"Caste,caste conflict and reservations"

The essays in this volume attempt to present a perspective on caste which differs from the current dominant view among sociologists and political scientists that caste is the primary unit of identification and social action. in Indian social structure. These

theorists view caste essentially in terms of purity and pollution, the vahres which according to them have remained unchanged, and, therefore, notwithstanding the changes in economic and political structure, the caste system persists without changing its basic characteristics; in fact, for them the caste system constitutes a major part of the economic and political sructure. In the essays presented in this volume contributors have rejected the above formulation of caste which can be broadly characterised as the structural functionalist or cultural deterministic, though none of us can ignore the role of culture in social and political behaviour. In spite of this common premise, in these essays there are shifts in emphasis in the approaches from which the same order of realit is viewed, and as the essays in this volume will show, we also have differences regarding the nature of the caste and the role it plays in contemporary India.

The purpose of this volume is to circulate some of the papers among a wider audience with a view to start a debate on the issues dealt with and to continue the process of re-examination of the social reality.