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SUBALTERN PERSPECTIVE THROUGH SOCIOLOGICAL DISCOURSE
Farhana Yousuf
Research Scholar, School of Social Sciences, Jaipur National University, Rajasthan
ABSTRACT:
The paper deals with the approach that thinkers have formulated to study society from subordinate level. Subaltern
approach is one of the most important approaches in order to study society. This approach studies those people who are
ranked low in the social or economic hierarchy. When an individual is born he is distinguished in this world on the basis
of class, caste, race, gender and age. Different thinkers analyZed the society and framed the subaltern approach in order to
study the people of subordinate group who majority of times are discriminated and considered of less importance in the
society.
Key Words: Subaltern, Approach, Society
INTRODUCTION:
The word “subaltern” stands for subordination which is expressed in different social categories of societies such as caste,
class, race, gender and age. In general sense it means” view from below” which means understanding/ viewing from the
bottom of society The word subaltern is Latin in origin “sub” means “below”, alternus “all others”. Subaltern is used to
describe someone of inferior rank. The term was basically adopted by ANTONIO GRAMSCI an Italian Marxist and
Communist Party Leader. It refers to those groups of people in society who are subjected to the hegemony of the ruling
classes. A subaltern is someone with a inferior rank in social, political and economic spheres. It includes that section of
society who have been marginalized or oppressed.
In populist discourse, it refers primarily to people or masses, and advocates viewing society from the bottom/bottom up,
rather than from the top down. The subaltern approach examines society through the lens of a composite and integral
world view and the lives of the masses. It considers the potential clashes between self and society, transcendence and
secularism, unity and diversity, and holistic understanding and individuality. This method is critical in the study of tribal
peasant movement. This viewpoint seeks to restore balance by emphasizing the role of populist politics as opposed to elite
politics. The entire thrust of subaltern historiography is on reconstructing the other history, i.e., the history of people's and
movements' politics and attempts to make their own history.
There are many factors in sociology such as sex, caste, creed, race, or any institution that requires subordination.
Subaltern is simply subordination in layman's terms. It is not always necessary for people to co-ordinate in subordination,
and sometimes there is resistance to anything, while other times people can be convinced by superior forces.
EMINENT PERSONALITIES PROPAGATING SUB ALTERN APPROACH
B.R AMBEDKAR
Ambedkar was born on 14 April ,1891. He worked greatly for the protection of Dalit rights and the advancement of dalit
social standing. In 1924 he BAHISHKRIT HITKARNI SABHA( Depressed Class Institute) to assist dalits in their social
and economic advancement. He awoke dalit consciousness to fight against abolition of social discrimination that dalits
were going through, to demand equal opportunities and promotion of equal rights and to respect each and every human
being in the society.
Ambedkar opined that unless and until the disadvantaged do not fight for their rights no one would be able to help them
from the situation. Self awakening among people is important to remove evils from the society. In the Subaltern approach,
79
ISSN:2277-7881; IMPACT FACTOR :8.017(2024); IC VALUE:5.16; ISI VALUE:2.286
UGC Approved (2017), Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal
Volume:13, Issue:3(2), March: 2024
Cover Page
Scopus Review ID: A2B96D3ACF3FEA2A
Article Received: 2nd March 2024 : Date of Publication:30th March 2024
Publisher: Sucharitha Publication, India
DOI: http://ijmer.in.doi./2024/13.3.30
Digital Certificate of Publication: www.ijmer.in/pdf/e-CertificateofPublication-IJMER.pdf
Online Copy of Article Publication Available : www.ijmer.in
liberty can’t be granted as a gift rather one should battle for it. One of the important feature of Ambedkar’s subaltern
approach is the formation of Indian Nationalism. This feature of his approach took into consideration the national
perception and aspirations of oppressed class. The creation of Dalit Bahujan Samaj created by Ambedkar became a
vehicle for an anti- Hindu and anti- Brahmanical rhetoric of Indian Nationalism. The main aim was to create a caste less
and class less society which is free from all sort of discrimination.
Subaltern communities, according to B R Ambedkar, are those who face discrimination from the dominant castes.
According to Hindu society's Varna system, the lower caste people are referred to as Dalits in general, but in common
political understanding and discourse, the Scheduled Caste people are designated as Dalits. The British colonial
government first used the term Scheduled Caste in the Government of India Act 1935.
