Status and Sacredness: A General Theory of Status Relations and an Analysis of Indian Culture

Contents......Page 12
A Note on Foreign Words......Page 16
Contemporary Social Theory......Page 20
A Theoretical Strategy......Page 23
Types of Resources and Types of Social Structures......Page 24
Symbolic Capital......Page 25
Status, Legitimacy, and Sacredness......Page 28
Imagining India......Page 29
Status, Sacredness, and the Modern World......Page 31
Symbols, Agency, Contingency, and Structure......Page 35
Social Formations......Page 37
Types of Power and Types of Social Formations......Page 39
Variations in the Importance of Resources......Page 45
The Characteristics of Status as a Resource......Page 46
The Sources of Status......Page 52
Summary......Page 58
Hinduism: A Brief Sketch......Page 59
Caste and the Social Structure......Page 63
Economic and Political Power: Control of Land and Labor......Page 65
Cultural Ideologies and Codes......Page 67
What Is to Be Explained......Page 69
Status and Power in India......Page 70
Stability and Inalienability......Page 71
Mobility and Inexpansibility......Page 73
Conformity and the Elaboration of Norms and Rituals......Page 75
Associations and the Regulation of Marriage and Eating......Page 77
Gifts: Articulating Status and Material Resources......Page 78
What Is to Be Explained......Page 80
Relationships Between the Different Types of Power......Page 81
Types of Elites and Their Antagonists: A General Model......Page 82
Applying the Model to India......Page 84
The Genius of the Brahmans......Page 85
Kshatriyas and Sudras......Page 87
Missing Categories......Page 88
Ambiguous Categories......Page 89
The Presence and Absence of Varnas......Page 93
Elaboration: Asramas and Yugas......Page 95
Conclusion......Page 96
The Analytical Problem......Page 97
The Concept of Legitimacy......Page 98
Legitimacy as Conformity: Rajadharma......Page 99
Alternative Coalitions: A Model......Page 100
Kings and Gifts......Page 101
The Jajmani System......Page 105
Conclusion and Caveat......Page 112
Primary and Countervailing Patterns......Page 114
The Objectification of Conformity and Associations......Page 115
Agency, Contingency, and the Manipulation of Language......Page 119
The Social Sources of Contingency......Page 121
Codes......Page 123
Methodological and Theoretical Considerations......Page 125
What Is to Be Explained......Page 126
Purity and Impurity......Page 127
Sexuality and Asceticism......Page 132
The Structural Sources of Tantrism: A Postscript......Page 138
Auspiciousness and Inauspiciousness......Page 141
Social Sources of Contingency in India......Page 143
Factors and Omens......Page 146
The Dialectic of Agency and Contingency......Page 148
Power, Legitimacy, Auspiciousness, and Purity......Page 152
Conclusions......Page 154
The Phenomena to Be Explained......Page 160
Theoretical and Methodological Considerations......Page 162
A General Theory of Status Alliances......Page 163
Alternative Responses: Hypergamy and Exchange Marriages......Page 166
Hypergamy......Page 167
Upper Castes in the South......Page 172
Intermediate Patterns: Handling Contradictions......Page 174
Alliances in Lower and Middle Castes......Page 177
Conclusion......Page 178
Status and Sacredness......Page 180
Sacredness and Power......Page 181
Types of Relationships to the Supernatural......Page 183
Congruent and Incongruent Relationships......Page 185
The Sacred as the Realm of Reversals and Compensation......Page 186
The Focus of What Follows......Page 187
Worship as a Status Process......Page 189
Purity, Pollution, and Sacral Status: A Preliminary......Page 191
The Fundamental Elements of Puja......Page 192
Christian Worship......Page 198
A Note on Sacrifice, Prayer, and Preaching......Page 199
The Relationship Between Social and Sacred Models......Page 200
Differences in Formality: Elaboration and Reversal......Page 202
The Limits of the Analysis......Page 204
Status Attainment in the World-to-Come......Page 206
Hindu Soteriologies......Page 207
Christian Soteriology: A Brief Analysis......Page 219
15. Eschatology......Page 221
Hinduism and the Caste System......Page 222
Contemporary Religious Movements......Page 226
The Complexities of Alternative and Counter-Structures......Page 228
Generalizations and Qualifications......Page 231
Christian Eschatology and Social Structure......Page 232
The Question of Why......Page 238
Compensation Theory Reconsidered: A Postscript......Page 240
Appendix: A Note on the Sociology of Religious Ideology......Page 242
Some Limitations......Page 245
A Retrospect......Page 246
Appendix: Theoretical Implications and Possibilities......Page 254
A......Page 260
B......Page 261
C......Page 262
D......Page 263
I......Page 264
K......Page 265
M......Page 266
P......Page 267
S......Page 269
U......Page 270
Y......Page 271
Notes......Page 274
Bibliography......Page 320
A......Page 341
C......Page 342
E......Page 344
H......Page 345
K......Page 346
M......Page 347
P......Page 348
R......Page 349
S......Page 350
T......Page 351
W......Page 352
Z......Page 353