McKim Marriott was a student of Robert Redfield, Chicago University. In 1955, he was appointed as Professor in the Department of Anthropology in Social Sciences Collegiate Division of the University of Chicago. He conducted field work in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and authored varied studies on rural social organization and change. Marriott used the structural-functional approach in his study of village India. His important works include -Village India: Studies in the Little Community (1955), Caste Ranking and Community Structure in the Five Regions of India and Pakistan (1960) and India through Hindu Categories (1990). Marriott utilized the structural-functional approach in his study of village India. Marriott had conducted some studies on social change in India utilizing this conceptual framework. He has made significant contribution to field of social anthropology. His major contributions are discussed below.
1 Universalization and Parochialization
Mckim Marriott in his “Little Communities in an indigenous Civilization” propounded two important processes or concepts – universalization and parochialization. The interaction in the context of the indigenous village communities in India in relation to the civilization process was explained by Mckim Marriott in terms of parochialization and universalization of culture. He closely observed the socio-religious organization in Kishangarhi village in Uttar Pradesh. He established these concepts on the basis of Great tradition and Little traditions concepts propounded by Robert Redfield. These two processes are complementary to each other.
Universalization refers to downward devolution of elements of great tradition and their integration with elements of little tradition. Unlike Universalization, Parochialization is a process by which some literate or Sanskritic elements of great tradition are learnt about and modified by the village or folk people to become a part of their tradition. The process of parochialization constitutes the characteristic creative work of little communities within India’s indigenous civilization. He opined that as visible through its festivals and deities the religion of the Kishangarhi village may have developed as a result of continuous process of communication between a little, local tradition and great traditions. Sanskritization, according to him, does not proceed as an independent process; it is superimposed on non-sanskritic cultural forms through accretion rather than simple replacement. The possibility of styles of life moving upward can be seen in social context when Brahmins migrating to remote areas appear to take over some of the local customs. He argues that there is a constant interaction between the great and little traditions.
Thus Indian civilization can be understood with the help of universalization and parochialization. Moreover concepts of universalization of little traditions and localization of great tradition is not confined to Hindu culture, but applicable to other cultural dimensions of great and little tradition
2 Social Ranking
According to Marriott, Rural stratification is closed while in urban areas, the stratification system is relatively open and its character is ‘interactional’. In other words, if a certain individual group or family is able to acquire high status attributes such as education, wealth, or better occupational position in the cities, the individual or group may be able to pass as a member of higher social rank. In the villages, on the other hand, the social rank depends more on the traditional evaluation of caste status. This is reflected in most forms of inter-group or interindividual interactions. Also in the metropolit an areas, the principle of corporate ranking’ (status is attributed to the entire group) has no place but it prevails in the rural system of stratification. In the rural caste system principles of purity and pollution, hereditary occupation and kinship relations make the ranking system corporate. The process of status mobility through sanskritization, in a way, manifests this corporateness in the rural ranking system.
In his article, “Multiple Reference in Indian Caste System”, Marriot opined reference group approach to the study of caste stratification system in India. He argues that in order to gain fuller understanding of the stratification system in India, its processes should be observed at various levels. He considers three zones:
- (1) the zone of the village community and its directly connected parts in the countryside;
- (2) the zone of the recognized cultural or linguistic region; and
- (3) the zone of whole civilization.
Marriott’s analysis does not indicate the complexity of the social stratification system in India, but it offers us an insight into the mechanisms by which stratification process at one level, such as rural or metropolitan, interacts with that of other levels such as those of the three zones of the village, region and civilization.
3 Social Mobility
Marriott (1968), reviewing a number of studies on social mobility, finds relevant distinctions at three levels in the ranking system related to the Indian mobility pattern. These are based on distinctions between: (1) rural from metropolitan types of ranking system, (2) individual or group from corporate units in ranking, and (3) a series of successively wider zones of reference for the units in any local system, the several zones being characterized by distinctive values. The zones, according to him, are the village, the linguistic, region and the whole civilization.