RANAJIT GUHA
Ranajit Guha (born 23 May 1923 in Siddhakati, Backergunje, Bengal presidency) is an Indian subcontinent historian. In
1959, he moved from India to the United Kingdom to work as a reader in the history department at the University of
Sussex. He currently resides in Austria with his German-born wife, Mechthild Guha. His classic work, Elementary
Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India, is widely regarded.
Ranajit Guha is credited with coining the term subaltern historiography a critical approach to study tribal and peasant
movements in India. Guha admits that subaltern domain is not a homogenous uniformity due to differences in ideology.
Diversification in social components. The goal of subaltern historiography is to create other history or the history of
people’s politics and attempts to write their own narratives. According to Guha, the goal of historiography is to interpret
the past in order to change the present which facilitates a radical shift in consciousness.
Thus, the subaltern approach to studying peasants and tribal movements in India is a significant milestone because it
examines people's politics in contrast to elite politics. He believes that the nationalist movement is divided into two
domains: the people and the elite. Guha creates structural dichotomies, or divisions in society's structure. People's politics
did not emerge from the politics of dominant groups. They are indigenous peoples, marginalized groups and classes of the
working population, as well as the intermediate strata in town and country. They are diverse groups of people who do not
share a common or uniform ideology, but they do share an interesting common feature: a sense of resistance to elite
dominance. This complicates the issue of alliance among these divisions and diversions.
DAVID HARDIMAN
David Hardiman was born in October 1947 in Rawalpindi currently in Pakistan, Hardiman was born in England and
attended the London School of Economics before graduating in 1970. In 1975, he earned his D. Phil. in South Asian
History from the University of Sussex. He is currently a professor in the Department of History at the University of
Warwick in the United Kingdom. In 1980, he was a fellow at Surat's Centre for Social Studies. He was also a visiting
fellow at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta in 1981. Hardiman is one of many prolific writers who
contributed to the development of the subaltern perspective. He is a founder of the Subaltern Studies movement.in
Rawalpindi. David Hardiman is a modern Indian historian and a founding member of the subaltern studies group..
Sociologists have studied Indian society from a variety of perspectives, one of which is the subaltern perspective. It was
used by David Hardiman in his book The Coming of Devi. This research is based on a movement among adivasis in
western India that aims to change their traditional way of life. Although such movements have been reported from almost
all adivasi (tribal) tracts of India over the past century, they have remained on the periphery of modern Indian history until
now.
Hardiman is a sociologically sensitive historian who helped to shape the subaltern perspective. As a historian, he
specializes in the history of modern India. He studied and wrote about South Asian history in the 1960s and spent over a
decade working in India during that time. He primarily studied the colonial period in South Asian history, focusing on the
80
ISSN:2277-7881; IMPACT FACTOR :8.017(2024); IC VALUE:5.16; ISI VALUE:2.286
UGC Approved (2017), Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal
Volume:13, Issue:3(2), March: 2024
Cover Page
Scopus Review ID: A2B96D3ACF3FEA2A
Article Received: 2nd March 2024 : Date of Publication:30th March 2024
Publisher: Sucharitha Publication, India
DOI: http://ijmer.in.doi./2024/13.3.30
Digital Certificate of Publication: www.ijmer.in/pdf/e-CertificateofPublication-IJMER.pdf
Online Copy of Article Publication Available : www.ijmer.in
effects of colonial rule on rural society, power relationships at various levels, the Indian independence movement, with a
particular emphasis on the popular bases of Indian nationalism, and environmental and medical history. In the late 1970s,
he became involved with a group of historians studying the social history of South Asian subordinate groups. The
Gramscian term'subaltern,' which means'subordinate group,' was chosen to emphasise the domination and subordination
relationships in a society.
CONCLUSION
So far as the above discussion is to be concluded that Subaltern Perspective is an important approach in the field of
Sociology. This perspective deals society from the bottom level. It visualizes society from the basic level and various
subaltern theorists have contributed in this line. Sociologists in general and Indian sociologists in particular have done a
lot in order to portray society through this lens. This perspective helps to study society from the bottom level and
emphasizes the concept of super ordination and subordination in ther society which changes the very nature and structure
of society
REFERENCES:
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/subaltern-perspective-of-indian-sociology/35046
https://www.studocu.com/in/document/jawaharlal-nehru-university/sociology/b-r-ambedkars-subaltern-
approach/23257645
https://buddingsociologist.in/subaltern-approach/
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