication (March, 1969) revealed that literacy-reading treatment in India demonstrated increases in both knowledge and adoption of agricultural and health innovations. Investigation in five Colombian villages showed that the sociometrically chosen opinion leaders are more literate than their fol- lowers. These findings lead us to believe that literate social actors are more likely to be chosen as community leaders than illiterate individuals. 11Everett M. Rogers, Modernization among Peasants, p. 70 ff. 12See Howard Schuman et al., Social Psychological Effects and Non-Effects of Literacy in a New Nation. 108 In the present study literacy is significantly cor- related with community leadership. Education and literacy may be considered to be indices of expertise, one of the three leadership traits listed by Katz. Competence is highly evaluated in modern society whereas traditional society places very high evaluation on convention and con- formity to tradition. The present finding that community leaders tend to be more educated than their followers testi- fies to the modernizing forces currently operating in the Indian rural scene. Family Income Level It is generally understood that economic dominants are the most influential social actors in the Indian vil- lages as in most communities. Those who are economically better off serve as patrons of the poor majority, preside over community functions, supervise the conduct of village festivals and emerge as spokesmen for the community. The Jajmani system especially fortifies their power position in the community. On all ceremonial occasions like birth and weddings, benefits are distributed among the various service castes who serve as messengers, scavengers, domes- tic servants, village musicians, cobblers, laborers, potters, water-carriers, oilmen, washermen, barbers and other servants of the village community. And as Blau puts it; "The ability to distribute valuable possessions becomes a socially 109 defined mark of superiority."13 He adds: "A person who gives others valuable gifts or renders them important ser- vices makes a claim for superior status by obligating them to himself."14 Thus, "The exchange of gifts and services in simple societies, which frequently assumes a ceremonial form, serves not only to create bonds of friendship and trust between peers but also to produce and fortify status "15 While differences between superiors and inferiors. Blau's hypotheses cannot be tested directly from our data, we shall attempt to study the social consequences of wealth in terms of leadership. Some of the previous studies have pointed out a positive relationship between family income level and lead- ership. According to Oscar Lewis: "Wealth is a basic criterion for leadership. Although leaders are found among all three socio-economic classes, they clearly come from the upper levels of each and the correlation between wealth 16 and leadership is highest as we move up the scale." Simi- larly, Dhillon reports: 13Peter M. Blau, Exchange and Power in Social Life, pp. 108-109. 14Ibid., p. 108. 151bid., p. 106. l6Oscar Lewis, op. cit., p. 16. 110 Wealth is one of the most important criteria for leadership. Some of the persons who are not from fami- lies with inherited claims to yajmanship (leadership) have attained leadership status by virtue of their wealth which has generally been acquired in trade. When questioned about this phenomenon, some of the respondents remarked "lakshmi (goddess of wealth) is all powerful."17 Taking a lead from these studies we have hypothe- sized that those who are economically better off are most likely to be nominated as leaders. But our data indicate no relationship between community leadership and family income. Are we to conclude, then, that economic status has nothing to do with the emergence of leadership in India's villages? This conclusion would obviously run against popular assumption as well as contradict most of the previous studies which have documented how social power is vested in the hands of economically dominant com- munity actors. Moreover, such a conclusion seems to be inconsistent with our own finding that farm size and com- munity leadership are significantly correlated in the positive direction. As Table 5 indicates clearly the size of farm operated is the index of socio-economic status that is most significantly related to community leadership; in other words, of all the various measures of soci-economic status, farm size is the most important determinant of community influence. 7Government of India, Leadership and Groups in a South Indian Village, p. 120. 111 Now in order to explain the apparent inconsistency in our findings, we must examine the pertinent variables, their definition and measurement. Since our community leaders are the ones sociometrically chosen by people, the measure of leadership cannot be in error. However, we have basis for questioning the measure of family income. Since the vast majority of Indian peasants do not keep any ac— count of their income and expenditure, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable data on family income. More- over, we wanted a measure of income that could be uniform across States. Thus we adopted the amount of Panchayat tax paid during the year preceding the study as an index of family income. Now faced with the apparent inconsis- tency in our findings we must assume that our measure of family income is erroneous. This assumption is supported by the continuous controversy surrounding the Panchayat tax system in India. The poor financial position of vil- lage panchayats is often attributed to the Panchayat lead- ers' unwillingness to levy new taxes for fear of losing the election. It is also argued that as Panchayat members come largely from upper economic strata, the tax structure favors the rich more than the poor. As such the amount of Panchayat tax paid may not be an adequate index of a family's income level. 112 Farm Specialization The number of acres cultivated, crop specialization and the amount of Panchayat tax paid may all be considered different measures of the same variable, namely economic status. We assume that it would be consistent with rational and commercial orientations to specialize, so that maximum attention could be given to the particular needs of just one or two crops. Farm specialization may also be taken as an index of modernization, for deliberate crop specializa- tion indicates progressive orientation and receptivity to change. Accordingly we hypothesize that a progressive farmer will be looked upon as a leader by fellow cultivators. Farm specialization is positively correlated with the sociometric choice of community leadership. Like lit- eracy and education, farm specialization is also an index of competence; and it is safe to conclude that in moderniz- ing Indian villages people tend to be chosen as leaders be- cause they are better skilled, more resourceful and more experienced than most others in the social system. CHAPTER V SYSTEMIC LINKAGE Extension Agency Contact Social change may be the result of internal forces and processes, whether planned or spontaneous; or it may be produced by external factors, environment, or contact with foreign cultures. The former type may be called im- manent change and the latter external change. External or Contact Change may be of two types--directed and non- directed. Spontaneous or non—directed contact change in- volves no persuasion but occurs when members of a social system adopt new ideas that have been unintentionally or spontaneously communicated to them by outsiders. Directed contact change is developmental change with implications of deliberate, planned, andpurposive social action. Ex- tension agencies in develOping societies represent the dominant bhange agent system with well defined goals and a definite strategy of social action. The extension service in India is the principal source of modernizing messagesin rural communities. Since'change agents' time and reSources are limited they have to concentrate their interpersonal Communication either on those clients who will be most responsive or those'who 113 114 are most traditional. Rogers has demonstrated that most change agents have higher contact with clients who are characterized by greater innovativeness, higher social status, and more education, than their counter parts. Al- so it is the established policy of change agents in India to locate, train and work with local leaders who can in- fluence and carry conviction to their fellow villagers. There are at least three ways in which community leaders and extension agents support each other. In the first place, community leaders can establish the credibil- ity of messages communicated by change agents. Credibility refers to the degree to which a source of information is perceived as trustworthy by the receiver. As Ithiel Pool (1964) points out in traditional societies a message will not be accepted unless it comes from the right oracle. Secondly, the help of local leaders is essential in legiti— mizing any changes proposed by extension agents. Legitima— tion is "the process whereby the proposed change is evaluated as rightful in the target system."1 Thirdly, program planning and execution at the local level will de- pend on the initiative and enthusiasm of community leaders. It is not the extension agents but the local leaders who can mobilize the community into action and carry the project 1Charles P. Loomis, Toward a Theory of Systematic Social Change, pp. 165-198. 115 to its completion. And, it is needless to say that the in- volvement of local influentials in these community projects enhance their prestige and reputation. Contact with offi- cials and external systems is in itself a mark of 'superior- ity.‘ Moreover, the very fact that 'powerful officials' have recognized their leadership considerably boosts the prestigeous image of these leaders in the local community. Therefore, we assume that those community actors who have greater contact with change agents are more likely to be chosen to represent the community in the process of devel- 0pmental planning. Table 6 shows positive relation between extension agency contact and community leadership. However, this finding, taken alone, cannot be interpreted to mean that those individuals who are most frequently in touch with change agents are most likely to be chosen as leaders by fellow villagers, for the obverse might be equally true, that is, these individuals might have been sought after and encouraged by extension agents because they are known to be influential actors in the local community. In other words, these men are in touch with extension agency because they are community leaders and not vice-versa, and this argument is further strengthened by the established policy of community development administration in India to identify, develop and depend on local leadership in the implementation of its programs of rural social change. 116 Table 6.--Measures of systemic linkage as related to community leadership. Zero Order Characteristics Correlation 1. Extension agency contact .31* 2. Movie exposure .10** 3. Radio contact .10** 4. Newspaper exposure .29* 5. Cosmopoliteness .l7* 6. Social participation .40* *Significant at .01 level of confidence. **Significant at .05 level of confidence. However, the finding that the change agent's con— tact and community leadership are highly correlated assumes new dimensions of significance when other attributes of leadership are examined in relation to sociometric leader- ship score. Mass Media Exposure Mass communication is deemed to be a catalytic agent in the modernization process. Newspapers, magazines, movies, radio and television open the window on the world. Rogers has termed mass media exposure as the ‘magic multi- plier,‘ for it is a broadener of horizons, an informer, and a persuader for change.2 Several studies have demonstrated 2Everett M. Rogers, Modernization among Peasants, p. 37. 117 that mass media exposure is positively related to empathy, innovativeness, political knowledge, achievement motiva- tion, educational and occupational aspirations and other indices of modernization. And there is general agreement among communication specialists and developmental planners on mass media's role in achieving a climate for moderniza- tion. Exposure to mass media--radio, newspaper and movies-- is also an index of linkage with an external system. Pos- session of a radio in the Indian villages is not only a source of information but a symbol of prestige as well. Exposure to newspapers and movies facilitates progressive orientation and broader social contacts. Accordingly we hypothesize that in modernizing villages peOple who make greater use of mass media are likely to emerge as community influentials. Our hypothesis is supported by evidence: the co- efficients of correlation between movie exposure and 0 community leadership, and radio contact and leadership are shown as .10 which is significant at 5 per cent level whereas the relationship between community leadership and newspaper exposure is significant at the l per cent level, the coefficient of correlation being .29. These findings are suggestive of the fact that in modernizing Indian vil- lages, community actors' exposure to mass media can brighten their chance of being elected as spokesmen for the community. Exposure to mass media, especially radio and the press, may 118 also be regarded as as index of expertise because of its high potential for enriching knowledge and competence of the individual. Thus people who regularly read newspapers and listen to the radio, and who keep abreast with current affairs stand a better chance of being elected to places of responsibility. Cosmopoliteness Following Robert Merton's typology (1949) of local and cosmopolitan influentials, any individuals who confine their interest and orientation to their immediate environ- ment, with little interest in the world beyond, may be called localites, and those whose interests extend far be- yond the boundaries of the local system and who consider themselves in harmony with the larger world may be called cosmopolites. For the most part, peasants are at the local- ite end of the continuum, representing what Lerner and Riesman describe as "rooted individuals" whereas the cos- mopolites or the more progressive members of the community who are frequently in touch with larger systems are labelled "gatekeepers," "cultural brokers" or "urbanites." In the localistic or Gemeinschaft-like society represented by the village the internal system has primacy and it promotes behavior that is traditional, non-rational, uncritical and non-reflective. In the modern Geselschaft-like society external system has primacy, and high value is placed on 119 reflective, rational, and critical behavior that stresses goal-attaining and adaptive activity. And the linkage between the two systems in the modernizing villages of developing societies is undoubtedly the cosmopolite influe- tials. Obviously the peasant must be linked with the out- side world in some manner before he can become a cosmopolite. The linkage can be actual or vicarious. Physical trans- portation facilities such as roads and railways provide the possibility for actual peasant contact with the world out- side of his village, whereas mental transportation facili- ties such as the mass media provide vicarious connections. Together these facilities open the peasant to the centripetal pull of the city. And contact with urban centers may, for the peasant, open the window on the world and generate a long chain of consequences. And Morrison writes: As an initial consequence of increased urban con- tacts in the develOpment process, individual discontent will increase in the rural sectors of developing coun- tries. . . . In addition to the inherent economic necessity of these contacts for development, knowledge of the assumed benefits of modernization, including higher living standards, increased self-determination, and so on, is typically eventually spread by urbanites to the hinterland with something like missionary zeal as a part of development-program efforts. Whatever the exact causes of this phenomenon, development will involve increased urban-rural contacts. Immediately for at least some ruralites, if not eventually for all, these contacts will result in the ruralites aspiring 120 to what the urbanites haveé in particular, to higher material levels of living. Several studies have established a positive associa- tion between urban contact and other indices of moderniza- tion. As early as 1941 Redfield demonstrated that an increase in cosmopolite contacts constitutes one sufficient cause of secularization and individualization. In 1966 Frey reported a positive relationship between geographic mobility and mass media exposure. Reviewing a large number of studies Rogers concludes: We believe that cosmopoliteness plays a central role in the modernization process. Certainly, contact with the external world must be viewed as an initiator of the drive towards a modern life. In turn, cosmo- polite communication enables the peasant to maintain and increase his interest in modernizing ideas. So cosmopoliteness can be considered an indicator of modernization, as well as a possible initiator of the process.4 In modernizing villages people who have frequent contacts with external systems are likely to be looked upon as influential community actors. They have greater know- ledgeability, richer experience and broader contacts than other peasants and hence enjoy greater prestige. Differ- entiating between local and cosmopolitan influentials Merton writes: 3Denton E. Morrison, Relative Deprivation and Rural Discontent in Developing Countries: A Theoretical Proposal, pp. 7-8. 4Everett M. Rogers, op. cit., p. 150. 121 It appears that the cosmopolitan influential has a following because he knows; the local influential be- cause he understands. The one is sought out for his specialized skills and experience; the other for his intimate appreciation of intangible but affectively significant details. In the present investigation we expected that social actors who have greater contact with urban centers are like- ly to be nominated as community leaders by their fellow men. Our data indicate a positive relationship between cosmopolite- ness and community leadership. The coefficient of correla- tion, .17, is significant at the l per cent level. This finding reflects the influence of mass society which is considered to be the major force for rural social change in modern times. The very objective of community development in India is to initiate a program of total development in rural communities so as to integrate these communities into the life of the nation. Rural extension programs,exposure to mass media, the process of politicization, better trans- port and communication facilities, expanding educational Opportunities and the slow rising tides of industrializa- tion are among the forces that help narrow the gap between rural and urban communities. Moreover, merchants, traders, progressive farmers, educated men and others who commute between rural and urban centers serve as cultural brokers or media of cultural transmission. Thus under the shattering 5Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Struc- ture, p. 457. 