Today, I experienced a very odd coincident in two of my courses. This was between this course, Philosophy 298H, and my Sociology course, Soc 001. The material covered in the Sociology course today was concerning social stratification, which is basically the study of different class-type systems in society. The connection really struck home, when the professor was about to show clips from a documentary entitled Lakshmi and me. Before playing the clips, he wrote on the board three things to look for in these clips which signaled to me the need for this post due the intimate connection with our recent discussions on Irigaray:
Separation
Division of Labor
Hierarchy
Then came the documentary, Lakshmi and me, and I knew that this was definitely related to our discussion in class. The documentary shines light on the persistent caste system in India. For those of you who did not have the privilege of taking a sociology-type of course, the caste system is similar to the class system, which we are used to, in that certain jobs and salaries are associated with different castes. However, the big difference is in the was people get into their different castes. In a class system, we enter into a new class by achieving a job and salary associated with that class. If we want to be in a high class, then theoretically, all we have to do is work for it. However, in a caste system, you are born into or assigned to your caste, which is a grouping similar to class. This means you are stuck with the caste and corresponding set of jobs/salaries, which you are born into or assigned to and there is nothing you can do to change it, especially in an upward fashion.
In the documentary, this system is further exposed as operating in modern times. We see the problems encountered by Lakshmi, who is of a lower caste, and her relationship with the film maker Jain, a professional of the caste similar to our middle class. You will also see in the trailer, a little about the feminist movement in that country and how women of privileged castes can now hold professional jobs, such as filmmaker. This is in contrast to the increasing need for jobs occupied by those in the lower castes such as Lakshmi, mainly as maids. It is also interesting how a feminist, Jain, who refuses to clean on grounds of gender inequality, has, at first, no problem with giving the job to another woman of a lower caste for a monthly pay equivalent to the cost of a fancy dinner. I thought these clips and insights were very interesting in light of what we have been discussing in class. I hope you all get a chance to watch them.
The clips I have talked about can be found at the following websites:
More clips and corresponding article from PBS
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