The Indian stratification debate: A discursive exposition of problems and issues in the analysis of class, caste and gender

Conclusion

In order to analyze the interrelationships between class, caste and gender, it is essential to analyze the relationship between anthropology and political economy. In non-Marxist anthropology, elitism, cultural relativism, and evolutionism are still influential. The tension in Barrington Moore between a materialist and idealist view of the class/caste relationship is finally resolved in favor of idealism. Moore's idealism sharply contrasts with much contemporary work on peasant struggles in India, in which the peasants are no longer denied access to the historical stage. This shift in focus to the oppressed is only partially reflected in the field of gender, caste and class. While some work on gender, caste and class is both evolutionary and elitist in focus, the emphasis is now changing,¹ and giving way to a more critical historical materialist perspective in which the historical subject is not permanently and inexorably relegated to the wings.²