Which of the following characteristics of caste has largely remained unaffected by modernisation and change?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Endogamy
Option (1) Association with traditional occupation — Incorrect. Caste once fixed a person’s occupation by birth, but modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no caste rules, so this link has weakened, though recruitment often still followed caste lines.
Option (2) Hierarchy — Incorrect. The ranking of castes has been challenged by the state and by social reform; modern educated Indians attracted to the liberal ideas of individualism and meritocracy began to abandon the more extreme caste practices.
Option (3) Endogamy — Correct. Endogamy, the practice of marrying within the caste, remained largely unaffected by modernisation and change. It is in the cultural and domestic spheres that caste has proved strongest: even today most marriages take place within caste boundaries, though intercaste marriages have increased.
Option (4) Commensality — Incorrect. Commensality means the caste rules about food and food-sharing: who one may eat with. Urbanisation and collective living in the cities made it difficult for such caste-segregated patterns of interaction to survive.
NCERT (2025-26): “Caste in the Present … Not surprisingly, it was in the cultural and domestic spheres that caste has proved strongest. Endogamy, or the practice of marrying within the caste, remained largely unaffected by modernisation and change. Even today, most marriages take place within caste boundaries, although there are more intercaste marriages. While some boundaries may have become more flexible or porous, the borders between groups of castes of similar socio-economic status are still heavily patrolled.…” |