SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

however, are as strong as ever, though a leniency has been noticed in the
penalties attached to pollution, as compared to the past (Mencher
1970:212). Thus, the tradition-bound social stratification of the villagesociety
is giving way to economic stratification due to the materialistic
orientation and impact of the social factors. Education, occupational
mobility, common means of transport, new political ideology and the
scope for individual initiatives and wider social networks are some of
the factors that contribute to this situation.
There is an increase in the social status of the weaker sections, as
a result of the various legal and political measures undertaken by the
government and the protective discrimination envisaged in the
constitution. This increase in status, however, is more at the individual
level than at the group level. The status of women is finding its
expression with the initiation of various government programmes and
with an increasing social consciousness of past discriminations. Today,
there is a greater recognition of women's productive contribution to the
welfare of the society. Moreover, women have increasingly started
involving in productive employment to demonstrate their economic
potentiality. There are many studies that have brought out the change
impact in this respect. For example, Palakshappa' s study on the social
and economic implication of dairy development identifies an increase in
the status of women especially of lower caste families. They have found
an alternative occupation in dairy farming to the domestic services in the
upper caste households and to the wage labour in the fields (1982:34).
There is also a gradual change over the years, in the ties of
family, kinship and village affiliations, which, in the past, were confmed
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