SOC 171A

Connection Paper
T-shirts and tumblers: Caste, dependency and work under neoliberalisation
in south India
- Grace Carswell and Geert De Neve
Name-Keshav Verma
Roll No- 150329

Section 1:
The main argument of the paper is that The processes of industrial
neoliberalisation do not lead to linear transformations in caste relations and social
inequalities. (Grace and Geert 103). The argument is supported by the
difference in changes that took place in Allapuram and Mannapalayam due to
industrial setup in Trippur.
The first question to ask is, What is Neoliberalisation [1]? It is the process that
transfers economic control to Private Sector from Public Sector. Now, if an
Industry is a setup in a town, the villages around this town should undergo
similar transformations theoretically. But, the relevance and meaning of caste
are transformed is uneven, depending on how particular localities are integrated
into wider institutional regimes of power and rule. (Grace and Greet 103). The
implications drawn from the paper is that the transformation of caste varies
depending upon the integration of localities with institutional regimes of power
and rule.

Sociological Background-Tiruppur industrial cluster in Tamil Nadu, India of the

late 1990s. The paper brings ethnography of villages Allapuram and
Mannapalayam, located on the edge of the Tiruppur garment region. T-Shirts
symbolise Garment factory of Tiruppur (which gave new employment
opportunities) and Tumbler is used a marker to show caste inequality and
discrimination (difference in tumblers used for tea serving to high and low caste).

Section 2:
Social Mobility: The movement of individual, family or society within different
social status. The movement of people from their village to work at garment
industry brought about different social mobility.
Horizontal Mobility (Ritzer 2008:27): Movement from one position to
another within same social status. E.g. An agricultural labour in
 Mannapalayam migrates to Allapuram and there also he is involved in same
work.
Vertical Mobility (Ritzer 2008:27): It is the change in social status
(wealth, occupation, marital status etc.) whether it is upward or downwards.
E.g. Gounders of Mannapalayam starting power loom industries and
making exports. Here their wealth, as well as occupation both, moved
upwards which is a vertical mobility.
Inter-generational Mobility (Ritzer 2008:27): Changes in families social
status between two generations. E.g. The older people in Allapuram are
involved in agricultural work (which gives them 100/day) and the
younger people took jobs in Tiruppur garment industry (which gives them
180/day). Thus, we can see a change social status of two generations.
Intra-generational Mobility (Ritzer 2008:27): Changes in a persons
social status during his life. Lets take the example of Shanmugan, a 26-
year old Mathari who started his job as a power loom work in 1996, and
later went to Tiruppur and worked as a helper of a tailor. But then he took
up a government training and became a singer tailor. But he was not good
at his work and lost his job and became a helper of tailor again. Thus, the
change in social status during his life is an intragenerational social mobility.
Occupational Mobility (Ritzer 2008:27): involves changes in peoples
work either across or within generations. E.g. The agricultural workers of
Allapuram going to Tiruppur Garment Industry for Tailoring work. Thus,
the change in their occupation from agricultural to tailoring is an
Occupational Mobility.
Structural Mobility (Ritzer 2008:28): The effect of changes in the larger
society on the position of individuals in the stratification system, especially
the occupational structure. E.g. Neo-liberalisation leading to the
establishment of Garment Industries in Tiruppur. The Gounders and the
local Dalits get the same opportunity which raises the status of Dalits and
narrowed the gap between the two. This led to change in the social
stratification of the people, where now people are ranked on the basis of
their skills instead of their caste as it was earlier.
Parton-Client Relation (Ritzer 2008:37):
In Allapuram: The dominant caste was a land owning Gounders. The
Dalits (Adi Christian and Matharis) were involved in agricultural coolie
work under the Gounders. With the establishment of Garment Industry, the
Adi Dravida Christian started work as a helper in Industry and later on
gaining experience they become a tailor and some become contractors.
Whereas some of the gounders were working as a helper. The
 Patron(Gounder)-Client(Dalits) relation changed. The governing caste and
wealth factors were overshadowed by new skill factor.
In Mannapalayam: Here also the dominant castes were the Gounders and
Dalits (Matharis and migrant SCs) were the patrons. The Gounders started
power loom and employed the Dalits as power loom operator and cone
winder. They give them(Dalits) huge advances and bound them in debt.
Though the wealth of the Dalits increased as they were paid more at power
looms, but their status remained the same.

Ageism: systematic stereotyping and discrimination against the old people. The
older people were unable to find a job in the garment industry and have to rely on
agricultural work or on the incomes of son/daughter working in the garment
industry.

Section 3:

I come from Singrauli (M.P), headquarter of NCL (Northern Coalfields

Limited). Earlier NCL used to be a government company but liberalisation led
to the privatisation of the company and a lot of people from all around the
country started to come here. Presently, the company have people from all
most all part of the country. The workers include Brahmins (from Rewa
district) and Kshatriya (from North MP), Backward Classes (from UP and
Bihar), SCs and STs (from Jharkhand). The workers of same grade (ranking of
people based on the type of they are involved in) have a very good relation
among them. They eat lunch together, visit each other houses and attend
others functions. It seems like caste difference is no longer a parameter of
judgement here. But when it comes to marriage then the higher caste workers
do not want to marry a lower caste worker of the same grade. The
liberalisation has given every caste equal opportunity and therefore it is
expected that caste disparity will be wiped out equally. But in reality, the
change varies unevenly depending upon different contexts.

The paper broadens our thinking of seeing the caste transformation taking
place. We cant just simply jump to a conclusion by looking at one locality or
context. We should look at all other localities undergoing a transformation.

So now if we look at the same context that why the higher caste is hesitant to
marry a lower caste then we can get an answer. When a marriage is concerned
then it is not only the view of individual or his parent is considered. Rather the
whole community is involved in it and everyone in that community hasn't
 undergone the same transformation. Thus, they do not support inter-caste
marriage as it will be opposed by the community.

Citation and Bibliography:

[1] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/neoliberalism.asp
Ritzer 2008 textbook.
Classroom notes.
T-shirts and tumblers: Caste, dependency and work under neoliberalisation
in south India (by Grace Carswell and Geert De Neve)