122 impact of modernization the Cloister of tradition that in- sulates rural communities against the influence of urban centers is slowly cracking. And national leaders maintain that, therefore, emerging community leadership should be capable of adapting to the changing conditions, the old- guard leadership of tradition and conformity has to be relegated to the background in favor of new leadership that is both innovative and cosmOpolite. The significant positive relation between community leadership and cos- mOpoliteness indicates that social actors in village India favor cosmopolite and change-prone individuals to act as their spokesmen. Social Participation Social participation denotes the extent to which an individual is actively involved in the affairs of the community. Membership and offices held in various commun- ity organizations and the extent of contacts are the in- dices of social participation. This variable has been re- ferred to as 'gregariousness' by Katz and Lazarsfeld in their Decatur study: social participation was defined as the extent of contacts and determined by asking respondents "What organizations, clubs, or discussion groups do you belong to?" The researchers found evidence of definite association between social participation and leadership: as gregariousness increases so does the proportion of leadership. 123 Our hypothesis that those who are actively involved in local community organizations are most frequently chosen as leaders is derived from George Beal's conceptualization of instigated social action. Beal writes: The various studies of social participation and of those individuals who have high participation scores, may be indicative of who will be active in social ac- tion programs. There appears to be a strong relation- ship between social participation in on-going groups and participation in broader social action programs that emerge. Secondly, formal groups, institutions, and agencies often play a major role in general social action programs. Thus, there is a logical linkage be- tween formal group participation and more general social action participation. Moreover, the study of community influentials in Lansing by Form and Sauer is akin to the present investigation in ways more than one. Form and Sauer (1960) asked a repre- sentative panel of 14 judges to name ". . . locally power- ful people who could get things done in the city or who could kill local projects. In short, they were asked to identify the most influential persons in city-wide affairs." These researchers found that typical influential belonged to a wide range of local, state, and national business, civic and welfare organizations where he initiated and executed major policy decisions. On the average he belonged to more than 13 organizations--3.9 business organizations, 2.4 professional organizations, 2.9 civic and welfare 6George M. Beal, Social Action: Instigated Social Change in Large Social Systems, p. 235. 124 organizations, 0.8 service organizations, and 3.5 social organizations. He had held the top elective or appointive Offices in almost all of the organizations in which he had become actively involved. In the modernizing Indian villages where power has now been transferred to the statutory local bodies and where numerous community organizations, such as cooperatives, youth clubs, radio rural forums, farmers' associations and the like have sprung up we expect significant association between sociometric leadership and social participation, the composite index of membership and offices held in these organizations. Our data clearly show that community leadership is positively related to social participation, the coefficient of correlation being .40 which is significant at the l per cent level. This finding has numerous social and cultural implications. The community leader is one who is actively involved in the affairs of the community, who is a member of the different voluntary associations which satisfy the various socio-economic and political-cultural needs and aspirations of the community and who, above all, is willing to place his services at the disposal of the community. It is not enough if individuals are of noble birth and high caliber but they must also take interest in the affairs of the community at large. 125 The present finding also supports Katz‘ hypothesis that a leader must not only be knowledgeable but also ac- cessible. The index of social participation is also an index of accessibility. Those who hold membership and offices in various organizations have wider social contacts and are known to large segments of the population. These individuals have relatively more leisure time at their disposal, are community-oriented, knowledgeable and "im- portant," and no wonder, they are regarded as the spokesmen of the community. CHAPTER VI SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP Studies in leadership, especially those in the realm of experimental psychology have delineated numerous psychological traits of leadership. In the present study, however, we are only concerned with certain social-psycho- logical attributes which explain and predict how the behav- ior of the individual is modernized. Innovativeness, Secular Orientation First of all, let us examine the dynamics of lead- ership in terms of the normative structure of a community. Studies in leadership report apparently contradictory find- ings on leaders' orientation to prevailing social norms. Some researchers have shown that leaders deviate more from the established norms of behavior than the rank and file; others contend that leaders conform to social norms more closely than other members of the system. Several studies suggest that leaders tend to be freer of normative pressures than most followers. Harvey and Consalvi (1960), for instance, investigated the yield- ing and non-yielding behavior patterns of clique members 126 127 and showed that leaders and the members with the lowest status tend to conform least, whereas middle status members conformed the most. These findings have been corroborated by the evidence Obtained by Wilson (1960) who pooled high, low and intermediate status members of groups in investi- gating their personal beliefs. High ranking group members were able to express deviant views more frequently and in ways that are less likely to upset other members of the group, whereas lower status members either have not learned this technique or were not interested in doing so. And several writers argue that, while conformity to social norms facilitates leadership, leadership is itself an attribute sufficient to provide latitude for directing and altering group norms. But a more recurrent proposition in the literature of small group research is that the more active members of an organization will tend to exhibit a higher degree of conformity to group norms than will the less active members. And most of the studies in opinion leadership invariably stress conformity to the prevailing norms of the social system as an essential prerequisite to the attainment of the community leadership. Roesthlisberger and Dickson's classic study of the Bank Wiring Room (1939) demonstrated that the individual production varies substantially around the established work norms of the group and those who con- sistently came closest to satisfying them ranked highest 128 in the group according to socio-metric indices. In his well—known study of the political attitudes of a class of college girls, Newcomb (1952) showed that those students who were positively oriented toward the college community and who aspired to achieve leadership tended to assimilate the liberal attitudes and sentiments which prevailed on the campus. A study by Merei (1952) perhaps best illus— trates the importance of the leader's conformity to group norms. Children who displayed considerable leadership qualities were separated from their play groups and the remaining children were formed into several homogeneous groups. Over a period of several days, each of these groups set new patterns and developed new "traditions." Later, when the original leaders were reintroduced into the groups they had previously led, those who went con- trary to the new group norms could not exert any influence and only those returned to power who identified themselves completely with the new "traditions" of the group. Explicating the reference group theory, Merton and Kitt (1950) have provided a series of examples to illus- trate leader conformity to group norms. Reviewing the data from the "American Soldier" they argue: An army private bucking for promotion may only in a narrow and theoretically super- ficial sense be regarded as engaging in behav- ior different from that of an immigrant assim- ilating the values of a native group, or of a lower-middle-class individual conforming to his conception of upper-middle-class patterns 129 of behavior, or of a boy in a slum area orient- ing himself to the values of the street corner gang, or of a Bennington student abandoning the conservative belief of her parents to adopt the more liberal ideas of her college associates, or of a lower-class Catholic departing from the pattern of his in-group by casting a Republican vote, or of an eighteenth century French Aristo- crat aligning himself with a revolutionary group of the time. The Westgate Study by Festinger, Schachter and Back (1950) focuses on factors influencing the development of friendship ties in a newly-built housing community for married veterans. The study revealed that socio-metric choices were largely confined to fellow court members by the residents of each court. There was a positive associ- ation between group cohesiveness and uniformity of atti- tudes: non-conformists were residents whose social ties lay outside the community altogether. Joseph Precker (1952) sought to determine which criteria the students and the faculty of Bard College considered fundamental for the proper evaluation of a student's over-all educa- tional achievement at the college. He found that students were inclined to select associates, either as post-college friends or as academic advisers, whose values resembled their own. He also showed that the greatest similarity of values tend to occur in those cases where friendship choices on the socio-metric questionnaire were mutual 1For details see Robert K. Merton and Alice Kitt, Contributions to the Theory of Reference Group Behavior, 1950. 130 rather than unilateral. Chowdhry and Newcomb (1952) studied leadership in four "natural" groups--a religious interest group, a political group, a medical fraternity and a medi- cal sorority. Their data indicate that the socio-metri- cally chosen leaders are much more accurate in judging group opinion than the rank and file. The authors con- clude that "leaders of groups like these are chosen, in part at least, because of recognized qualities of 'sensi- tivity' to other members of the group. . . Such qualities may or may not be potentially of a general nature. . .if they have the ability to become such all-round good judges, they are not motivated to develop it equally in all direc- tions."2 Reviewing a large number of studies, Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) assert that "in order to gain leadership one must adopt the norms and 'traditions' of the group. This implies that 'sensitivity' to the relevant group opin- ions precedes Or follows--at any rate, is correlated with the close conformity to group norms which is character- istic of leadership."3 Katz and Lazarsfeld delineate two aspects of conformity--the instrumental value of conform- ity and the social reality aspects of group life. The 2See Kamla Chowdhry and Theodore Newcomb, The Rela- tive Abilities of Leaders and Non-Leaders to Estimate Opin- ions of Their Own Groups, pp. 51—57. 3Katz and Lazarsfeld, op. cit., p. 103. 131 instrumental value--the benefits of conformity-~tells that individuals gen- erally desire to adhere to the opinions, attitudes and habits of those with whom they are motivated to interact. The 'social reality' aspect of group life tells us that the individuals influence each other's perceptions, so that an individual's way of 'seeing' things may be limited to a large degree, by the extent of his social ties.4 Homans' contention is that leaders obtain their position of influence by rendering valuable and rare ser- vices to their group. One of the services is to maintain the integration and cohesiveness of the group by conform- ity to group norms because groups are eager to preserve their identities by enforcing the requirement of uniform behavior. Therefore, conformity to norms is an essential criterion of leadership. And Whyte (1943) observed that the leader of the gang and his lieutenants conformed more closely to group norms and fulfilled their obligations more regularly than did the persons of lesser status within the group. On the whole, the recurrent theme in opinion 1ead- ership is that leaders lead not so much because they possess certain distinct traits or characteristics; in fact, most studies show that the leaders are very much like the fol- lowers with whom they interact, but rather because they are easily accessible to their followers, more competent 4Ibid., p. 62. 132 than their followers, and in general conformed to the norms of the system. This has been a main thrust of the Decatur study by Katz and Lazarsfeld. Comparing the adop- tion rates of leaders and non-leaders, March and Coleman found evidence to support the proposition that leaders are, in a certain sense, the most conformist members of their groups, upholding whatever values and norms are central to the group. In the present investigation we have raised the question if conformity to group norms is a differentiating characteristic of community leaders. If it is true that community actors must closely conform to prevalent norms in order to obtain leadership, then it logically follows that those whose activities most nearly conform to norms of the system are most likely to be nominated as community leaders. We found the correlation between the scores of socio-metric leadership and those of innovativeness and secular orientation. The findings suggest that the community leadership is positively correlated with innovativeness and secular orientation. The correlation is significant at 1 percent level. The finding has important implications. Our measure of innovativeness takes into consider- ation the readiness with which an individual in a social system has accepted new ideas or the extent to which he is ahead of others in adopting these innovations. A 133 positive correlation between community leadership and in- novativeness suggests that leaders are ahead of their fol- lowers in accepting a more complex, technologically-ad- vanced, and rapidly changing style of life. They have abandoned the country plough and the rule of thumb method in farming; instead, they have tried high yielding variety of seeds, new chemicals and fertilizers, improved breeding of cattle and scientific cultural practices. Thus they have broken away from the traditional mode of farming but it is precisely these innovators who emerge as community leaders in modernizing village India. However, it may be argued that adoption of improved agricultural practices does not necessarily represent a sharp deviation from the norms of a tradition-bound Hindu society and that the real test must come from religion. It is, therefore, important to test conformity to social norms against the background of traditional values based on sacred, religious belief systems. The most important of the sacred norms surrounds caste and cow and when com- munity leadership is correlated with secular orientation the coefficient of correlation drops low but is still sig- nificant at one percent level. This finding is indicative of the phenomenon that leaders in village India frequently deviate from several of the social norms held sacred by the community as a whole. For example, these leaders do not subscribe to various norms governing the sacredness 134 Of the cow; nor do they conform to the traditional norms concerning caste and untouchability. They rank high on secular orientation, are prone to rapid change and contri- bute to a broad and scientific world-view. Since norms pertaining to caste and untouchability are deep-rooted in religious sentiments and sacred belief systems, deviation from these norms should jeopardize the social position of the community actors if our hypotheses were true. But our findings show that those individuals who have denounced the dogmatic traditions, superstitious belief-systems and conventional norms are more likely to be looked upon as community leaders than the ones who blindly conform to them. Educational Aspirations for Children Educational aspirations denote the level of formal education desired by parents for their children. Individ- ual aspirations might be frustrated by unavoidable circum- stances and they are not always the best indicators of one's progressive orientation. It is presumed, however, that one who has realized the value of education will try to project his aspiration to the next generation. Some parents--whatever be their level of education--might be prepared to make maximum sacrifices in order to educate their children. Education is a long-term investment and calls for considerable amount of sacrifice on the part of 135 Table 7. Correlation between respondents' social-psycho- logical attributes and community leadership nomination. Zero order Characteristics correlation l. Innovativeness .22* 2. Secular orientation .12* 3. Educational aspiration for children 00 4. Empathy .07 5. Political knowledge .17* 6. Achievement motivation -.08** *Significant at .01 level of confidence **Significant at .05 level of confidence the parent. It cuts down the availability of family labor and thereby family income, and is Often associated with out-migration to cities; above all higher education is a heavy financial burden on the average farmer who can hardly make both ends meet. In the light of these sacrifices, high educational aspirations for children should be taken as an index of parents' convictions of the value Of educa- tion and their developmental orientation. And we assume that those men with modern outlook and deep insight into the future are likely to emerge as leaders in the rural community. 