Caste tribe and exploitation: exploration of inequality at village level

Inequality is both structural and
processual. The author argues that
exploitation is in-built in any scheme
of social stratification. Besides dif-
ferentiation of age-sets, sex, class,
and kin, inequality is also based on
the distributive system of power.
Obviously power differentiation re-
sults in the exploitation of sub-ordi-
nate groups, the wretched of the earth
by the high castes, propertied
classes, and the elites.
The powerful argument made by the
author is that the feudal mode of
production in the erstwhile princely
states in the past was the major
source of societal inequality and
exploitation. In fact, the whole sys-
tem of exploitation and stratification
was sub-ordinate to the feudal mode
of production. In the present, the
development action of government,
particularly in the villages, is respon-
sible for increase in social inequali-
ties. The author's hypothesis runs
more the development; greater is the
exploitation. In the process of deve-
lopment, however, the lower castes
have not lagged behind in exploiting
the higher castes.