英语论文网

r, favored the eradication of untouchability as a social practice, for the upliftment of the Dalit community.

Contemporary criticism
Several modern organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have firmly criticized the caste system.[73]

Some notable activists consider the caste system to be a form of racial discrimination.[74] In 2001, at a United Nations Conference Against Racism which was held in Durban, South Africa , participants condemned caste discrimination and attempted to pass a general resolution denouncing caste as a basis for social segregation and oppression. However, no official resolution was finally passed.[75]

Some authors describe the alleged mistreatment of Dalits in India to be India's hidden apartheid. However, several critics of such accusations point out substantial improvements in the social status of Dalits, particularly in the post-independence phase of India, mainly due to strict implementation of the rights and privileges guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. They also highlight that India has had a Dalit President in K. R. Narayanan and several other political leaders like Chief Minister Mayawati of Uttar Pradesh.

In a study by William A. Haviland, although India's national constitution of 1950 clearly outlaws cast discrimination and the practice of untouchability, the caste system continues to remain firmly entrenched in the Hindu culture and is practiced widely throughout southern Asia, particularly in rural India.. Approximately 160 million people, or 15% of the population of India, the Dalits have to suffer near complete social segregation, humiliation, and general discrimination based only on their birth status.

A few studies done by sociologists like Kevin Reilly, Angela Bodino and Stephen Kaufman, while being critical of casteism, conclude with a note that the modern India cannot be accused of any apartheid because there is no state-sanctioned social discrimination.[81] They observe that casteism in India is currently not apartheid. In fact, several untouchables, as well as tribal sections of the society and members of the lowest castes of India continue to benefit from several affirmative action policies and programs and are now exercising greater political power.

Postmodernism. Postmodernism is a movement away from the point of view of modernism. More categorically, it is a tendency in a contemporary culture which is characterized by the problem of objective truth and an intrinsic lack of confidence towards global cultural narrative. It involves a belief that many apparent realities are just social constructs, since they are liable to change across time and place. It stresses on the role of language, power relations and other motivations; more specifically, it attacks the use of distinct classifications like male versus female, gay versus straight, black versus white and colonial versus imperial. Instead, it holds realities to be plural and comparative and highly dependent on who the concerned parties are and what their specific interests lie in.

It strives to overturn modernist overconfidence, by noting the sharp distinction between how confident speakers normally are of their stated positions compared to how confident they need to be in order to serve their selfish objectives. Postmodernism has impacted many cultural avenues like sociology, linguistics, visual arts, music and