Relationship of Caste System with Measured Intelligence and Academic Achievement of
Students in India
Author(s): Sukhendra Lal Chopra
Source: Social Forces, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Jun., 1966), pp. 573-576
Published by: Oxford University Press
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CASTE, INTELLIGENCE, AND ACHIEVEMENT 573
tence at present distinctly delineates the major upon Organization, Community, and Population
specialisms of Sociology today. The emphasis is quite prominent.
RELATIONSHIP OF CASTE SYSTEM WITH MEASURED
INTELLIGENCEAND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF
STUDENTS IN INDIA
SUKHENDRA LAL CHOPRA
LutcknowUniversity
C aste system is one of the institutions taking up new types of work. Similar phe-
peculiar to India. Because of its rela- nomena are also at work in Northern India.
tionship with religion, the orthodox Economic developments during the 14 years
Hindus believe that society has been divinely since the Gist study have resulted in further re-
ordained on the basis of a hierarchy of four laxation of the caste customs, and the principle
castes; the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaish of hereditary functions is no longer universally
and the Sudra. The system separates people recognized as binding. The name Sudra, be-
belonging to different castes by rules limiting cause of its association with the rather humili-
contacts or enjoining avoidances, such as re- ating position of low castes in ancient times,
strictions on marriage and limitations on eating has been discarded. A list of lower castes has
together. In ancient times, the Brahmins were been prepared by the governnmentof India and
considered to be the custodians of religious people belonging to the castes included in this
scriptures and they held monopoly over the list are now called "Scheduled Caste" people.
teaching profession. The low caste people, Special provisions have been made by the gov-
called Sudras, were subjected to various dis- ernment for their uplift and education.
abilities and were not considered worthy of However, India is still a quite immobile,
participating in religious sacrifices or reciting localistic, agricultural country of great size,
Vedas. They were referred to as "Ekjati" where castes are still struggling to maintain
(once born) and were categorically denied the their isolation. Bernard Barber observed that
right of initiation and consequently the first "even in cities, so influential are the caste norms
stage of life, the studentship.1 that they are still struggling to maintain them-
Conditions have since changed. Industriali- selves and are keeping intact their essential
zation, spread of education, and democratization prohibitions such as those on intermarriages
of political structure have resulted in con- and other forms of intimate contacts with mem-
siderable modification and relaxation of some bers of inferior castes."3 Mashruwalla4 ob-
of the rigidities of the caste system. Greater served that as yet very few people are free
work opportunities are being created with a from its influence. In a recent study of preju-
growth of various new occupations. Selection dices, Dr. Mathur5 has observed that 32 per-
for type of work now depends upon individual cent of the respondents in his sample believed
achievement rather than the caste or the an- that government was simply wasting money on
cestral occupation. Gist, in his study of caste the schemes for the uplift of the Scheduled
differentials in South India,2 observed that peo-
3 Bernard Barber, Social Stratification (New
ple were no longer forced to follow their
York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1957).
heriditary occupations and many of them were
4 K. G. Mashruwalla, "The Hindu Social Order,"
1 Vashistha-Dharamsutra, trans. Buhlar, SBE in Groutp Prelutdices in India (Bombay: Vora &
(1882), p. 9. Co.), p. 125.
2 Noel P. Gist, "Caste Differentials in South 5 R. B. Mathur, A Stuidy of Prejudices of High
India," American Sociological Review, 19 (1954), School Students in Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow: De-
pp. 126-137. partment of Education, Lucknow University, 1965).
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574 SOCIAL FORCES
TABLE 1. MEAN INTELLIGENCE TEST SCORES AND MEAN HIGH SCHOOL MARKS FOR THE STUDENTS FROM
THE DIFFERENT CASTES
Number of Mean Intelligence Mean High School
Caste Students Test Scores Marks
Brahmin .............................. 317 38.79 242.62
Kshatriya ............................. 415 39.40 247.50
Vaish ............................... 158 41.78 259.09
Scheduled Caste ........... ............ 303 35.73 224.51
Total ............................... 1,193 38.62 241.92
F=26.83p <.01 F=15.17p <.01
Castes as they were inherently incapable of tak- in accordance with the instructions given in the
ing advantages of those facilities. manual.7 Since norms for the Indian students
The present study, therefore, was designed were not available, raw scores were used in-
to test the truth in the traditional belief in the stead of converting them into PR's.