136 However, we find no relationship between community leadership and educational aspirations for children. This finding has to be interpreted in terms of the modernizing forces that operate in contemporary India. Education is being very highly evaluated and leaders and non-leaders alike aspire higher education for their children. Hence our finding does not mean that leaders are not particular about educating their children, rather it means that their followers in no way lag behind. This conclusion is further supported by Kumar's study (1970) which reports that there is no significant difference in the extent of educational aspirations held by high castes, upper middle classes, middle classes and low castes. Kumar attempted to deter- mine the role of social status as an intervening variable in the process of modernization. He found that, of the various measures of modernization, achievement motivation and secular orientation stood in curvilinear relation to social status whereas educational aspirations and empathy recorded only marginal differences across status categories. Empathy The main theme in Lerner's study of modernization in the Middle East centers around the concept of empathy which according to him is the lubricant of modernization. 137 Empathy has been defined by Lerner5 as "the capacity to see oneself in the other fellow's situation," or "the capa- city for rearranging the self system on short notice." According to Lerner: "The acquisition and diffusion of psychic mobility may well be the greatest characterological transformation in modern history. . . It is in any case the most fundamental human factor that must be comprehended by all those who plan rapid economic growth by means of rapid social change." We assume that the ability to see oneself in some- one else's role, especially in the role of a socially in- fluential actor is an important step to peasant modernity. Whereas every individual has some empathic ability, peas- ants in tradition-bound rural societies because of their restricted role playing opportunities are able to empath- ize only with individuals whose roles are very similar to theirs. As Rogers contends: Lack of empathy comes about from personality so- cialization in a restricted environment, such as an isolated peasant village, where the number of different roles being played is severely circum- scribed. The resulting lack of role taking abil- ity later leads to a psychological rejection of unfamiliar roles when these are encountered (as in the mass media or when a peasant travels to the city) and a distrust of people who are cast in these normal roles. Lack of empathy serves to insulate the traditional individual from the very cosmopolite communication messages that 5For details see Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society; and Toward a Communication Theory of Modernization. 138 could develop higher empathy in him. Low empathic ability also dampens the effects of such cosmopo- lite communication exposure upon innovativeness and other possible consequences. The non-empathic receiver is thus psychologically water-proof against modernizing influences. Stewart and Hoult also argue that individuals brought up in restricted environments such as peasant villages, will have low empathy because of their limited role orientation which will not enable them to project themselves into a wide variety of diverse roles. And Lerner has very defi- nite evidence from the Middle East to support his thesis that individuals with high empathy are more modern than those who score low on empathy scale. Based on these observations we hypothesized that individuals with greater empathic ability are most fre- quently chosen as community representatives. Our data, however, indicate no relationship between empathy and community leadership. Even though individuals living in modern and complex social environments must be more em- pathic because of their exposure to diverse and constantly changing roles, we find that our respondents have not been particularly able to empathize with multiple roles. Asked to state what they would do to increase agricultural pro- duction if they were District Administrative Officer or Block Development Officer many of the respondents were 6Everett M. Rogers, Modernization Among Peasants, p. 54. 139 unable to empathize with the roles suggested to them. Al- though the social environment is an important factor in developing empathic ability, there are also likely to be individual differences that make some people more empathic than others regardless of the environment--and these dif- ferences lie outside the purview of the present study. It is also possible that the lack of correlation between com- munity leadership and empathy is due to the inability of peasants to suggest meaningful measures to solve the recur- rent problem of agricultural underproduction. It may also be pointed out that the measure of empathy was not sophis- ticated enough to take into account the qualitative dimen- sion of the responses to questions purporting to measure empathic ability. Scores were assigned in the following manner: zero score was assigned if the respondent did not take the role, the score of 1 if the respondent simply took the role but did not suggest any specific action, and score 2 if he took the role and suggested specific action. As we see, the scores were determined arbitrarily and as such the scale of empathy did not take into account the quality of measures suggested by respondents. This may account for the finding that there is no perceptible dif- ference in the empathic ability of leaders and non-leaders. 140 Political Knowledge Chief among the new forces focusing attention on the process of modernization in developing societies have been the break-up of colonial empires and the concomitant surge of nationalism. War against colonialism and the emergence of enlightened political leaders promoted national consciousness and massive political participation in devel- oping countries. Creation of new departments in national governments to be in charge of community development, rural extension, social welfare, local self-government and the like marked the beginning of what may be termed as the developmental era in many countries. Modernization is invariably accompanied by an expansion of government ser- vices as well as a greater importance of the political institution in everyday life. As a matter of fact, the primary objective of community development in India is to strengthen local administration so that effective citizen participation in political affairs could be accomplished. In India with the introduction of Panchayati Raj people have a feel of power and a sense of participation in community decision making since popular representatives in charge of local administration are enabled to initiate, plan and execute programs of development with the assist- ance of the administrative machinery placed at their disposal. 141 To be active participants in political decision making, citizens must keep abreast with current affairs; they must be aware of the major political events and per- sonalities at the local and national levels. Lerner's study in the Middle East and Deutchman's study (1963) in a Colom- bian village testified to the effect of respondents' polit- ical knowledge on the development of their political modern- ization. Knowledge of political affairs probably indicates active information seeking and an interest in civic life. It is an index of psychic linkage with the larger world and a measure of resourcefulness or expertise. In any event, in modernizing rural communities, individuals with greater political knowledgeability are likely to be looked upon as leaders. They will be actively involved in the political affairs of the community, serve as resource personnel for the local community and maintain a liaison between the local community and the national social structure. Young's proposition that "direction of community growth is always toward greater participation in the national social struc- 7 is particularly relevant to the context. Even though ture" Young's proposition cannot be tested directly from our data we can hypothesize a positive association between national political awareness and community leadership. 7Frank W. and Ruth C. Young, Towards a Theory of Community Development, p. 27. 142 We find significant relationship between political knowledge and community leadership, the coefficient of cor- relation being .17 which is significant at 1 percent level. The finding suggests that socially influential actors are high on general knowledge and are particularly aware of the leading political figures. Political knowledgeability is also an index of expertise, which according to Katz, is an essential attribute of a community leader. As our hy- pothesis has been proven, we can conclude that actors in a modernizing political system nominate as their leaders those who keep abreast with current political developments. Achievement Motivation Several social scientists have treated achievement motivation as one of the main-springs of modernization. McCllelland defined it as "the desire to do well not so much for the sake of social recognition or prestige, but to attain an inner feeling of personal accomplishment."8 Put in simpler terms, it is a dynamic ambition or the de- sire to excell regardless of social rewards. The basic theme in McCllelland's book entitled The Achieving Society is the proposition that achievement motivation is the archstone of western civilization and its economic pros- perity. This was essentially the Weberian theme in 8David C. McCllelland, The Achieving Society, p. 76. 143 postulating relationship between rise of capitalism and protestant ethic. Weber thought that the flowering of a particular kind of religious belief, sown by the ancient Hebrews and matured in certain ascetic Protestant sects had a direct relation to the rise of 'rational bourgeois capitalism.‘ He thought that the Indian disinclination to con- trol the environment actively and agressively was related to the Hindu disposition to endure the world and/or to escape it. Hagen (1962), investigating the question of why some soci- eties have entered upon technological progress sooner or more effecively than others, came to the conclusion that several culturally patterned social values impede the rate of progress in developing countries, adding that rational economic development is dependent upon the extent to which two social values, achievement and autonomy, play a domin- ant role in these societies. McCllelland and his associates have presented a wide range of evidence to show that levels of achievement motivation are related to national economic development. McCllelland's investigations among U.S., Mexican and Indian businessmen have demonstrated a positive association between achievement motivation and individual excellence. The UNESCO-sponsored investigation in eight Indian villages presents evidence that individual excellence in farming varies directly with levels of achievement motivation. 9Charles P. Loomis, Notes from Max Weber (1966), 144 Further evidence for the theory is available from the work of Morrison with Wisconsin farmers, Neill and Rogers with Ohio farmers, and Rogers and Neill with Colombian peasants. However, most descriptions of peasant life indicate that peasants are, on the whole, low in achievement motiva- tion; agriculture is thought to depend on an elaborate cult of saints on which a major share of family income is spent; blocked opportunities, limited resources and authoritarian child rearing prevalent in traditional societies contribute to low achievement motivation; then there is the proverbial fatalism rooted in tradition and handed down from genera- tion to generation. Most anthropological and sociological writings picturize the Indian peasant as suffering from a psychological inertia or conventional apathy. However, the point is often overlooked that this attitude of pathetic contentment is the child of circumstances: the farmer is sadistic in outlook because recurrent floods have washed Off his ambition and intermittent droughts have dried his hopes, and he is lost in a world of helplessness. But in modernizing villages the scene is rapidly changing. Development brings about considerable change in the personal attitudes and values of people. It tends to substitute choice-making for tradition as a guide to con- duct. Since modernization results not from one change of practice but from many such changes, it requires a consider- able substitution of choice-making for living by tradition. 145 Modernization also facilitates the adoption of a new atti- tude toward nature, the proverbial fatalism being replaced by a rational sense of control over nature. Contact with change agents and mass media exposure create new aspirations and a greater desire for individual excellence. Therefore, those who have high achievement motivation--the ones who are enterprising and hardworking--are likely to emerge as socially influential actors to whom others will turn for advice and assistance. In more specific terms, our hypothe- sis was that those who are high on achievement motivation stand a better chance of being elected as leaders by fellow villagers. The data reject our hypothesis: community leader- ship and achievement motivation are negatively correlated, the coefficient of correlation being -.08 which is signifi- cant at 5 percent level. Several studies done in the past have indicated that the extent Of achievement motivation on a societal level is a function of certain social structural variables, the tradition-bound peasant societies being rated at the lower end of the scale of achievement motivation. Patriarchialism, authoritarian personality, fatalism and many of the Hindu religious beliefs pertaining to caste system are thought of as impinging on the success-orientation of Indian peasants. But as modernization sets in and new opportunities open up, we expected positive evaluation to 146 be placed on progress, achievement motivation, success orientation and ambition. I The significant negative correlation between com— munity leadership and achievement motivation calls for a rethinking on the design of present investigation. Our unexpected findings may be attributed to methodological shortcomings and conceptual ambiguity. It may be recalled here that the concept was Operationalized on the basis of three statements and the index was constructed by adding up the positive responses. The first statement related to one's preference to work instead of leisure. The other two statements were: "One should succeed in one's occupation even though one has been neglectful of one‘s family," and "One should have determination and driving ambition even if these qualities make one unpopular." In the first place, it must be pointed out that in the Indian rural setting it is rather difficult to get truthful responses to the last two questions. The kinship and family ties are so strong that even if one personally agrees with these statements, one might not be prepared to admit it openly. Secondly, the questions are rather heavily loaded with the cultural bias of the Western social system where family and kinship ties are weak. In individualistic soci- eties it is possible to measure achievement motivation in terms of an individual's personal ambitions without 147 reference to his family obligations. In the kinship- centered Indian rural community, the test of an individual's achievement motivation does not lie in his self-seeking or high occupational aspirations at the expense of his family; rather the real test of achievement motivation in the Indian context lies in the extent to which an individual is will- ing to make self—sacrifices for the success of his own fam- ily. For instance, asking the respondent if he is willing to sell part of his landed property in order to keep his son in the college (which many parents do) could provide a better index of one's achievement motivation than asking him if he wanted to succeed in his occupation even though he is neglectful of his family. Thus, we believe that any conceptualization of achievement motivation that takes into consideration only its occupational expression, can hardly serve as a measure of the concept, especially in a social system where great emphasis is laid on "giving" rather than "taking." A reli- able index of achievement motivation should also take into account such factors as family, education, community service, etc., in addition to occupational achievement. CHAPTER VII MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP Having reviewed the relationships between two var- iables at a time, we must now take advantage of the addi- tional information that can be gleaned from multivariate analysis, which would seem to be an improvement in that multivariate analysis allows one to examine the nature of intervening relationships. To determine the degree of cor- relation between pairs of variables is not enough to untan- gle the threads of modernization among the Indian peasants or to delineate the dynamics of emerging leadership; rather we have to control or remove the effect of third, fourth, and additional variables. Our approach to the study of leadership is essen- tially multivariate. Undoubtedly, many of the variables discussed in the previous chapters are highly interrelated, and several of them may covary almost completely. This is an appropriate situation which warrants the use of multi- variant statistical procedures to examine relationships among more than two variables at one time. We will use partial correlation as a measure of association that mathe- matically removes the effect of other variables from the 148 149 relationship between different pairs of variables already considered. Partial correlation techniques will also help us determine the most significant independent variables that can account for the maximum variance in community leadership--the dependent variable. The principal merit of the multiple correlation approach is that instead of determining only the zero order relationships between each independent variable and community leadership scores, as in Tables 5-7, the joint effects can be determined of all of these independent variables together upon community leadership scores. Since we are primarily interested in predicting community leadership, it is imperative that we ascertain the most essential characteristics which will help us locate such leaders. Table 8 presents correlation coeffi- cients between community leadership scores and other char— acteristics. Community leadership scores and the independent variables were subjected to three correlational analyses in Table 8. The coefficients of zero order correlation are presented in the first column. In the second column are listed results of the highest order partial correla- tion in which the relation between each characteristic of the respondent and his community leadership score was exam- ined holding all of the remaining characteristics constant. Finally, with the help of the least square delete program, 150 .mm. .mm. «as. cofipmmflofluumm Hanoom .sa mo.u «ha. mmmsmufiHOQOEmou .ma ««mo. «amo. «mm. whamomxm Hmmmmm3mz .NH Ho.