Status and Sacredness: A General Theory of Status Relations and an Analysis of Indian CultureStatus and Sacredness provides a new theory of status and sacral relationships and a provocative reinterpretation of the Indian caste system and Hinduism. Milner shows how in India and many other social contexts status is a key resource, and that sacredness can be usefully understood as a special form of status. By analyzing the nature of this resource Milner is able to provide powerful explanations of the key features of the social structure, culture, and religion. He argues against the widely held view that the Indian caste system is best understood as a unique cultural development, demonstrating that many of the seemingly exotic features are variations on themes common to other societies. Milner's analysis is rooted in a new theoretical framework called "resource structuralism" that helps to clarify the nature and significance of power and symbolic capital. The book thus provides a bold new analysis of India, an innovative approach to the analysis of religion, and an important contribution to social theory. |
Contents
| 3 | |
2 Theoretical Concepts | 18 |
Key Elements | 29 |
What Is to Be Explained | 42 |
5 Explaining the Key Features of Caste | 53 |
6 The Social Categories of Traditional India | 63 |
Political and Economic Legitimacy | 80 |
Additional Elements | 97 |
12 On the Nature of Sacredness | 163 |
13 The Worship of Gods | 172 |
14 Salvation and Soteriology | 189 |
15 Eschatology | 204 |
16 Conclusions | 228 |
Glossary | 243 |
Notes | 257 |
| 303 | |
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Common terms and phrases
actions actors agency agrarian analysis argument association auspiciousness and inauspiciousness behavior Bhagavad Gita bhakti Bourdieu Brahmans capital caste groups caste system central Chapter characteristic complex concept concern conformity context contingency contrast crucial cultural deity developed devotee dharma Dharmasastras discussion dominant economic elaborate elites emphasize endogamy eschatology especially example exchange gifts higher status Hindu Hinduism human hypergamy identity ideology implies important impurity Inden India Indian caste system involves isogamy kanyadana karma kings kinship Kshatriyas legitimacy marriage alliances means mobility moksa moral norms notion objectivation one's patterns physical pollution primarily processes puja purity rational choice theory relationships relatively religion religious ritual role sacral sacred sacredness salvation samsara sanctions significant Smarta social structure societies Sociology soteriology South South India specific status groups stratification Sudras symbolic tendency theoretical tradition transformation types University Press usually Vaisya variations varna village Weber wife-givers worldly worship
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Page 3 - Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.