superiority or inferiority of the different castes.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
METHODOLOGY Very few achievement tests have been stan-
In the author's study of the relationship be- dardized in India. For annual promotion and
tween socioeconomic factors and academic other examinations, essay type question papers
achievement of the students,6 data were collected are set by the class teachers and the answer
for 1,359 students (age range 14-17 years) books are also evaluated by them. Marks in
randomly selected from alphabetically arranged these examinations, therefore, depend upon the
lists of all the class X students studying in 22 question papers which differ from school to
urban and six rural schools in the Lucknow school and subjective evaluation which may
district. The present paper deals with the differ from teacher to teacher. The high school
castewise analysis of the data for 1,193 stu- examination is the first public examination and
dents included in the sample. If similar studies is conducted by an independent Board of High
are conducted at earlier stages, the samples School and Intermediate Education. The marks
may include a larger number of students from in this examination, therefore, were taken as
the lower socioeconomic groups, but in the the criterion of academic achievement.
absence of basic tools such as standardized
RESULTS
achievement tests, their scope appears to be
limited in India. Table 1 shows the mean intelligence test
All the schools selected for the present study scores and the mean high school marks for the
were recognized and aided institutions and thus students belonging to different castes.
fulfilled the minimum requirements regarding The table shows that the mean intelligence
building, equipment, and number and qualifica- test scores and the mean high school marks
tions of teachers. This narrowed school to for the Vaish students were the highest. They
school differences. In India, there are separate were followed by the Kshatriya, the Brahmin
secondary schools for the boys and girls. Since and the Scheduled Caste students. Analysis of
the principals of the girls' schools were reluc- variance showed that the differences in the
tant to allow a man to collect data, the sample means for both the intelligence test scores and
had to be confined to the boys only. the high school marks were statistically signifi-
cant as the' F ratio's of 26.83 and 15.17 respec-
INTELLIGENCE TEST SCORES tively gave p < .01. When measured intelli-
The Progressive Matrices Test was adminis- gence was held constant through analysis of
tered to the students as an untimed capacity test covariance, the differences were considerably
narrowed and the F ratio of 2.96 gave p > .01.
6 S. L. Chopra, "A Study of the Relationship of
Socio-Economic Factors with Academic Achieve- 7 J. C. Raven, Guide to Standard Progressive
ment of High School Students,"unpublishedPh.D. Matrices Sets A, B, C, D, antd E (London: H. K.
dissertation, Lucknow University, 1964. Lewis & Co., 1958), p. 9.
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CASTE, INTELLIGENCE, AND ACHIEVEMENT 575
TABLE 2. PERCENTAGES OF OCCUPATIONS OF FATHERS FROM DIFFERENT CASTES
Caste N Prof. Admin. Cler. Bus. Skilled Agri. Unskilled
Brahmin... 317 5.04 11.34 26.78 6.82 22.37 21.11 6.62
Kshatriya .415 3.37 13.91 26.56 19.76 17.11 11.55 4.82
Vaish .158 6.37 16.56 16.56 43.95 10.19 12.55 3.82
Schedule Caste.303 - .66 3.63 4.95 13.86 57.75 19.14
TABLE 3. MEAN INTELLIGENCE TEST SCORES AND MEAN HIGH SCHOOL MARKS FOR THE STUDENTS MATCHED
FOR FATHERS' OCCUPATION
Mean Scores t ratios
Area of Brah. Brah. Brah. Kshat. Kshat. Vaish
Achievement Brah. Kshat. Vaish S. Caste Kshat. Vaish S. C. Vaish S. C. S. C.
Intelligence 38.95 39.66 39.60 36.69 .64 .53 1.57 .51 1.79 1.76
Academic
Achievement 239.59 241.93 241.82 233.50 .33 .34 .57 .01 .66 .80
However, in view of the very large sample the scores, the mean high school marks, and t
apparently large F ratio's should not be sur- values for the differences in the means for the
prising. The caste differences were not so students in these matched groups. The table
great when compared with differences within shows that the differences in the means for the
castes as the value of intra-class correlations groups matched for fathers' occupation were
(.080 for intelligence test scores and .045 for not statistically significant in any case.
high school marks) were quite low. Since a substantial number of students were
These results do not support the traditional left out while matching for fathers' occupation,
belief in the superiority of the Brahmins. In it was decided to have some idea of the com-
the present sample their means were lower than parative achievement of those left out. Table
those for the Vaish and Kshatriya students. 4 shows their mean intelligence test scores and
The means for the Scheduled Caste students mean marks in the high school examination.