| «aoa. uomucoo Owwmm .HH Ho.l «sea. ounmomxo wfl>oz .OH ««mo. no. *Hm. uomusoo mocmmm coflmcmuxm .m mmmxcwa owEmuwhm Ho.l *mH. coaumufiHMHommm Eumm .m 00. mo. maoocfl haafimm .5 «0.- «ma. sompmusa .0 mo. «em. coflumosom .m «an. «em. «mm. ONHm Ehmm .v mo. tea. xamn OHmMU .m No.1 Ho.l GOHuHmOQEOO maflemm .N mo. same. wmfi .H msumvm OHEOGOOOIOHOOm moanmaum> sowumHmuuoo coflumamuuoo moanmflum> HOMOAMHcmflmucoc mcwuma Hmwuumm HOOHO OHON IOU nouns OOADMHOHHOO HOOHO ummnmflm Hmflupmm umpuo pmmnmflm mmm u z mousnfluuum Mosuo UGO GOHDMGHEOG mwnmumcmma muHssEEOO .mucmwcommmn cmwzuwn cowumamuuoo .m OHQOB 151 moampflmcoo mo Hm>ma mo. pm unmoflmflcmflm4. mocmowmsoo mo Hm>ma Ho. um HOMOfimwcmHm« mo. ««mo.l coaum>fluoe usmEm>mH30¢ .om mo.| hera. mmOmH3ocx HMOHHHHOm .mH «.mo.- no.u no. snummsm .ma Ho.l oo. coupafino “Om coflumuflmmm Hmcowumosom .ha ema. «pea. *NH. sowumucmwuo Hoasomm .ma vo. «mm. mmwcm>aum>ocsH .mH mmusnflupum HOOHmOHOQOMmm Hmfloom mOHQMHum> coHumHmuuou soaumamuuoo moanmflum> unmowmasmfimlsoc mcfluma Hmwuumm HOUHO Ohms loo Hmuwm coaumamunoo HOOHO ummnmflm Hmfipumm “mono ummsmflm mmm u z x.ucooo .m magma 152 the highest order partial correlation was repeated by elim- inating all variables that explained a variance of less than .08. The results are listed in the last column. The six variables--farm size, extension agency con- tact, newspaper exposure, social participation, secular orientation and empathy--explain 25 percent of the variance in community leadership. Even though the total variance explained by these variables is low, it must be regarded as significant enough considering the small number of variables included in the study. The validity of our measure of com— munity leadership cannot be questioned as it is based on sociometric choice. Also, Prodipto Roy and others have satisfactorily tested the validity and reliability of the numerous independent variables in their original research report. As such, we are inclined to believe that our quest for independent variables is not yet complete. Though we have included a wide range of variables for their concep- tual significance and empirical relevance, we may have missed some crucial variables which are directly related to community leadership in village India. Among the socio-economic variables, farm size is the only significant attribute of community leadership. This finding supports the general assumption that leaders in village India emerge from the land-owning, economically advantaged classes. Ownership of land is not just a means of livelihood but a primary source of power and prestige 153 as well. Those who possess considerable amounts of arable land and are engaged in its cultivation serve as patrons of the masses who depend on the former for their livelihood. Also, the economic dominants have the leisure, resources and contacts that would make them socially influential actors. Among other socio-economic variables, family compo- stion and family income were not significant even at the zero order level. However, age, caste rank, education, literacy and farm specialization were significantly corre- lated with community leadership at the zero order level but were eliminated in the highest order partial correlation. This finding that most of the socio-economic vari- ables traditionally associated with community leadership in village India can no longer provide adequate explanation of variance in leadership has far-reaching social implications. Caste rank based on a ritual status hierarchy has always been regarded as the principal axis of the power-matrix of the village community. But our multiple correlation analy- sis suggests that people tend to nominate to places of res- ponsibility those individuals who dominate the economic life of the community rather than upper caste men who are ritually superior by tradition. Spokesmen of rural commun- ities in modern India tend to be the economic dominants, whether or not they are also culturally dominant. In other words, the relevance of economic dominance seems to have 154 largely overshadowed the futile exercise of ritual super- iority. It also means that the concept of cultural certi- fication expounded by Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955) does not satisfactorily explain the dynamics of leadership in village India. Upper caste men who are virtually superior and cul- turally certified to be influential actors in traditional communities have now been relegated to the background where- as economic dominants have emerged as powerful community actors. This phenomenon has to be explained also in terms of the various social-structural and cultural variables that impinge on community's power structure. The matrix of social stratification in India is believed to have three dimensions: caste, wealth and power. In the traditional India, power was inextricably intertwined with caste since social influence was based on inherited position; status was ascribed and inherited; tradition ruled over reason, and ritual purity was the sole basis of social status; with the result natural leaders emerged from high castes who upheld sacred norms and presided over caste-based insti- tutions. However, in recent years, community studies have pointed up the emergence of propertied classes as prestig- ious and influential segments of the rural community. Es- pecially after the inception of democratic order, or politi- cization in the words of Srinivas, numerically strong com- munities who also own considerable amounts of arable land 155 have emerged as the most powerful pressure groups in village India. Yet the entry of economic dominants into the power structure of the village community had not weakened the cul- tural nexus of caste-based leadership; rather the two forces have been complementary and contributory. And none of the studies to date have eliminated caste rank as an attribute of community leadership; rather they suggested that caste rank and economic dominance are equally important dimensions of rural leadership. Our finding is, however, in sharp con- trast to those of previous studies. Though caste rank was found to be positively correlated with community leadership at the zero order level it was eliminated in the highest order partial correlation. Even in the zero order correla- tion, of the six significant socio-economic variables asso- ciated with community leadership, caste rank was only the fourth in magnitude of significance. This finding leads us on to the conclusion that in modernizing Indian villages, caste rank is no longer the major determinant of leadership and that ritual status is no longer regarded as the sole basis of prestige but, on the other hand, power is primarily a function of economic dominance. The fact that age and family composition-~two other variables traditionally asso- ciated with leadership--report no significant relation to community leadership also supports our conclusion that the new leadership is breaking away from the trammels Of tradition. 156 Among the measures of systemic linkage, extension agency contact, newspaper exposure and social participation are the most significant correlates of community leadership. Movie exposure, radio contact and cosmopoliteness were related to community leadership at the zero order level but were eliminated later. In a country that is rapidly undergoing change much of which is planned and directed, it is no wonder that con- tact with extension agency must turn out to be a crucial variable in predicting community leadership. We have ob- served earlier that in rural India, community development and extension represent the major forces of social change. And the philosophy and techniques of extension warrant that change agents identify, deVelop and depend on community leadership. As seen by many change agents, encouraging community development is essentially a process of encour- aging local leaders and through them mustering people's participation in community projects to be designed and exe- cuted by the community. Our investigation was designed to identify persons who are most likely to be nominated by the community to serve as its representatives and who will talk with the District Administrative officer about problems of immediate concern to the village. And naturally persons who already have greater contact with change agents stand a better chance of being nominated as community leaders than those who have little contact with them. 157 Another interesting finding pertains to newspaper exposure. Whereas literacy, education and newspaper expo- sure are all significantly related to community leadership in the zero order correlation, only newspaper exposure has turned out to be a crucial variable in the highest order partial correlation. Earlier we have observed that these items are indices of expertise, one of the essentials of leadership. However, the finding that, of the three vari- ables, newspaper exposure alone is the only correlate of community leadership, leads us to look into the interrela- tionship among the variables. Whereas literacy is basic to education and newspaper reading, our measure of the lat- ter not only included self-reading, but also exposure through others. The interpretation of the finding must, therefore, rest not simply on the magnitude of expertise, whether literacy or education, but on its functional value as well. It is not enough if people are literate or edu- cated but they must translate knowledge into action or utilize their knowledge in a way that will benefit the com- munity at large. Our investigation reveals that the ability to read and write is not in itself a determinant of leader- ship but it is the frequent exposure to newspapers, the willingness to keep abreast with current affairs, the desire to keep oneself informed of all the particulars about one's own community that weighs heavily in the sociometric nomin- ation of leadership. 158 Another significant correlate of community leader- ship is social participation. As a matter of fact, social participation has emerged as the most important determinant of leadership in village India. This finding sustains our hypothesis that accessibility or the extent of social con- tacts is an essential prerequisite to leadership. It is not enough if people are skillful, knowledgeable, or compe- tent but they must have the readiness and time to place their resources at the disposal of the community. The traditional phonomenon of leadership being concentrated in the hands of elders could be partially explained by their rich experience, interest in the affairs of the community and, above all, the abundance of leisure time at their disposal. Our data sug- gest that leaders must not only be resourceful but also accessible to the community and the best index of access- ibility is their membership in various community organiza- tions and the number of offices held in them. Now we turn to the social psychological correlates of leadership. Of the six social-psychological attributes considered, only secular orientation is significantly cor- related with community leadership in the positive direction. Educational aspiration for children has not been significant either at the zero order level or in the highest order par- tial correlation. The significant negative correlation between achievement motivation and community leadership at the zero order level disappears in the multiple correlation 159 VI! analysis. Political knowledge was significantly related at the zero order level but was eliminated later. As in the case of literacy and education, this could also be explained in relation to the persistence of newspaper exposure as a crucial variable as political knowledge is largely a func- tion of newspaper exposure. Empathy is not related to community leadership at the zero order level but in the highestorder partial cor- relation it shows significant negative correlation with leadership. This phenomenon, as we have Observed in the previous chapter, may be due to socio-cultural factors as well as individual differences. Many of the ordinary farm- ers may not be able to perceive themselves in the role of the District Administrative Officer or the Block Development Officer; it is even more difficult for them to suggest mean- ingful measures to solve any of the major problems confront- ing the community. In any event, our measure of empathy was defective in that it could not distinguish between those respondents who suggested effective measures to solve the food problem and those who could not. It is very likely that those who proposed meaningful measures are also the ones who received high sociometric scores on leader- nomination. Another interesting finding is that, of the two measures of conformity to social norms, only secular orien- tation is significantly correlated with community 160 leadership at the zero order level but was eliminated in the multivariate analysis. This phenomenon suggests that com- munity leaders need not necessarily be innovative but should be secular-oriented. As we have said repeatedly, community leaders are representatives of the community at large, per- sons who will take up the problems of the community with appropriate officials and initiate and carry on programs for the benefit of the community. Evidently qualification of such leaders is not whether they have adopted improved agricultural practices, modern impliments and better seeds but that they are egalitarian in outlook and sensitive to the needs of the community as a whole. In other words, it is immaterial if a potentially influential community actor has tried innovative farming methods or not; the crucial test in determining community leadership is the possession of a secular world view and broader outlook that would en- able the potentially influential community actors to treat their fellow villagers on equal terms with themselves. Those who aspire to become community leaders should not, therefore, subscribe to the holy values associated with a proverbial society; on the other hand, they prefer the au- thority of secular law to the subjugation of sacred tradi- tion. It is precisely these secular-oriented, broad-minded social actors who are chosen to places of responsibility and entrusted with the task of running the affairs of the community. In sum, contemporary India has moved far away 161 from the sacred end of Becker's continuum, with the rural- ites'negative evaluation of several holy values which are being gradually replaced by secular norms associated with modernity. CHAPTER VIII AGRICULTURAL OPINION LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA The types of leader with whom we are concerned in this chapter--the ones we call opinion leaders--serve in- formal rather than formal groups, face-to-face rather than more extensive groups. These leaders influence opinion and its changes rather than lead directly in action. Opinion leadership is casually exercised, sometimes unwit- ting and unbeknown, within the smallest grouping of friends, family members, neighbors and the immediate local community. It is simply a specific type of leadership, one in which other people's opinions are influenced. Opinion leadership is, therefore, the ability to direct others' Opinions consistently in a desired way. Theoret- ical writings about leadership have applicability to the analysis of Opinion leadership; likewise, empirical re- search about the nature of Opinion leadership contributes to the verification of hypotheses about general leadership. The success or failure of programs of planned change depend ultimately upon the ability and COOperation of local leaders at the village level. Change agents are 162 163 advised to work with village leaders in their efforts in introducing innovations. As was observed earlier, the strategy of community development and extension is to work through the'gatekeepers' who can influence the opinions and attitudes of others. Yet little is presently known about the nature of Opinion leadership and its role in development and modernization. Considerable practical benefits for change agents might result if Opinion leader- ship as a process were better understood and explained. The time and energy of change agents are scarce resources. By effectively focusing his communication activities upon Opinion leaders in a social system he may increase the rate of diffusion. Economy of effort is achieved by in- volving leaders because the time and resources used in contacting Opinion leaders is far less than if each member of the client system were to be reached. Essentially, the leader approach magnifies the change agent's efforts. He can communicate the innovation to a few opinion leaders, and then let word-Of-mouth communication channels spread the new idea from there. Even such charismatic and ded- icated change agents as Christ and Lenin used leaders called disciples to increase and rally their followers to new ideologies. Furthermore, by enlisting the aid of leaders, the change agent provides the aegis of local sponsorship and sanction for his ideas. Directed change takes on the guise of spontaneous change. Working through leaders improves the credibility-of the innovation, 164 thereby increasing its probability of adoption. In fact, after the opinion leaders in a social system have adopted an innovation, it may be impossible to stop its further spread. Whereas in the present study we have been primarily concerned with community leadership or people who are most likely to be chosen to places of responsibility, we would also like to find out if the same people are sought after for advice on farming. In other words, we would like to know if the same characteristics that distinguish community leaders from their followers would also help us predict opinion leadership in agriculture. Since all our respond- ents are farmers who cultivated at least 2.5 acres of land at the time of investigation, it would be interesting to compare the correlates of community leadership and agri- cultural opinion leadership and account for the differ- ences, if any. Past studies in the area of Opinion leadership have found different degrees of inter-relationship among the responses to the several questions that made up the total sociometric score on opinion leadership. Robert Merton (1949) first suggested the existence of specialists and generalists among opinion leaders whom he identified as monomorphic and polymorphic opinion leaders. Mono- morphic leaders are the sources Of information and advice l p. 188. Everett M. Rogers, Modernization among Peasants, 165 for one specific subject area whereas polymorphic leaders are influential about a variety of topics. Studies done by Ryan and Gross in 1943, and Emery and Oeser in 1958 showed that Opinion leadership does not overlap. Katz and Lazarsfeld, in a study of personal influence among women in a midwestern community in 1945, made inquiries into four areas of everyday decisions: daily household market— ing, fashion, motion picture attendance and opinions on local public affairs that were under discussion at the time of the study. Opinion leaders in each of these areas were identified through a procedure of self-designation as the ones to whom others were likely to turn for advice or information in making up their minds about shopping, fas- hions, movie selection, or public affairs. Different kinds of women appear to serve as opinion leaders in each of the subject areas, few women appearing to be opinion leaders in several fields. For example, considering three. areas (marketing, fashion and public affairs) the following. data were obtained. About 59 per cent of the women were not Opinion leaders in any of these fields; 27 per cent were Opinion leaders in one area only (3 per cent in pub- lic affairs); 10 per cent in two areas (5 per cent combin- ing leadership in public affairs with either fashions or marketing leadership); and 3 per cent in all three areas. Thus these data do not support the concept of a generalized leadership; rather each arena of decision making seems to have its own corps of Opinion leaders. 