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

to a region of small geographical area (Beals 1970:68). Indeed, an
inverse relationship has been observed between the opportunity for
profit and the ties of extended kinship (Epstein 1979). As compared to
the limited interaction of the people in the traditional village set-up, the
interactional network today has gone beyond the regional and sometimes
even national boundaries. In the early years, both migration and
marriage were confined to a relatively small geographical area, which
has been gradually changing over the years (Beals 1970: 68). There is an
increasing interconnection between villages, through marriages, political
alliances, caste and family ties and economic connections. Mascarenus
identifies a close link between the urban centres and the countryside due
to the commercialisation of dairying. He further claims that daily
development has achieved a breakthrough in cutting across all sections
of the village and allows everyone to participate, irrespective of caste,
creed or sex (1988:209). With more urban-rural contacts, there is change
in needs and fashion (Madan 1983: 26). Thus, there is a transition today,
from the limited traditional networks of caste, kinship and village
affiliations to a wider friendship, bureaucratic, occupational and political
interactions. The emerging networks of interaction have become often
handy to personal advantage or to gain influence as well as serve to
transmit information and to secure things that would be otherwise
unavailable (Beals 1970:69-72). Education., industrialisation., greater
employment opportunities in urban centres and better means of transport
and communication are some of the factors that have contributed to this
transition. These have also lead to a greater diffusion of information.,
ideas, values and life-style.
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