Social Stratification in Mizo Society

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Social stratification is a development through which groups and social categories in societies are ranked as higher or lower to one another. It is almost present in every society all over the world. Although social stratification is changing due to impact of modernisation, technological innovations, political empowerment etc, it exists mostly in the form of caste. A number of studies of social stratification, ranking systems and class formation among the tribes all over the world have reported absence of social differentiation in tribal societies. It is indeed a fact that there is no caste system among the tribal's including the Mizo tribes in India, yet social stratification exists in the past and in the contemporary Mizo society. In this context, the present book 'Social Stratification in Mizo Society' made an in-depth study of social differences in the context of Mizo society.

ANDREW H. VANLALDIKA (b. 1970) completed his graduation with Honours in Sociology from St Edmunds' College, Shillong in 1989 He obtained his MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Sociology subject from North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya State. He entered to Mizoram Civil Services (MCS) in 2003 and served under Mizoram Govemment in various capacities likes Assistant to Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Assistant Controller of Printing & Stationeries (ACPS), Block Development Officer (BDO) and Election Officer (EO) in different places in Mizoram. Presently, he is posted as District Civil Supply Officer (DCSO), Lunglei District, Lunglei to look after public distribution system of foodstuffs and essential commodities. He is also designated as District Consumer Protection Officer (DCPO) and Member Secretary of District Consumer Protection Council. As such other duties and tasks assigned to him is to protect consumer rights to the fullest within Lunglei District. He is efficient and competent to the discharge of his duties and responsibilities with dedication and professional commitment. Besides his professional commitment he is actively involved in social activities particularly for the betterment and welfare of the people in Mizoram.

Social stratification is a notion in which groups and social categories in societies are ranked as higher or lower to one another in terms of their relative position on the scales of prestige, privileges, wealth and power. Specifically, social stratification means a system of ranked statuses by which the members of a society are placed in higher and lower positions. Certain variables such as property, income, wealth, occupation, education and ethnicity determine a basis for social ranking. It is also defined as long-standing inequalities in power, wealth and status between groups within a single society. These groups are typically separated into classes or castes, but may also extend to ethnic separation. Inequalities based on personal qualities like intelligence or kindness does not establish stratification. Placement into a social hierarchy is dependent on an individual's access to valued resources. Stratification is a system where groups are treated differently based on their social characteristics such as societal roles or social status. Social stratification is based on four basic principles: (1) Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences; (2) Social stratification carries over from generation to generation; (3) Social stratification is universal but variable; (4) Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well. In modern Western societies, stratification is broadly organized into three main layers: upper class, middle class, and lower class. Each of these classes can be further subdivided into smaller classes (e.g. occupational). These categories are not particular to state-based societies as distinguished from feudal societies composed of nobility-to-peasant relations. Stratification may also be defined by kinship ties or castes. For Max Weber, social class pertaining broadly to material wealth is distinguished from status class which is based on such variables as honor, prestige and religious affiliation. Talcott Parsons argued that the forces of societal differentiation and the following pattern of institutionalized individualization would strongly diminish the role of class (as a major stratification factor) as social evolution went along. It is debatable whether the earliest hunter-gatherer groups may be defined as 'stratified, or if such differentials began with agriculture and broad acts of exchange between groups. One of the ongoing issues in determining social stratification arises from the point that status inequalities between individuals are common, so it becomes a quantitative issue to determine how much inequality qualifies as stratification.

Parsons never claimed that universal values in and by themselves "satisfied the functional prerequisites of a society, indeed, the constitution of society was a much more complicated codification of emerging historical factors. The so-called conflict theories, such as Marxism, point to the inaccessibility of resources and lack of social mobility found in stratified societies. Many sociological theorists have criticized the extent to which the working classes are unlikely to advance socio-economically; the wealthy tend to hold political power which they use to exploit the proletariat intergenerational. Theorists such as Ralf Dahrendorf, however, have noted the tendency toward an enlarged middle-class in modern Western societies due to the necessity of an educated workforce in technological and service economies. Various social and political perspectives concerning globalization, such as dependency theory, suggest that these effects are due to the change of workers to the third world. Social stratification exists in almost every society.

In Indian context, caste is prime example of a status group. Class, on the other hand, is based on the principle where groups are ranked on their access to wealth or their relative ability to have a control upon the wealth resources in society. Several studies of social stratification, ranking systems and class formation among the tribes all over the world have reported absence of social differentiation in tribal societies including India. It is indeed, a fact that there is no caste system among the tribal's including the Mizo tribes in India. However, there has been existence of social stratification in the past and present Mizo society. This study will be the first empirical research to enquire on social stratification amongst the Mizos. In other words, the present study is an attempt to study the existence of inequalities and the process of social stratification amongst the Mizos from a systematic sociological perspective.