were the lowest, but in India people belonging The figures show that the pattern of differences
to the lower castes are generally engaged in in the achievement of the students left out while
lower occupations and thus their economic back- matching the groups for fathers' occupation
ground is comparatively poorer. was similar to that observed in Table 1. How-
Table 2 shows the percentages of the occupa- ever, the F values for the differences had
tions of the fathers from the different castes. slightly increased even when the size of the
The table shows that in the present sample com- sample had been reduced. Moreover, the values
paratively higher percentages of the fathers of of intra-class correlations, i.e., .010 for intelli-
the Scheduled Caste students were engaged in gence test scores and .065 for the high school
lower occupations. Since there was positive marks, had increased. This was obviously due
relationship between fathers' occupation and to the exclusion of the data for the students
student achievement,8 it is possible that com- matched for fathers' occupation as differences
paratively lower achievement may have been in their scores were not statistically significant.
due to poorer economic conditions rather than
any differences in the castes. Therefore, to con- CONCLUSION
trol the effect of economic background, four These results do not support the traditional
groups of 56 students, each matching in fathers' belief in the superiority of the Brahmins in
occupation were set up. measured intelligence or academic achievement.
Table 3 shows the mean intelligence test The means for the Scheduled Caste students
8 Chopra,op. cit. were, however, lower than those for the stu-
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576 SOCIAL FORCES
TABLE 4. MEAN INTELLIGENCE TEST SCORES AND MEAN HIGH SCHOOL MARKS FOR THE LEFT OUT STUDENTS
Number of Mean Intelligence Mean High School
Caste Students Test Scores Marks
Brahmin ................................ 261 38.45 243.28
Kshatriya ............................... 359 39.36 248.37
Vaish ................................. 102 43.14 268.57
Scheduled Caste ............. ............ 246 35.48 222.47
Total ................................. 969 38.61 242.52
F=28.80p <.01 F=17.76p <.01
dents from the other castes. Very low values the different castes did not turn out to be statis-
of the intra-class correlations, however, sug- tically significant. This suggests that the com-
gested that differences were not so great when paratively poorer performance of the students
compared with differences within castes. When belonging to Scheduled Castes was probably
matched for fathers' occupation, the differences due to their poorer economic condition and not
in the mean achievement of the students from to any inherent differences in the castes.
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND CONJUGAL ROLES:A TEST OF
BOTT'S HYPOTHESIS*
JOAN ALDOUS MURRAY A. STRAUS
University of Minnesota
A nalysis of the effect of the individual's quences of the external social networks in
ties to the larger community on bound- which husbands and wives are involved for
ary maintenance within the family have conjugal role organization. She noted that if
been largely restricted to investigations of the family members maintain ties with a network
effect on intra-familial relations of membership of friends, neighbors and relatives who know
in adolescent peer groups.1 Yet Bott in her one another and interact apart from the family
exploratory study of 20 London families, de- members, the members of this social network
veloped a hypothesis concerning the conse- can develop norm consensus and exert pressure
on the network's members.2 Individuals who
* The authors wish to express their appreciation
are members of such close-knit networks when
to the Cooperative Extension Service of Minne-
they marry and who, after marriage, continue
sota for sponsorship of this research, to the county
Home Agents who carried out the interviews, and
to be drawn into network activities, can afford
to Arnold M. Rose for his critical reading of an a conjugal role organization based on a clear
earlier draft of the paper. The research was sup- differentiation of tasks with few shared in-
ported by the Agricultural Experiment Station of terests or activities. If either needs instrumen-
the University of Minnesota. tal assistance, he or she can call upon other
l See, among others, Clay V. Brittain, "Adoles- members in the extra-family social network.
cent Choices and Parent-Peer Cross-Pressures," The network's continuing emotional support
Anmerican Sociological Review, 28 (June 1963), pp. also lessens the expressive demands each spouse
385-391; James S. Coleman, The Adolescent So-
needs to make of the other. Thus close-knit
ciety (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe,
1961); and David G. Epperson, "A Re-Assess- 2 Elizabeth Bott, Family and Social Network:
ment of Indices of Parental Influence in the 'Ado- Roles, Norms and External Relationships in Ordi-
lescent Society"' American Sociological Review, nary Urban Families (London: Tavistock Publica-
29 (February 1961), pp. 93-96. tions, 1957), p. 59.
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