166 However, in one of the very few studies done on leader-Specialization in developing countries, Rogers and van Es (1964) found rather high degree of polymorphic opin- ion leadership in Colombian rural communities; that is, a single leader was often influential in providing informa- tion and advice on all the topics studied. For instance, in one village, the opinion leader who received the most total sociometric choices received the most choices for three of the topics (borrowing capital, politics, and mar- keting), was in second place for one topic (agriculture), and tied for second and third place for two topics (main crop grown and health). Ten per cent of the respondents who ranked highest in total sociometric Opinion leadership scores in each community, received from 54 to 67 per cent of all opinion leadership choices on specific topics. This is further evidence of the general polymorphic nature of opinion leadership in the Colombian villages. The differences in findings in the United States and Colombia suggest the hypothesis that opinion leadership in modern social systems is expected to be more monomorphic; that is, an opinion leader is influential for only one type of in- formation and advice, and different leaders are sought for different topics. Roles are expected to be more special- ized and functionally differentiated in modern systems. Different opinion leaders are viewed as credible and com- petent for different issues. One should also expect a 167 transition from polymorphic to monomorphic leadership as the communities become more modern. Sen tested this hypothesis based on the data from five Indian villages and found that polymorphism in more modern villages is relatively less important than in the more traditional villages. Conversely, as we move from traditional communities to modern communities, monomorphism becomes relatively more important than at the traditional end of the scale. It must be noted, however, that regardless of this trend, all eight villages show a dominance of polymorphism over monomorphism. This is shown by the higher polymorphism score in each village. Sen's investigation revealed that leaders in more modern villages tend to be a little more monomorphic than those in the more traditional villages, suggesting a negative relationship between village modernization and polymorphic leadership although a weak one. The data on which the present study is based pro- vide information on opinion leadership in four different areas: agriculture, health, credit and marketing. Table 2 gives the inter-relationships among the four types Of Opinion leadership together with the two types of commu- nity leadership. It can be seen from Table 4 that the inter-correlations among the six sociometric items--fre- quency of nominations on two community leadership and four opinion leadership questions-~are extremely high (the lowest is .46 and the highest .96), suggesting that all 2Lalit K. Sen, op. cit., p. 32. 168 six items are practically unidimensional and that many a leader who received nomination on one item was also nomi— nated on others. And precisely for the same reason and also for the reason that all our respondents are actual cultivators we have decided to concentrate on agricultural opinion leadership in an attempt to compare the distinct characteristics of community leaders and opinion leaders in village India. Correlates of Agricultural Opinion Leadership Several past studies done on diffusion of innova- tions in develOping societies have tried to delineate the distinct characteristics of opinion leaders who regulate the flow of interpersonal communication in these societies. Based on his data from the Colombian rural communities, Rogers concluded: "In general the COlombian opinion lead- ers, when compared to their followers, in both modern and traditional communities, are characterized by: (l) formal education; (2) higher levels of functional literacy; (3) large farms (acreage); (4) more farm and home innovative- ness; (5) higher social status; (6) lower achievement motivation; (7) more mass media exposure; (8) higher em- pathy; (9) more political knowledgeability."3 3Everett M. Rogers, Op. cit., p. 227. 169 Lalit Sen (1969) inquired into the dynamics of Opinion leadership in India and found that age, caste rank, literacy, social participation, farm specialization, farm labor efficiency, newspaper exposure, secular orien- tation, achievement motivation and political knowledgeabil- ity explained 31 per cent of variance in opinion leader- ship. He also reported negative correlation of Opinion leadership with secular orientation and achievement moti- vation in significant magnitude. However, Sen was con- cerned with opinion leadership in the four specific areas of agriculture, credit, marketing and health, whereas in the present study we are only concerned with agricultural Opinion leadership. To begin with let us examine the socio-economic correlates of agricultural opinion leadership. Age, joint family structure and caste rank have been traditionally associated with leadership in rural India. Farm size, education, literacy, family income and farm specialization. are regarded as other indices of socio-economic status that can effectively explain opinion leadership. Tradi- tionally, high status has been regarded as the most im— portant, if not the sole, determinant of influence in the community. It is generally assumed, in other words, that influence flows down the status ladder by virtue Of the power of those above, or the motivated emulation of those above by those below. Yet even if influences can be shown 170 generally to begin at the top of the status ladder and then to filter down, that does not mean, necessarily, that each person on every rung is personally influenced by someone higher up. As Katz and Lazarsfeld observe: "It is at least as plausible to assume, if influence does proceed downward, that it is transmitted across status lines only at a few key points—-between status ambassadors, so to speak--while the majority of influence acts with which we are concerned go on among persons of like status."4 According to Homans, the higher a person's status, the more people will seek to communicate with him. In other words, higher ranking individuals are targets for communication from those below them in rank. Homans adds that these high ranking members, in turn, tend to address themselves to a larger number of group members than do lower ranking individuals. Bales' studies at Harvard (1952) seem to corroborate these Observations, though it is not quite clear to what extent his findings--which.are based on discussion groups and problem-solving conferences are generalizable to the more informal influencing that goes on between friends and neighbors. Using a device for recording interaction, Bales is able to show that if the members of a group are in order of the frequency with 4Katz and Lazarsfeld, op. cit., p. 222. 171 no.| wo. pomucoo OAOmm .HH No.1 no. musmomxm OH>OS .oa «0. «mm. uomusoo aocmmm sowmsmuxm .m mmwxcfla OHEmummw No. i,ma. coauMNflHmflommm Eumm .m mo. «0. maoocfl meEmm .5 HO.. .ma. momnmpflq .m we. «Hm. QOHDOOOom .m «ma. *mH. «Hm. ONHm EHmm .v mo. *mH. Mann mummo .m 00. Ho.l :OHpHmOQEOO haflfimm .N *NH. «AH. «va. wmd .H MDHMHm OHEOGOUGIOHUOW mOHQMHHm> coaumawuuoo coflumamuuoo mowumfiumuomumnu unmowmwsmwmsos Hmauumm “mono OHON mswumamo umpmm HOOHO ummcmwm :OHumHmHHOO mmm u z Hmfiuumm HOUHO ummsmflm .mOHumHHmuomHmno Hmcuo cam magnumcmma soacflmo HOHSDHOOHHOO cmw3pmn cowumamuuoolu.m OHQMB 172 mocmpflmcoo mo Hm>ma Ho. um “snowmwcmwmp no. No.l COHHO>HUOE ucmfim>mflnod .om vo.l «ma. mmUmHBch HOOflpHHOA .ma mo. «Ha. snowman .ma «0.: mo.| swuoaflno How cowpmnflmmm Hmcoaumospm .bH mo.l vo. Gowumucmwuo Hmasomm .mH «ma. *mH. «mm. mmmcw>wum>oscH .mH mononfluuuw amowmoaocommMIHmaoom «mm. .mm. .km. coflpmmfloflupmm Hmfloom .sa Ho.- .ma. mmmcmpflaomosmoo .ma mo. «vm. whamomxw Hmmmmm3mz .NH moanmaum> sOwumamuuoo soflumamuuoo mOHumHumuomumcu ucmowmesmflmcoc Hafiunmm HOOHO OHON mcflumamp umumm HOOHO ummnmwm GOHHMHTHHOO mmm N Z Hafiuumm HOOHO ummzmwm .Omscwusooll.m magma 173 which they speak to others, then it turns out that this same rank order holds for the frequency with which others speak to them. Based on these observations we assume that Opinions are formed by the elite of the community, and then perco- lated down from one social stratum to the next until all followed the lead of the conspicuous person at the apex of the community structure. Accordingly, we propose the hy- pothesis that influentials tend to be concentrated on the higher status levels. If our hypothesis is true, we should observe significant positive correlation between Opinion leadership and caste rank, as caste is tradition- ally the most important determinant of social status in rural communities. If we find that typically the influ- ential is of higher status than the influencee, we shall conclude that even in the everyday influence situations with which we are dealing, the flow of influence is pre- dominantly vertical. Our data, however, indicate that caste rank is significantly related to opinion leadership at the zero order level but is eliminated in the highest order partial correlation. This finding suggests the existence of horizontal opinion leadership, that is, each social stratum generates its own opinion~leaders--the individuals who are likely to influence other persons in their immediate environment. 174 Farm size which is another important dimension of socio-economic status is, however, significantly correlated with agricultural opinion leadership at the zero order level as well as in the highest order correlation. Does it testify to the existence of.a vertical flow Of influence and warrant the conclusion that economic elites are in fact the gatekeepers of the interpersonal channels of com- munication? At least two alternative explanations are possible. In the first place, we may conclude that there is a co-existence of vertical and horizontal flow of in- fluence in Indian rural communities, since we have already found evidence for horizontal flow of interpersonal in- fluence. But a more plausible explanation lies in our conceptualization of opinion leadership itself. In the present study we have been solely concerned with agricul- tural Opinion leadership and it is only natural for small farmers to seek advice on agriculture from people who cultivate more land and possess more agricultural re- sources. Therefore, it is suggested that a mere positive correlation between agricultural opinion leadership and farm size does not necessarily point up the existence of vertical flow of influence. A valid and reliable test of vertical flow of influence should take into account Opinion leadership in several other areas as well--for example, health, fashion, public affairs, etc., which are not directly related to land ownership. 175 On the whole, our finding is contrary to the pOp-. ular imagery which equates opinion leadership with high status, assuming that the flow of influence is exclusively a vertical process, moving downward from high status or high prestige levels. It is time we revised any concep- tion of the process of interpersonal influence to include horizontal opinion leadership, that is, leadership which emerges on each rung of the socio-economic ladder, and all through the community. However, since our data do not conclusively show that the only form of influence-trans- mission is horizontal but, on the other hand, there is reason to suspect that vertical flow of influence co-exists with the horizontal, it will be interesting to find out if the level of modernization is an intervening variable be- tween socio-economic status and opinion leadership. In other words, shall we say that horizontal flow of influence. is more prevalent in modern villages whereas traditional villages represent a vertical flow of influence? This question cannot be answered by the present study but pro-. vides meaningful lead for further inquiries into the dynamics of opinion leadership in developing societies. Now let us turn to some of the other socio-economic variables. Summarizing the flow of influence between age groups, Katz and Lazarsfeld observe: In marketing, there is most crossing of age lines and in fashions there is quite a bit. But where in mar- keting, there is a discernible flow from older to 176 younger women, in fashions it is difficult to find any pattern (though a flow from young to Old is implicit in the "expert" data and is evident, too, within the family). In the arenas of public affairs and movie- going, there is evidence of much greater age homoge- neity between influential and influencee. The flow across age lines is from old to young in public af- fairs while in movie-going, as we have noted, there is only weak evidence of upward flow when specific movie decisions are investigated, but this becomes very evi- dent in the flow of "expert" movie advice.5 Rogers hypothesized that leaders are older than followers in the more traditional villages whereas they are younger than their followers in the more modern commu- nities. Lerner reports a similar relationship between age and opinion leadership in more and in less traditional countries in the Middle East. The traditional rule that age brings wisdom probably worked well in immobile isolated villages, where change was slow and experience was the only teacher. The longer one lived, the more experience he gained and the greater his title to wisdom. Now the young men no longer await their patrimony. . . .6 Our village data suggest, however, that age is still a criterion for the selection of opinion leaders. The coefficient Of correlation between age and the index of agricultural opinion leadership is .12 which is sig- nificant at 1% level. It means that most villagers seek advice from fellow cultivators who are older than them- selves and have many years of experience in farming. It 5ibid.. pp. 329-330. 6Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society, p. 339. 177 is doubtful if this finding could.be viewed as conclusive evidence of slow modernization. It may be recalled that our respondents were heads of households who Operated at least 2.5 acres of land. The.fact that many of the young and more educated persons leave the farm in search of white collar jobs in cities is likely to have affected the age-grouping included in the sample. Family composition and family income are in no way related to agricultural opinion leadership. We have dis- cussed earlier the methodological shortcomings associated with the measurement of family income. Education and literacy are positively related.at the zero order level but were eliminated later. Key to the understanding of this phenomenon might lie with any of the measures of systemic linkage. Movie exposure and radio contact are two indices of mass media exposure. It may be recalled that the whole concept of Opinion leadership emerged in the context of the discovery of a two-step flow in the effect of mass media. The 1940 election study suggested that in each social stratum molecular opinion leaders are more likely to expose themselves to magazines and broadcasts espe- cially tuned to their level of education.and interest. This seemed to suggest that influences stemming from the media make contact with opinion leaders who, in turn, pass. them on to other peOple. We have raised the question 178 whether these findings could be corroborated in another investigation more carefully centered around the problem of personal influence in the transmission of agricultural information. According to Katz and Lazarsfeld, The two-step flow hypothesis suggests, in the first place, that these interpersonal networks are linked to the mass media networks in such a way that some people, who are relatively more exposed, pass on what they see, or hear, or read, to others with whom they are in contact who are less exposed. Primary groups, in other words, may serve as channels for mass media transmission; this might be called the relay function of interpersonal relations.7 Based on these observations we proposed the hy- pothesis that Opinion leaders are more exposed to mass media and that they serve as relay individuals or personal transmitters for others. However, our data indicate that movie exposure and radio contact are in no way related to agricultural Opinion leadership. This unexpected finding could be explained by the relatively low level of mass media exposure, especially radio contact, that Indian rural communities receive. However it may be recalled that the index of movie exposure was based on the number of times the respondent witnessed commercial films and it is highly unlikely that ordinary commercial movies have any significant role in the dissemination of agricultural information. Or, there may be other intervening variables 7Katz and Lazarsfeld, Op. cit., pp. 44-5. 179 which overshadow the effect of mass media exposure--an empirical question that lies beyond the purview of the present study. Past studies have shown that change agent contact, newspaper exposure and cosmOpoliteness are positively re- lated to Opinion leadership. The India UNESCO data and the Colombia data reported by Rogers indicate that cosmo- politeness is significantly and positively correlated with all the modernization variables considered. "The lure of the city appears to hold across cultures."8 Rogers (1969) also reports differences between modern and traditional villages in the number of trips to urban centers made by all respondents. Followers in the traditional villages average twice as many trips to urban centers per year as do leaders. However in the modern villages opinion lead- ers travel to the city much more often than their follow- ers. This finding supports the general notion that Opinion leaders are more conformist to social norms than followers. In the traditional villages, where to be cosmOpolite is to be deviant from localistic norms, the opinion leaders are less cosmOpolite. However, we have not taken into account the level of modernization of the different villages in our sample. We hypothesized that extension agency contact, newspaper 8Everett M. Rogers, op. cit., p. 165. 