Which of the following are arguments given by Alfred Gell to explain the significance of market beyond its economic function?
(A) Layout of the market symbolises the hierarchical inter-group social relations of that region.
(B) Few goods are free in the market for groups lower in the hierarchy.
(C) Different social groups are located according to their position in the caste hierarchy and hierarchical market system.
(D) Interactions between tribals and non-tribal traders are based on social inequalities.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (A), (C) and (D) only
(A) Layout of the market symbolises the hierarchical inter-group social relations of that region. Correct. According to Alfred Gell, who studied the market village of Dhorai in Bastar, the market has significance much beyond its economic functions. For example, the layout of the market symbolises the hierarchical inter-group social relations of the region.
(B) Few goods are free in the market for groups lower in the hierarchy. Incorrect. Gell spoke of the kinds of goods bought and sold as expressing the quality of social relations; he did not say that any goods were given free to lower groups. In Dhorai the adivasis earn cash and spend it in the market on trinkets, jewellery and cloth.
(C) Different social groups are located according to their position in the caste hierarchy and hierarchical market system. Correct. Groups are located according to their position in the caste and social hierarchy as well as in the market system: the high-ranking Rajput jeweller and middle-ranking Hindu traders sit in the central zones, the tribal sellers of vegetables and local wares in the outer circles.
(D) Interactions between tribals and non-tribal traders are based on social inequalities. Correct. Interactions between tribals and non-tribal traders are very different from those among Hindus of the same community: they express hierarchy and social distance rather than social equality.
Note: The paragraph on Alfred Gell’s reading of the Dhorai market, in the chapter ‘The Market as a Social Institution’, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT. It had already been cut in the 2023-24 NCERT, which NTA followed in 2024, and is not in the NCERT book (2025-26), which keeps only Box 4.1, ‘An Adivasi Village Market in Bastar’, with Gell’s description of the market; the chapter is still there.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.1 Sociological Perspectives on Markets … The weekly market as a social institution, the links between the local tribal economy and the outside, and the exploitative economic relationships between adivasis and others, are illustrated by a study of a weekly market in Bastar district. This district is populated mainly by Gonds, an adivasi group. At the weekly market, you find local people, including tribals and non-tribals (mostly Hindus), as well as outsiders – mainly Hindu traders of various castes. Forest officials also come to the market to conduct business with adivasis who work for the Forest Department, and the market attracts a variety of specialists selling their goods and services. The major goods that are exchanged in the market are manufactured goods (such as jewellery and trinkets, pots and knives), non-local foods (such as salt and haldi (turmeric)), local food and agricultural produce and manufactured items (such as bamboo baskets), and forest produce (such as tamarind and oil-seeds). The forest produce that is brought by the adivasis is purchased by traders who carry it to towns. In the market, the buyers are mostly adivasis while the sellers are mainly caste Hindus. Adivasis earn cash from the sale of forest and agricultural produce and from wage labour, which they spend in the market mainly on low-value trinkets and jewellery, and consumption items such as manufactured cloth.” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “…According to Alfred Gell (1982), the anthropologist who studied Dhorai, the market has significance much beyond its economic functions. For example, the layout of the market symbolises the hierarchical inter-group social relations in this region. Different social groups are located according to their position in the caste and social hierarchy as well as in the market system. The wealthy and high-ranking Rajput jeweller and the middle-ranking local Hindu traders sit in the central ‘zones’, and the tribal sellers of vegetables and local wares in the outer circles. The quality of social relations is expressed in the kinds of goods that are bought and sold, and the way in which transactions are carried out. For instance, interactions between tribals and non-tribal traders are very different than those between Hindus of the same community: they express hierarchy and social distance rather than social equality.” |