PSYCHOLOGY IN INDIA

ASSIGNMENT

1. Summarise the theories linking culture and psychology. (500 words)

2. Does 'caste' operates as a cultural tool to make Indian society hierarchical? Substantiate your
arguments with inputs from the article 'The inner experiences of caste'. Present one or two
supporting evidences from the present Indian society. (500 words)

1. When psychology emerged as a discipline separate from physiology and philosophy there
was a notion to incorporate culture. It came as a natural science and adopted an
individualistic and reductionist approach. In 1990’s there were attempts to revive cultural
psychology which led to the formulation of the following seven theories that link culture and
psychology.

I) Individualism – Collectivism theory

The researchers Hazel Markus and Shinobi Kittayama have studied how an individual’s cultural
background affects how they view themselves. People from individualistic cultures are more likely
to have an independent view of themselves (they see themselves as separate from others, define
themselves based on their personal traits, and see their characteristics as relatively stable and
unchanging). On the other hand, people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to have
an interdependent view of themselves (they see themselves as connected to others, define
themselves in terms of relationships with others, and see their characteristics as more likely to
change across different contexts) While individualism/collectivism can be measured in any culture,
much of the research so far has been conducted on East Asian and Western cultures. Researchers
have found that Western cultures tend to be more individualistic while East Asian cultures tend to
be more collectivistic. However, it’s important to remember that many factors can influence
individualism/collectivism, so individuals within a culture can also differ in their levels of
independence/interdependence.

ii) Ecological systems theory

The ecological model developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner suggests an evolving systematic process of
interaction between the human organism and the environment of psychological development.
People are nested with an environment at five different levels namely- the microsystem, the
mesosystem, the ecosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. Also, recent advances
suggest that all children and adults try to make sense of their lives and need love, acceptance.

iii) Culture as caste

the cultural anthropologist John ogbu through his text proposes a cultural- ecological theory in
which individual competence is defined not in universal terms but within cultural and historical
contexts in which they develop. Through his theory he tried to explain how stratification (caste
system) affects our psyche, the way we perceive it and how we mobilize within it.

iv) Social identity theory

Social identity theorists John Berry, Marilynn Brewer and Henri Tajfel stated through their text a
social identity which proposes that a person’s sense of who they are depends on the groups to which
they belong. They engage in categorization and recategorization. It is conducted is the context of
their identities associated with their affiliated groups. And these determine their psychological
development.

v) Socio-cultural theory

this theory as put forward by Lev Vygotsky stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the
development of cognition, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process
of "making meaning." It suggests that an individual is the outcome of the interaction of its society
and cultural tools and these two things formulate activities which lead to alteration and formation of
cognitive schemas.

vi) Social Capital theory

Pierre Bourdieu’s theory explains capital as a means of production. i.e. social capital producing
something out of social-connection which is convertible (social connection- social capital). Which in
turn forms a cultural capital i.e. cultural knowledge, education and cultural skills. He also states
three types of capital: social, cultural and economic capital. More capital means a more functional
individual which means more success.

vii) Multiple world theories

The educational anthropologists Patricia Phelan, Ann Locke Davidson, and Hanh Cao you proposed
that like in quantum physics multiple worlds also exist in culture , the cultural knowledge and
behaviour found in families , peer groups , students etc. and these worlds contain our values, beliefs,
expectations, actions etc. and how we mobilize within and between cultures form our cultural
groups and social groups.

2. Caste also referred to as ‘jaati’ in kakar’s text proposes a lot of interesting insights into how life is
rules by culture and society is nothing but merely a hierarchal composition of this cultural practice.
Kakar begins his text by mentioning the very order in which the society of Hindus work where based
on caste in order of superiority to inferior we have- brahmin, kshatriya, Vaishya and shudra. This
classification is used till present to allocate a person in the wider social space.

Caste defines one’s social relations and occupational specialization. The hierarchical order of these
three thousand castes is not static although the top of the caste always tend to remain on the
pecking order. We usually find people marrying in the same caste or sub caste, people befriending
people of the same jaati but this has always been an unsaid law that has been followed for
centuries. And this restriction of staying inside the caste is the second pillar of caste system. The
knowledge of one’s caste, aspirations and apprehensions however enrich his identity formation
understanding because growing in a caste system- well that is somewhat mandatory.

If marriage and kinship are its body then hierarchy is the soul of caste. the ranking of a particular
individual in the caste leads to his degree of narcissism which work according to the criteria of purity
vs pollution. The people who tend to engage in occupation that put the person in touch with death
or bodily substances he/ she is considered polluted and this order a brahmin is considered an
abundance of purity. The preoccupation of the caste system with high and low has been associated
with suffering and humiliation for several millions through centuries.

No religious movement that opposed to caste has been successful in the long run. The notion of
relating caste with purity and pollution includes dirt and leads to discrimination. In the light of which
many people tend to convert to a more accepted caste just to escape this discrimination. However,
the most famous conversion of Ambedkar to Buddhism is an example of such caste’s attempts to
escape this discriminatory practice. The legendary case of Harijans (untouchables) and Gandhi’s fight
to provide them with acceptance is an example. Vigorous social and political organizations since
then as a process of urbanization, have considerably mitigated the horrors of untouchability. Alan
dundes also postulated that in a hindu mind the untouchable is intimately associated with faeces
and the hindu horror of faeces , instilled by culture’s toilet training is the cause for the persistence of
untouchability. This suggests in the language of psychological experience that to be pure is to be
clean while to be polluted is to be dirty. For an upper-caste caste, a dalit is a member of a group
that is permanently and irrevocably dirty.

For a larger part , accepting food and water from an untouchable was and remains the surest way of
losing one’s caste status. There is a powerful psychological association between untocubalitlity and
faeces even when the taboo around body openings does not exist in india than in west. A relatively
neglected aspect of the psychological sources of this caste and untouchability also talks about the
concept of fair skinned and dark skinned and the way people with dark skinned are perceived to be
dirty and unreliable and low in caste whereas fair skinned have the exact opposite status. Yet
somehow this caste system is not considered the most immediate cause for action or change.

Today the urban middle class are all worried about is their children’s admission to schools and good
education for them and a safe future.

Some examples of this caste being practiced even today was something we saw in the documentary
wherein children who were poor were associated with all the concepts of untouchability and dark
skinned whereas the higher economic status children enjoy the status of brahmins. This caste system
has in short taken an economic wave and now feed more on the economic status of the individual
while keeping their social status on the side-lines.

Aishwarya garg

Skp162e0390

B.A.(Hons) Psychology