181 education or literacy, and the simple indices of extension agency contact or newspaper exposure, which would ade- quately explain the variance in opinion leadership; while these measures are significant in themselves, social par- ticipation holds the key to the ultimate explanation of the phenomenon of agricultural opinion leadership in vil- lage India. Now let us examine the social-psychological attri- butes of Opinion leadership. In the previous chapter we have reviewed several studies which suggest that perhaps the most important relationship between an Opinion leader and the community he influences is a leader's subservience to the norms of his community. Homans postulated: "A man of high status will conform to the most valued norms of his group as the minimum condition of maintaining his status."9 Accordingly we hypothesize that opinion leaders conform to social norms more closely than their followers. We measured conformity to social norms in terms of innovativeness and secular orientation. Our data show that secular orientation is in no way related to opinion leadership either at the zero order level or in the highest order partial correlation, the implication being that Opinion leaders conform to the most sacred norms of the community--norms surrounding the sacredness of cow and 9George C. Homans, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms, p. 339. 182 caste system. Shall we, then, conclude that our data generally support the notion of Opinion leaders as highly conformist to system norms? But we find that innovative- ness, our second index of deviancy from social norms, is positively and significantly related to Opinion leadership. In other words, leaders break away from the traditional agricultural practices and lead in the adoption of innova- tions earlier than other actors in the social system. This phenomenon raises the interesting question: How can Opinion leaders be most conformist to village norms, and also lead in the adOption of new ideas? Rogers' analysis of opinion leadership provides a meaningful per- spective from which this question could be answered. Rogers posits: where village norms favor social change, opinion lead- ers are more innovative and hence function in close conformity to the system's norms. Where the norms are traditional, Opinion leaders again differ very little from their followers; the Opinion leaders are not especially innovative. In fact, the innovators in these traditional systems are separate individuals from the Opinion leaders; the innovators are viewed with suspicion and Often with disrespect by the villagers. Rogers' Colombian data showed that opinion leaders in the modern villages were more innovative than their followers, but in the traditional villages the Opinion leaders were only slightly more innovative than their followers. Sen 10Everett M. Rogers, op. cit., p. 230. 183 used Indian data to test the hypothesis on leader's con— formity to social norms and has concluded: Leadership in American communities is based mostly on achieved status and the group's sanction is an import- ant factor in maintaining one's leadership position. Conformity to group norms under these circumstances becomes almost obligatory for leaders. In Indian vil- lages, on the other hand, such conformity is not Ob- ligatory for leaders who are secure in their ascribed status and can deviate from norms to an extent. As the villages become more modern, the importance of such status as the basis of leadership is weakened and leaders tend to conform more to the village norms and are more sensitive to the group's judgment. Even though we have not rated the villages in our sample on a scale of modernization, the very high correlation between innovativeness and agricultural opinion leadership suggests that our respondents evaluate innovativeness as a desirable trait of leadership, which is in itself an index of modernization. The phenomenon could also be interpreted from a different perspective. It is only natural that farmers seek advice on agricultural matters from those who have successfully tried modern farming methods. Those who use improved seeds, modern implements, fertilizers and pesti- cides and adOpt scientific agricultural practices may have been successful as progressive farmers and it is no wonder that fellow cultivators turn to them.for information and advice. Secular orientation, on the other hand, implies llLalit K. Sen, Opinion Leadership in India, p. 43. 184 rejection of community's sacred norms concerning cow and the caste system which have no relevance for competence in agriculture. The small farmers seek advice from those who operate large farms, have led in the adoption of innova- tions and thereby emerged as progressive farmers, irre- spective of whether they subscribe to community's sacred norms or not. In other words, it is not their religious orientation but technical competence and innovative bend of mind that make them key influentials or gatekeepers who direct the flow of agricultural information at the inter— personal level. At the same time it is also possible to argue that these Opinion leaders do not deviate far enough to reject community's sacred norms deep-seated in religious belief systems and sustained by long-standing traditions. They may still hold many of the community's religious values but are progressive enough to transform traditional agriculture by taking a lead in the adoption of innova- tions. It also implies that in modernizing village India religion is not always bound up with agricultural practices and that much of what was once considered to be sacred and religious is now falling into the realm of what is regarded as modern and secular. Let us now turn to other social-psychOlogical cor- relates of opinion leadership. Achievement motivation and educational aspiration for children are not significantly related to agricultural opinion leadership either at the 185 zero order level or in highest order partial correlation. Whatever observations we have made about these variables in the previous chapter hold true for agricultural opinion leadership as well. Empathic ability is often considered to be a sig- nificant leadership trait. If we accept Homans' proposi- tion that leaders maintain their positions of influence by rendering valuable and rare services to their group, then we should also admit that the leader must be able to put himself in the roles of the group members--that he be highly empathic. Mead (1934) has argued that individuals who can take the role of the other are particularly able to perceive the needs and goals of their peers, and hence are most likely to become the leaders of a group. We assume, therefore, that individuals are chosen as opinion leaders by their peers, in part, because they are suffi- ciently interested in others' problems and are willing to offer helpful suggestions. Similarly we assume that knowledge Of public affairs is a desirable trait for Opin- ion leaders and that those who are politically knowledge- able are more likely to be sought after for advice and information. We find that empathy and political knowledge- ability are positively related to agricultural Opinion leadership at the zero order level but were eliminated later. It is suggested that these traits are highly eval- uated by our respondents but they are not adequate enough. to explain agricultural opinion leadership. 186 Our basic finding is that age,.farm size, social participation, and innovativeness are the most significant correlates of agricultural opinion leadership in village India; together these variables explain 21 per cent of the variance which is rather low. This low percentage of total variance is most likely due to an incomplete selec— tion of independent variables; we may have left out several important characteristics that distinguish agricultural Opinion leaders from their influencees. We have, however, proceeded with the analysis with the knowledge that we are only partially explaining the dynamics of Opinion leader- ship in village India. CHAPTER IX THE DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP IN VILLAGE INDIA Having analyzed the phenomena of community and agricultural Opinion leadership, we are now ready to delve into the dynamics of leadership in village India. Several studies in the past have attempted to delineate the char- acteristics of leaders in different community contexts as well as task situations. In 1955 H. S. Dhillon studied leadership in a South Indian village and came up with the conclusion that caste, reputation and size of the family, elaborate performance of ritualistic ceremonies, ownership of land, age, availability of leisure time and contacts outside the village are chief among the factors that fa- cilitate leadership. In 1958 Oscar Lewis studied village life in Northern India and found that leadership depends on wealth, family reputation, age, personality traits, education, connections and influence with outsiders, and family size. However, since the completion of these stu- dies, the Republic of India has expanded her most ambi- tious community development programs, covering each village and aimed at nation-building from the grass-roots. As Hans Nagpaul Observes: 187 188 The new social and economic forces generated by the large-scale development plans have shaken up the social structure and are beginning to alter the Old values and attitudes as well. The traditional leader- ship is also undergoing a change and new patterns of leadership are emerging on the scene. In this con- text, the introduction of community projects, land reforms, decentralized local administration and adult franchise which aim at the reconstruction of rural society, have brought forth the importance of leadership. In recent years social scientists have been par- ticularly interested in the emerging patterns of leadership in modernizing India, and several studies have attempted to determine the characteristics of leaders who are active in rural India. Prodipto Roy, using Maurice Sill's data from a few North Indian villages, analyzed the character- istics of emergent leaders. He arrived at the following conclusions: (1) Individuals with high income and a high level of living are likely to become leaders in the new organi- zations of the village. (2) People with more educa- tion will participate more in these social organiza- tions. (3) Members of large families are likely to emerge as leaders. (4) Age and caste do not seem to determine who will be leaders and who will not. (5) The new leaders seem to have a higher level of contact with extension agencies. (6) The new leaders are gen- erally a little more secular-oriented than most vil- lage people but they are not extremely secular. The UNESCO-sponsored study on Status Images in Changing India done in 1965-66 sought to determine the characteristics associated with social status as perceived 1L. p. Vidyarthi, Op. cit., p. 58. 21bid., p. 294. 189 by rural as well as urban-industrial.informants. The study revealed that education, character, social service and income are the four most important attributes that determine social status according to both rural and urban respondents. In 1965 the National Institute of Community DevelOpment launched a nationwide survey of community develOpment in India and gathered a whole mass of data on leaders and non-leaders in 365 villages all over the country. In their preliminary report on the data, Sen and Roy observed that the percentage of leaders is higher at about every positive score point than the non-leaders. About 54 per cent of the leaders read newspapers whereas only 20 per cent of the randomly chosen males and 5.7 per cent of the females do that. The urban linkage of the leaders is higher than that of non-leaders, and on the sacred-secular scale, the scores of leaders consistently fell toward the secular end of the continuum. An analysis Of the background of leaders reveals that 55.4 per cent of them were either Brahmins or high caste non—Brahmins; 33.6 per cent finished middle school or more; 63.5 per cent finished primary school; 23.7 per cent were illiterates; 87.2 per cent were cultivators and only 0.9 per cent were agricultural laborers. These studies represent some of the major attempts at delineating the salient characteristics of emergent leaders in village India. However, the present study 190 differs from these in at least two important ways. In the first place, whereas previous studies reviewed here have been mainly concerned with differences between leaders and non-leaders, we have tried to single out the most important determinants of leadership. As Sen and Roy have categor- ically stated leaders have consistently higher scores than non-leaders on almost every attribute that is positively evaluated. Therefore, a general portrait of leaders does not tell us which characteristics are most important, since several of the attributes may have no predictive validity. In order to predict emerging patterns of lead- ership, we have attempted to identify the correlates of community leadership. Secondly, previous studies have been concerned with rural leaders in general and failed to make any distinction between different types of leaders. However, in the present study we have made a clear dis- tinction between community leadership and opinion leader- ship and proceeded on the assumption that they represent two analytically separable faces of social power or influence. Although we have been primarily interested in the correlates of community leadership, information presented in Chapters IV-VI is in line with previous studies which have demonstrated the major characteristics of leaders in rural India. Whereas Tables 5-7 show how socio-economic status, measures of systemic linkage and social 191 Air- psychological attributes are related to community leader- ship, the three correlation matrices in the Appendix point to the network of relationships among the variables con- sidered. And correlational analysis has singled out the salient characteristics that distinguish the two types Of leadership and delineated their emerging patterns. In this chapter we shall examine the dynamics of leadership from different theoretical perspectives so as to arrive at certain general conclusions which would help us predict the rise of new leadership that can speed up the process of modernization in India's villages. The present study suggests that most Of the char- acteristics conventionally associated with leadership in village India are still related to leadership positively and significantly. For instance, age, caste rank, farm size, education, literacy, farm specialization, extension agency contact, newspaper exposure, cosmopoliteness and political knowledgeability are positively related to the index Of leadership at the zero order level in significant magnitude. However, most of these variables drop out in the highest order partial correlation and fail to explain leadership adequately when the influence of remaining vari- ables is partialled out. On the other hand, social par- ticipation and farm size have emerged as the most signif- icant correlates of leadership. In the case of community leadership extension agency contact, newspaper exposure 192 and secular orientation, and in the case of agricultural opinion leadership, age and innovativeness have turned out to be the most important predictive variables. Speaking in general terms we can conclude that the size of the farm one operates and the extent of one's social contacts are the most effective variables that explain the emergence of leadership. This suggests that we can make a distinction be- tween the source of power and the exercise of power. All those variables which are positively and significantly correlated with leadership at the zero order level neces— sarily contribute to the source of power but do not neces- sarily lead to the exercise of power. For example, an individual's age and caste rank are rated as sources of community power but they do not facilitate his emergence as a community leader. Accordingly we may classify lead- ership into two basic categories: potential leader and dynamic leader. A potential leader is one who has access to the sources of power and who possesses those character- istics which are conventionally associated with leadership. A dynamic leader is one who actually exercises power and is nominated to places of responsibility by other actors in the social system. The very fact that social partici- pation is the most significant correlate of leadership implies that people tend to choose as their leaders those individuals who are actively involved in the affairs Of 193 the community rather than those who possess all the para- phernalia of leadership but are only passive spectators of on-going community activities. This finding also implies a shift in the form and focus of community power in rural India. This interesting phenomenon could be explained in terms of a new theory which we call the theory of the structural devolution of power. The theory postulates that in modernizing village India there is occurring a gradual transfer of power from potential leaders to dynamic leaders--from those who only own the conventional resources of power to those who also involve themselves actively in the affairs of the community. The theory Of structural devolution Of power is further supported by the fact that the most important correlates of community leadership are measures of systemic linkage—-extension agency contact, newspaper exposure and social participation. We may also hypothesize that the process of structural devolution of community power varies directly with the process Of mod— ernization. That is, as the pace and degree of moderniza- tion increase, more and more power is devolved and dele- gated tO active community influentials. This cannot be tested directly from our data but suggests a meaningful problem for further research into the dynamics of commu- nity power in village India. 