Question
Which of the following institutions provides the structural link between caste and gender in kinship in India?
The correct answer is
Marriage
Understanding Caste, Gender, and Kinship Links in India
The question asks to identify the institution that structurally connects caste, gender, and kinship in Indian society.
Analyzing the Options
- Panchayat: This is a village-level administrative or political body. While it can enforce social norms, it's not the primary institution defining the structural links between caste, gender, and kinship.
- Class: Class refers to socio-economic stratification. While class intersects with caste and gender, it doesn't serve as the fundamental structural link within kinship systems in the same way.
- Household: The household is a crucial unit for kinship and daily life, where gender roles are performed and caste norms are often maintained. However, the structure of the household itself is largely determined by marriage rules and kinship obligations.
- Marriage: Marriage is the key institution that establishes formal ties between individuals and families, defining descent, alliance, and social status. In India, marriage practices are heavily influenced by caste rules (like endogamy - marrying within one's caste) and define gender roles and hierarchies within the new kinship structure. Therefore, marriage acts as the central structural link connecting caste, gender, and kinship.
Conclusion
Marriage directly regulates relationships based on caste background and establishes gendered roles and expectations within the resulting kinship network. This makes it the institution providing the core structural link.
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Important Questions from Indian Family, Marriage & Kinship
- Who developed the concept of ‘seed and earth' as a way to understand the gendered division of labour and cultural construction of gender?
- Which of the following option(s) is/are CORRECT?
- Flavia Agnes (2013) writes, “Despite all the positive impact of the campaign revolving it, the Delhi gang rape incident does not foreground the different types of violations that take place in our society. Rather, it reinforces the popular perception that rape takes place in lonely places, late at night, by strangers and that rapists are brutes or psychopaths who deserve to be hanged. But most rapes take place in the privacy of our homes, in our schools. Rapes by family members are seldom reported."
From the above excerpt, which of the following statement(s) is/are CORRECT?
i. Progressive mobilisations protesting violence against women can themselves reproduce patriarchy
ii. Contrary to popular perception, sexual violence against women happens only in the privacy of our homes
iii. According to popular perception, rapists are brutes or psychopaths Patriliny is a kinship term that refers to_________.
- Which of the following author(s) highlighted the connection between kinship terminology and kinship structure in India?
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