Social Stratification and Power Politics in

Bangladesh
Historical Observation

Deeply associated with religion and culture than

economy
The basic principles of caste system
Purity/pollution
Commensality
Endogamy
Hereditary occupation

Indian Subcontinent
In ancient India
Aryans
Non Aryans
Later
Brahmans
Ksatriyas
Vaisyas
Sudra

In Bengal

Brahmans (related to religious purpose, elite and superior)

Non-Brahmans
Were broadly divided into three hierarchical categories:
Superior admixture-
Included twenty sub-castes, including karan or kayastha (writer),
ambastha or baidya (traditional physician), tanti (weavers), ugra
(warrior) and others

Medium admixture
Included twelve sub-castes like swarnakar (goldsmith), dhibor
(fishermen) etc

Inferior admixture
Included nine sub-castes like chandals (persons cremating
corpses), chamar (cobblers) and others.
Members of the last category were the untouchables.

Muslim Social Stratification

Some British colonial administrators first pointed out that the

Muslim social stratification in Bengal was patterned after the
Hindu Caste System
Jat
What was a caste of a convert before became jat after
conversion. Caste (barna) and jat carried the same meaning
from social point of view.

James Wise identified eighty such castes or social groups

among the Muslims in the late nineteenth century, while Gait
found only three.
The three broad clusters included

Ashraf or higher class Muslims

Ajlaf or lower class Muslims and
Arzal or the degraded classes

The first cluster consisted of Sayed, Sheikh, Pathan and

Mughal, while the next two incorporated as many as fifty
occupational castes.
Differences from Hindu caste system
Endogamy- or intra-caste marriage was followed among Muslims

Social Mobility-It was possible for a lower caste Muslim to move into the
higher position. Such mobility was largely propelled by the accumulation of
wealth.
Origin- According to Hindu religious myth, the four castes originated from
the four different parts of Brahman, the supreme lord. It was also imagined
that the Brahman caste originated from the head, while the Sudra, the lowest
caste from the feet. On the contrary, Islam did not offer any such
interpretation on the origin of caste

Sharafati
The flexibility of Muslim social stratification derived its dynamics from a
different ideological pattern known as sharafati. It alluded to the so-called
noble background of a person. It was more to do with one's pedigree than
any deep religious ideology like Hindu caste system

Agrarian Stratification
Rural Stratification
Agrarian structure played the most important role from an earlier
period in the making of social stratification what gradually
assumed the present status
Zamindars or the revenue collectors
The most powerful class in the agrarian structure since the pre-
colonial time in Bengal
Madhyasvatvas or pattanidari / intermediate rent collector
Created different kinds of layers
Jotedar, Gantidar, Howladar, or Talukdar, or Bhuiyan etc
Emergence of different land tenures was the emergence of a
highly stratified society based on land rights. Higher the land
right and land control higher was the social status of the tenure-
holder.
Urban
City dwellers-rich Zamindars,Administrators,Merchants(baniyas)

Colonial Era
Rural Stratification
Emergence of rich/proto-capitalist peasant class
The market integration of Bengal agriculture with the global economy
particularly with the onset of INDIGO and JUTE cultivation
The growing capitalization facilitated the emergence of agricultural
wage workers.
The social stratification pattern that emerged during the colonial time
comprised
The superior landed class
Landed intermediaries with several layers
Rich peasants/ proto-capitalists
Poor peasants/ sharecroppers
Agricultural working class
(coming from the landless and marginal peasants)

Urban Stratification

Bhadralok- gentlemen class consisted of educated professionals

(lawyers, teachers, doctors, engineers, service holders and others)
emerged in urban Bengal reaping the benefits from the new
educational and occupational opportunities.

After Partition Era

Created a vacuum (as Zamindars were mostly from Hinduism)
Muslim traditional wealthy class linked to agriculture came to
occupy that vacuum
Muslim Middle Class
Era of Capitalist development
The process of capitalist development during the Pakistan period was not
strong enough to produce a differentiated society. The dependent capitalism
always hindered the emergence of a capitalist social order noticed in the
industrial West comprising bourgeoisie, white collars, and blue collars.
Instead, the comprador bourgeoisie, surrogate middle class, and lumpen
proletariat occupied the social space in urban areas.

The following agrarian classes and groups constituted the rural society with
hierarchical status and prestige: capitalist farmers, rich peasants, middle
peasants, marginal peasants and the landless.

The effect of 'pauperisation', the process that results in the emergence of

landless households without adequate employment, is found quite significant
in rural Bangladesh. In rural stratification there are other traditional groups
such as KAMARS (blacksmiths), SWARNAKARS (goldsmiths),
sweepers, TANTIS (weavers), KALUS (oil pressers, and others who enjoy
minimum status.

Stratification based on Economic Status

Rural Stratification

Surplus household
Deficit household

Factors
Market forces, demographic forces, inheritance laws, household
splitting are some of the important factors causing such mobility.

Samaj or Community (less applicable now)

Khandani gushti or lineage status (little applicable)
Patron-client relationship between rich and poor (more applicable)
 In matrimonial relationship, the rich prefer the rich

 The differences in social stratification are interpreted by the

differences in material prosperity. Lavish living and extravagant
expenses indicate one's wealth accompanied by status and power.

 However, upper strata are gradually becoming educated, and a

social difference between the educated and non-educated is
emerging. Gradually, a bhadralok class may also appear in the
countryside with a distinct lifestyle based on modern education,
etiquette and culture.
Urban Stratification

Cosmopolitanism has come to shape the nature of social

stratification of the community living in large cities (Dhaka,
Chattogram, Khulna)

Modern classes like corporate executives, civil bureaucrats,

professionals, intellectuals, art workers, industrialists and
businessmen emerged in the urban areas
 Business people command wealth and subsequently social status.
There is a very close association between social status and
power. The business people significantly control politics.
 However, all politically powerful people do not enjoy social status
in the eyes of the common people.
 Educated people enjoy a fair social status despite the fact that
they are not always rich.
 The person who can successfully combine wealth and education
surpasses others in terms of enjoying social status. Artists in
different branches of art also enjoy status.
 Social status enjoyed by the wealthy and the educated are not
always very clearly distinguishable.