194 Now let us examine the implications of our findings for modernization. But for a small number of variables like age, family composition, caste rank and perhaps, farm size, all other variables we have considered are indices of modernization. And it is interesting to Observe that most of them are highly correlated with leadership at least at the zero order level. Especially in the case of community leadership, of the five most important positive correlates four of them, namely extension agency contact, newspaper exposure, social participation and secular or- ientation are infallible indices of modernization. One of the dimensions of modernization is confron- tation by mass society. Our measures of systemic linkage were designed to test the impact of external contacts on sociometric nomination of leadership. It is interesting to note that all the six measures of systemic linkage, namely extension agency contact, movie exposure, radio contact, newspaper exposure, cosmOpoliteness, and social participation, are positively related to community leader- ship at the zero order level and that three of them-- extension agency contact, newspaper exposure and social participation--have emerged as the most significant corre- lates of leadership. We are inclined to conclude that people in modernizing rural India tend to place high eval- uation on extension agency contact, movie exposure, radio contact, newspaper reading, cosmopoliteness and social 195 participation which expose actors of a social system to influences far beyond their own little communities. This finding has important consequences for di- rected social change, that is, purposive change, seeking to introduce new ideas in order to achieve definite goals. The very purpose of community development is to integrate little communities into the mainstream of a nation's life and to enable them to contribute fully to its socio-eco- nomic growth. Whereas change agents bring science and technology to the door-steps of rural communities, radio, newspaper and trips to urban centers expose community actors to the pervasive influence of mass society. Now, following Alvin Bertrand (1966) we shall propose a three- stage model of transition toward integration with the mass society. Bertrand has offered the theory of a stage of confrontation as a process which follows an initial stage of awareness of the forces and aspects of change, and precedes a final stage of more or less complete surrender to them. Such a theory allows the study of the micro aspects of change in subsocial systems, which articulate the stress-strain and other elements of these systems.3 The three-stage model of transition represents awareness, confrontation and integration. Small communities are con- fronted with modern ways of life, new political and eco- nomic ideologies, scientific and technological innovations and SOphisticated cultural patterns and social values. If 3Alvin Bertrand, The Emerging Rural South, p. 449 ff. 196 these new ways confronting them are evaluated as essen— tially good and worthwhile, or necessary for survival, cooperation leading to some degree of change will take place. Our finding that agricultural Opinion leaders are innovative and community leaders secular-oriented corrob- orate the evidence of change. The simple correlation be- tween different measures of systemic linkage and leadership also testifies to the fact that confrontation is not only taking place but is being positively evaluated by people in the villages. We may conclude, therefore, that the stage of isolation of the traditional society has passed and an era of modernization has dawned on India's villages. Conformity to group norms has been another major theme in the present study. We tested the hypothesis that socially influential actors or more active members of a community will tend to exhibit a.higher degree of confor- mity to group norms than the less active members. On the whole, our data do not lend support to this hypothesis. Community leadership is positively and significantly cor- related with innovativeness and secular orientation at the zero order level, although the latter alone has emerged significant in the multiple correlation analysis. And agricultural opinion leadership is significantly related to innovativeness in the positive direction. This phenom- enon could, perhaps be explained in terms of what Hollander calls the idiosyncrasy credit model. 197 Hollander writes: Early in interaction, conformity.to group expectancies serves to maintain or increase status, particularly as it is seen to be combined with.manifest contributions to the group; at a later phase, however, the status thus generated permits greater latitude for idiosyn- cratic behavior. Thus, if an individual conforms to expectancies early in his exposure to the group and if he shows characteristics of competence, he accrues' credits.‘ For evident_ deviations from expectancies, or poor performance, he loses credits. If he exhausts his credit balance completely, pressures are applied to remove him from the group, or at the very least, he is no longer perceived to be a member.. At the other pole, if he continues to amass credits he attains a threshold permitting deviations from common expectan- cies, but with constraints imposed by newly differen— tiated expectancies.4 , Leadership status, therefore, assuredly demands conformity to the group's expectancies regarding the role, but still leaves the leader with sway in the sphere of common expectancies associated with members at large. The leader may deviate from these, or bring about their reconstruction, if his prior activities 5 have generated an appropriately high level of credit. These Observations seem to hold true for leadership in India, for, as we have seen earlier, our leaders have free access to sources of power and have accumulated credits by being competent and by rendering useful services to the community. These leaders operate large farms, have higher level of education and literacy, maintain contact with change agents, keep themselves informed about current affairs and are actively involved in various community organizations in the area. Thus they have proved 4E. P. Hollander, in Hollander and Hunt, eds., Current Perspectives in Social Psychology, p. 433. 5Ibid., p. 434. 198 themselves competent, placed themselves at the disposal of the community and have accrued a high credit balance which would enable them to deviate from certain conventional norms without jeopardizing their high social status. Now the question arises: If the idiosyncrasy credit model is applicable to the Indian phenomena, then, how is it that our community leaders are more secular- oriented than innovative and our opinion leaders innovative but not secular? Evidently the idiosyncrasy model does not tell the whole story; it cannot explain why certain types of leaders--community leaders in this case--deviate from sacred norms deep-seated in the community's religious tradition whereas opinion leaders deviate only from secular norms not bound up with religious belief systems. In this context we are inclined to believe that James March's conceptualization of norms is particularly relevant. According to March conceptualization of norms without a conception of the characteristics of the group approval function is meaningless. Therefore, he prOposes three models Of group approval functions: (a) Conception of a norm as an unattainable ideal. In such a norm, group approval is pictured as a mono- tonically-increasing continuous function of an indi- vidual characteristic. For example, the more saintly a man is, the greater will be the approval of a priestly group; the more brilliant a man is, the more approval he will gain in an academic group; or the more closely a man conforms to sacred norms, the more he will gain approval from a proverbial society. (b) Norm as a preferred value. "In this case, deviations from the norm are measured in both directions 199 rather than in just one as in the previous model. Group approval can be represented as a continuous function, monotonically increasing up to the preferred value and thereafter monotonically decreasing.6 For example, the Roesthlisberger and Dickson studies indi- cated that deviations on both sides of the work norms were disvalued. That is, producing much more than the average as well as producing much less was both dis- approved. Similarly being too conservative or too radical may both be condemned in a transitional society. (c) Norm as an attainable-ideal. "Here the group approval function is defined to be continuous and monotonically-increasing up to a point and constant thereafter.7 The conceptualization of norms as an unattainable ideal and as a preferred value seems to provide a perspec- tive from which we can explain the phenomenon of opinion leadership in village India. The more competent and re- sourceful a man is and the more readily he places himself at the disposal of the community the more readily he seems to be accepted by the community. Similarly, modernity may be regarded as a preferred value. Our opinion leaders are innovative but not secular-oriented. They are prepared to deviate from the conventional norms associated with tradi- tional agriculture but they are not prepared to question the sacred norms surrounding the religious belief systems. associated with the cow and the caste system. In the wake of modernization, people tend to nominate as their leaders 6James B. March, in Hollander and Hunt, eds., Op. cit., p. 423. 71bid., p. 423. 200 those individuals who have successfully adOpted innovative ideas but at the same time have not abandoned the sacred religious tradition of the community. In other words, modernity in contemporary rural India is a preferred value and extreme deviations in either direction are disapproved. But the phenomenon of community leadership does not seem to fit quite well with this model. Our community leaders are more secular-oriented than innovative. In choosing community leaders people are not much concerned with whether they have adopted modern technology or not, rather they are primarily concerned with the leaders' secular orientation, their sense of equality and humani- tarianism. In other words, community leaders are allowed considerable leniency in deviating excessively from the norm of modernity by breaking away from the sacred tradi- tion. This requires us to look for an alternative per- spective. Let us consider the functional perspective. The functional perspective suggests that leadership is functional and cannot be haphazardly transferred from one situation to another with uniform success. It means that a leader is a leader not because of certain personal or magical qualities inherent in him but because he performs certain functions relative to tasks which are positively evaluated by the group and are highly functional--or even indispensable--for the maintenance of the system. In other 201 words, leadership is exhibited by different people at dif- ferent times, depending on the task to be done and upon the composition of the group. As Peterson Observes: In this quest for effective leadership, the findings of research tend to point more and more to the import- ance of sensitivity and insight into the needs of the total situation in which the leadership is to function. The identification of essential leadership qualities per se will not insure effective results unless these qualities are determined in relation to a specific group situation and unless their functioning becomes an integral part of group behavior.8 The essential idea is that leadership is a function of the situation, that every leader in every case has arisen through performing certain functions relative to some group somewhere, sometime. And what functions are the types of leaders, with whom we have been concerned in the present study, supposed to perform? The community leader is a spokesman for the community who will go and talk with concerned district officials about any vital problems confronting the village and take general charge of contacting officials and hand— ling financial matters. He will also initiate and super- vise community projects and see that the work is success- fully completed. It is obvious that in order to perform these functions satisfactorily the individuals must have frequent contact with the extension agency, keep himself 8O. F. Peterson, in National Education Association, Op. cit., p. 26. 202 informed about current affairs by reading newspapers and actively participate in various community organizations serving the area. He must also be humanitarian in outlook, concerned with the welfare of the community as a whole and not serving the interest of any particular caste or creed. Our data clearly show that community leadership is posi- tively and significantly correlated with extension agency contact, newspaper exposure, social participation and sec— ular orientation. Thus we see that people choose as their spokesmen individuals whose competence and characteristics are most apprOpriate to the specific needs of the commu— nity. And, how about opinion leadership? In the present study opinion leader is one who is sought after for advice and information on agriculture. Naturally, he must be a progressive farmer, well experienced and successful in his occupation. Our data show that agricultural Opinion lead- ership is positively and significantly correlated with age, social participation and innovativeness. People seek ad- vice and information on agriculture from those individuals who operate large farms, who have successfully adopted technological innovations, have many years of experience in farming and are active in local organizations. These findings support our hypothesis that leader- ship is a function of group situation. Donald Pelz sum- marizes the position thus: 203 Recent theories have stressed the needs of group mem- bers as key aspects of the all-important situation. The successful or valued or obeyed leader is one who can help group members achieve their goals. This emphasis on group members' needs and goals appears sound, at least as one beginning of a theory of lead- ership. In any kind of situation, a basic postulate is that the more the leader (or any member) helps other members achieve their goals, the greater will be the members' acceptance of him. To this Knickerbocker adds: The functional leadership places emphasis not on a fixed set of personal characteristics nor on partic- ular kinds of leadership behavior, but upon the cir-. cumstances under which groups Of people integrate and organize their activities toward Objectives, and upon the way in which that integration and organization are achieved. Thus the leadership function is analyzed and understood in terms of a dynamic relationship. A leader may acquire followers, or a group of many people may create a leader, but the significant as- pects of the process can be understood only in dynamic,. relationship terms. Evidence and Speculation to date make it appear that this functional or operational conception of leadership provides the more useful approach.lo Based on these observations and the strength of our findings, we are inclined to conclude that leadership is not an innate trait common to all types of leaders but a functional relationship specific to group situations. Leadership is not determined by cultural certification based on tradition or strategic social location attributed to caste; nor is the emergence of leadership a sheer 9Donald C. Pelz, in National Education Associa- tion, Op. cit., p. 43. 10Irving Knickerbocker, in National Education Association, Op. cit., pp. 70-71. 204 chance occurrence. On the other hand, leaders are picked by peOple on the basis of valuable services rendered to the community and on the basis of their competence and public interest. Above all, it is not conformity to con- ventional norms but sensitivity to collective expectancy that weighs heavily in the determination of leaders. And we agree with Knickerbocker in his observation: The leader is not a disembodied entity endowed with unique characteristics. He is the leader of a group and is the leader only in terms of his functional relationship to the group. Therefore, the part he plays in the total dynamic pattern of the behavior of the group defines him as a leader. He is a leader not because he is intelligent, skillful, or original, but because his intelligence, skill, or originality is seen as a means by the group members. He is a leader not because he is relatively imposing of stature, well- dressed, fluent of speech, or from a higher socio- economic background, but because these factors tend to predispose group members to expect better means from their possessor.l This approach raises one significant question: If leadership is defined as a functional relationship in a dynamic context, to what extent is our community leader a general leader? In other words, do the correlates of leadership arrived at in the present study represent posi- tional or task-oriented leadership? It may be recalled here that our community leader was identified by asking rural respondents whom they will nominate as a community representative who could go and talk with the district llIbid., p. 74. 205 , Officer about some vital problem in the village and take general charge regarding contacting officials and handling financial matters. As such the community leader we are talking about is not simply a task—oriented leader in a restricted sense of the term but he is also perceived as the spokesman for the community, as a liaison between the local community and the district officials and also the one capable of handling financial matters and so trusted. We have also found a very high correlation--.96 to be exact--between this type of leadership and the overseeing leadership that is responsible for mustering people's participation in community action programs and carrying the work through its completion. Thus our community leader. is not only a spokesman for the community but he is also the initiator, organizer and supervisor of community proj- ects. Moreover, the present study has conclusively demon- strated that the most important correlate of leadership is social participation measured in terms of membership and offices held in various community organizations. This finding points to the fact that the community leader iden- tified here is not merely a task-oriented leader whose influence is confined to a specific task-situation, but he is also a positional leader, for he holds positions of influence in various community organizations. Further support for this conclusion is available from Prodipto Roy's study of the characteristics of emergent leaders. 