Caste and Class in Indian Society and History: Weberian Legacy

In a seminal essay on ‘Class, Status, Party’ Max Weber identifies class as economic power and status as cultural power. When cultural power in status is sanctioned by religion, in addition to convention, it becomes caste, according to Weber. On the contrary, it is argued that caste is the intersection of economic, political, and cultural power. With a change in the latter, there is a change in caste structure which is consistent with the basic premise of Historical Materialism. The Weberian notion of power in caste is non-material and transhistorical. Mainstream Sociology, Subaltern Studies, and most Dalit studies follow Weber even if they do not refer to him against Historical Materialism.