Abstract
Abstract The following article seeks to establish caste groups in India as Weberian status groups. Dumont and Weber’s understanding of caste, while partially correct in this area, sought to establish caste as uniquely Indian, through their orientalist leanings. The Brahmin caste was seen by most orientalists as being an exclusive group of ascetic priests who headed Hindu society. By attempting to demonstrate the political and economic factors behind their dominance, the author here seeks to de-exoticize these assumptions, and calls for the term caste to be replaced by status. This will allow us to compare endogamous caste groups or jatis in India with status groups in premodern and modern complex societies all over the world.
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