206 which reports that a leader who belongs to two or three new organizations is bound to have greater social influence than the one who belonged to only one and that an officer of an organization has more social influence than a mem- ber. Emphasizing the need to define leadership as a role or function played in a situation within the context of the culture, to attain a specific goal or goals, Hans Nagpaul argues that The person who performs this role is perceived as the leader by the members of his group and is given pres- tige, authority and status which he would not have as a member of the group. This view does not limit the leadership concept to formally appointed functionaries; rather it is applicable to multiplicity of roles which are determined by the interplay of the personality of the leader in relation to the personality of the fol- lowers and to the characteristics of situations in the social organization.12 Based on these observations we are inclined to conclude that the community leaders we have identified are the most active members in the social system who hold Offices in various community organizations and whose influence is felt in the affairs of the community as a whole. Thus the functional perspective provides a theory of leadership which can adequately explain the differences between community leaders and Opinion leaders. However, we must now focus on the differences between the two types of leadership in terms of the functional prerequisites of 12L. P. Vidyarthi, op. cit., p. 60. 207 Indian rural social system. Parsons' pattern variables, especially ascription vs. achievement (or quality vs. performance) and collectivity-orientation vs. self-orien- tation provide a conceptual framework for the analysis of the dynamics of leadership. According to Parsons, Orientation to the actor's performance . . . means. that the focus is on his achievement. The expectatio is that the actor is committed to the achievement of certain goals or expressive performance and that ex- pectations are oriented to his "effectiveness" or "success" in achieving them, hence that positive sanc tions will reward such success and negative sanctions will ensue in case of failure to achieve. . . . On th other hand, even though actors can and do perform in the above sense, the major focus of a particular role expectation need not be on this performance. All ob- jects have attributes, they not only do this or that, but they are such and such. They have attributes of sex, age, intelligence, physical characteristics, statuses in relational systems, e.g., collectivity memberships. The focus of orientation then may be what the object is in this sense. . . . Such attri- butes or quality-complexes may be conditions of a variety of performances, for physical or social reas- ons, but even so the orientation focus may still be the quality as such. . . . Achievement-oriented roles are those which place the accent on the performances of the incumbent, ascribed roles, on his qualities or attributes independently of specific expected perfor- mances. Let us now try to relate the ascription vs. ac- hievement dimension to the dynamics of rural leadership 5 as to differentiate between the two types of leaders that we have identified. Is Opinion leadership ascriptive and tradition-oriented while community leadership is progres- sive and achievement-oriented? Opinion leaders tend to b l3Talcott Parsons, The Social System, p. 64. n e 0 e 208 older in age, Operate large farms, subscribe to sacred norms, are active participants in community organizations and are innovative. Except the last criterion, namely innovativeness, all other characteristics are conventionally associated with traditional leadership. As Rangnath points out: In the traditional societies where leadership is pri- marily ascriptive rather than functional, maturity in years gives venerable status to individuals. The Older village leaders who behave like patriarchs are elevated to higher pedestals with growing age. In India aged people have always carried a halo around them.14 Lewis, Dhillon, Majumdar and others have shown that elders are active in various traditional organizations, that they sponsor elaborate ritualistic ceremonies, conduct village festivals, mediate on caste disputes and are paid great respect on ceremonial occasions. Traditionally, they are also patrons of the rural community, for they own most of the arable land in the village. These characteristics point to the traditional orientation of opinion leaders. However, the finding that Opinion leaders are innovative poses the crucial question: how can Opinion leaders be at once traditional and innovative? This has.- to be answered with reference to the rapid socio-economic change that is taking place in modern India. Community development and extension, rural industrialization, 14L. P. Vidyarthi, op. cit., p. 270. 209 mechanization of farming, land reforms and similar programs of planned change have generated powerful forces of mod- ernization in rural India. Revolution in transport and communication has spread the norms of modernity far and wide. Above all, the Green Revolution has transformed the farms and the farmers alike. Carroll P. Streeter wrote in his recent report prepared for the Rockefeller Foundation:. No region in the world has come so far so fast with a cereal grain--not even the U.S.A. with all its wealth and its inputs, with its Land-Grant colleges 100 years old, its excellent farm magazines and general agricul- tural SOphistication. Even Mexico, where dwarf wheats have been booming, needed 15 years to do what India, with Mexican help, has done in five. And as Sahay put it: The real revolution is the one that has happened,.not to farming, but to farmers--the revolution of hOpe. It has meant a new concept of self in which the farmer can believe he may fulfill his destiny as a liberated human being. Not only agriculture but also the busi- ness dealing with agriculture has quickened as a result-—and indeed the whole economy has been strengthened.16 All in all, change is so pervasive that tradition-bound leaders fail to meet the rising expectations of people in any community. And the functional perspective tells us that a leader is a leader only so long as he can help the members 15For details see the Rockefeller Foundation report on agricultural production in India, 1970. 16S. Sahay, The "Green Revolution" has Transformed Farmers Too. The Statesman, Calcutta, May 26, 1970. 210 of his own group attain their goals and objectives. Merei's study showed that one-time leaders who were separated from their groups and reintroduced much later failed to lead the groups they previously led until they conformed to the new practices established in their absence. Further, Rogers' Colombian data indicated that in modernizing vil- lages Opinion leaders tend to be innovative because village norms favored social change. Similarly, Opinion leaders in India have Observed the writing on the wall; though Older in age and traditional in their religious orienta- tion, they have come under the impact of technological change; they are slowly emerging out of the cloister of tradition and embracing the technical norms of modernity. At this point in order that we may further clarify our conclusions, we shall make a distinction between sacred norms and technical norms. Sacred norms are associated with what Becker calls "holy values." In the Indian rural context, they concern the caste system and the sacredness of cow. Our opinion leaders subscribe to many of these sacred norms rooted in religious tradition. But moderniz- ing influences have established the superiority or at least the functional validity of several technical norms which are utilitarian in character. Technical norms, with which we are dealing, are concerned with improved agricul- tural practices, better seeds and modern farm impliments. In the wake of Green Revolution and as a result of frequent 211 change-agent contacts, farmers have realized the utilitar- ian value of these technical norms of modernity. Thus our Opinion leaders subscribe to technical norms while they do not as yet deviate from the tradition—centered religious norms. The phenomenon could also be explained in terms of self-orientation vs. collectivity orientation. In the words of Parsons, A role, then may define certain areas of pursuit of private‘interests as legitimate, and in other areas obligate the actor to pursuit of the common interests of the collectivity. The primacy of the former alter- native may be called "self-orientation," that of the latter, "collectivity-orientation."l7 Relating the Parsonian perspective to the phenomenon of opinion leadership we may observe that opinion leaders are innovative not just because they have internalized the emergent norms of modernity, rather they are motivated by self-orientation insofar as acceptance of technical norms facilitates an increase in agricultural production, thereby raising their economic status. Community leaders, on the other hand, tend to be younger in age than Opinion leaders, for we observe no positive relationship between community leadership and age in the multivariate analysis. "Therefore," as Rangnath points out, 17Talcott Parsons, op. cit., p. 60. 212 any move that unfastens the hold.of the village geron— tocracy effects a major shift in the pattern of the traditional authority structure. Now we find that a majority of rural leaders belong to the middle age- group though a considerable number of them belong to the younger age-group also. This indicates that now the villagers have readily accepted the active leader- ship Of the middle and younger age-groups. This is a pointer to the emergence of a healthy and democratic frame of mind of the rural community. The distinct characteristics of community leaders are the possession of large farm, extension agency contact, newspaper exposure, social participation and secular or- ientation. Whereas farm size and social participation are characteristics common to both community leaders and opin- ion leaders, change agency contact, newspaper exposure and secular orientation distinguish the former from the latter. It is quite obvious that these distinct qualities cannot be attributed to ascriptive status. For instance, the very concept of secular orientation is diametrically op- posed to the conception of ascriptive status based on cul- tural certification and religious sanctions. Similarly, the index of newspaper exposure is also an index of exper- tise or competence with emphasis on achievement rather than ascription. Above all, the extent of one's contact with change agents is an indication of one's exposure to the norms of modernity and the high tides of rapid social change. These findings indicate that, unlike opinion 18L. P. Vidyarthi, op. cit., p. 270. 213 leaders who possess several qualities associated with ascriptive status and also share the community's sacred norms, community leaders are typically functional and their orientation is rational, not traditional. Now the question arises: how do we explain the finding that community leaders are secular-oriented, but not innovative? The answer is simple: there is no con- clusive evidence to show that community leaders are not innovative. On the other hand, at the zero order level, the positive relationship between community leadership and. innovativeness is almost as highly significant as that between Opinion leadership and innovativeness. It is only in the multivariate analysis that innovativeness drOps out. yielding place to other intervening variables which are probably better predictors of community leadership. For instance there is every reason to believe that innovative- ness is a function of extension agency contact and news- paper exposure. And a quick glance at the intercorrela- tion matrices (Appendix D) shows that innovativeness is very significantly correlated with all of the three dis- tinct characteristics of community leadership, namely newspaper exposure, secular orientation and extension agency contact. Therefore, the conclusion that community leaders are not innovative is unwarranted; rather we are inclined to believe that the three distinct characteristics which differentiate community leaders from Opinion leaders 214 have an overshadowing effect on the impact of innovative- ness as a predictive variable. Unlike the Opinion leaders who subscribe to the sacred norms based on religious traditions, community leaders tend to break away from the trammels of tradition. Whereas opinion leaders have accepted the technical norms governing agricultural practices they have not abandoned the sacred norms centered on holy values. But community leaders are more liberal in their outlook and have re— jected many of the sacred norms based on tradition. Whereas opinion leaders are self-oriented in their ac- ceptance of technical norms for their utilitarian value, community leaders are collectivity-oriented in their re- jection of sacred norms which discriminate man against man on the basis of untouchability; that is, community leaders do not subscribe to the norms governing caste and untouch- ability but have developed a broader outlook and scientific world-view which enable them to treat all people alike without regard to their caste and communal affiliations. In this sense, the index of secular orientation is also an index of collectivity-orientation, for an individual who does not consider an illiterate Brahmin to be superior to an educated Harijan (a measure of secular orientation) has the bent of mind that dictates the non-"permissibility of his pursuing any interests 'private' to himself as dis- tinguished from those shared with the other members of the 215 collectivity in which he plays a role."19 The community leader, for instance, is the one responsible for initiating and implementing programs for the benefit of the community as a whole and, therefore, has to be oriented to the col- lectivity. The opinion leader, on the other hand, has adopted improved agricultural practices in order to in- crease his own crop yield, to fortify his economic position and also to maintain his leadership status even under the rapidly changing circumstances by adopting the most exped- ient norms of modernity which do not "hurt" his religious feelings: he is essentially self-oriented. In other words, the Opinion leader is conservative, cautious and expedient and he is slowly emerging out of the cocoon of tradition by accepting the most expedient and utilitarian norms of modernity; we call him emergent activist, or conventional leader, for he is emerging as a leader and is active in local community organizations. The community leader, on the other hand, is liberal, open-minded and enthusiastic about the secular law.. We label him as lib- eral activist or progressive leader. In conclusion, a quote from Hans Nagpaul is most appropriate: Modern systems of transport, technology, industrial- ization, mechanization and education of the western type during the last two to three decades have cer- tainly brought some changes in the rural life and the social structure is changing from a relatively closed 19Talcott Parsons, op. cit., p. 60. 216 system ordained by caste hierarchies to a relatively open system governed by secular law. The influence of technological change has set the process of social change in motion and the traditional leadership has begun to change with a shift from an ascribed status system to an achieved status system. The general weakening of the old system has facilitated the emerg- ence of a new leadership structure and has widened the base of leadership. At the same time the develOpment programs have offered tremendous Opportunities to all individuals--irrespective of their caste identifica- tion--to take up leadership roles. This has created a hope that functionally organized leadership will grad- ually emerge as the community development program becomes established as the people's movement. 0 Summagy of Principal Findings and Conclusions We shall now try to recapitulate the major findings of the present study. We have attempted to predict the emergence of leadership in village India and to explain its dynamics in the wake of modernization. Principal findings and conclusions may be summarized as follows: When change affects a large number of communities in villages and when forces of modernization induce rising expectations in the members of a collectivity, leadership of a hereditary kind based on ascribed status, gerontocracy or cultural certification, tends to disappear, and it gradually gravitates into the hands of groups which are a little more advanced in occupation, slightly better placed in regard to economic power or more competent in any of the community's functional arenas. In other words, power 20L. P. Vidyarthi, op. cit., p. 64. 217 under the new conditions of change, tends to gravitate into the hands of those who Operate large farms, maintain connections with government officials, are "learned," change-prone and active in local community organizations. We have distinguished between two types of leaders in rural India: community leaders and opinion leaders. Opinion leaders are informal leaders who are active in the flow of interpersonal influence by disseminating agricul- tural information whereas community leaders are the ac- credited spokesmen for the community who, in consultation with the extension agency, organize and supervise develOp- ment projects in the local community. Farm size, extension agency contact, newspaper exposure, social participation, secular orientation and empathy explain 25 per cent of the variance in community leadership. On the other hand, age, farm size, social participation and innovativeness are the most significant correlates of agricultural opinion leadership. Social participation has emerged as the most sig- nificant correlate of leadership indicating that people tend to choose as their leaders those individuals who are actively involved in the affairs of the community rather than those who possess all the paraphernalia of leadership but are only passive spectators of on-going community ac- tivities. This phenomenon is explained in terms of a new theory--which we have designated as the theory of the 218 structural devolution of power--which postulates that in modernizing village India there is occurring a gradual transfer of power from "potential" leaders to dynamic leaders--from those who only own the conventional re- sources of power to those who also involve themselves actively in the affairs of the community. The functional perspective provides another con— ceptual framework for the explanation of the dynamics of leadership in village India. We have observed that lead— ership is not an innate trait common to all types of lead- ers but a functional relationship specific to community contexts, that is, leaders are picked by people for their valuable contributions toward the attainment of community's goals and objectives. Whereas opinion leaders tend to be older in age and tradition-oriented, community leaders tend to be younger, progressive and change—oriented. Opinion leaders are progressive in their technological orientation but conventional in their value-orientation; they are rational in their self-orientation but traditional in their relig- ious orientation. Community leaders are not only rational and liberal but they are also more collectivity-oriented than opinion leaders. 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