The interpretation of caste / Declan Quigley

Oxford New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press, 1993. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in a near-fine, very slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: viii, 184 pages: illustrations; 23 cm. Contents: 1. The Problem Before Dumont -- The Entrenched View of Caste -- The Word 'Caste' -- Is Caste an Orientalist Construct? -- 2. Dumont's Theory of Caste -- Epistemology and Sociology -- The Distinctiveness of Caste -- Status, Power, and Encompassment -- The Structuralist Interpretation of Caste -- Dumont's View of Empiricism -- Dumont's Critique of His Critics -- 3. The Problem With Dumont's Solution -- Why the Problem is not Simply about Caste -- The Sociological Bridge between Traditional and Modern Societies -- Power and Legitimacy -- Structuralism -- 4. The Pure Brahman and the Impure Priest -- The Ideal Brahman in the Real World -- Priests and 'Others' as Vessels of Inauspiciousness -- The Limits of Transcendence -- 5. Caste and Kinship -- Hypergamy -- Isogamy -- Hierarchy and Endogamy -- 6. Caste and Kingship: Hocart's Theory -- Kings and Priests -- Problems with Hocart's Theory -- The Ideologies of Caste -- 7. The Courts of Kings and Washermen -- A Model of Caste Systems -- The Explanation of Caste. Subjects: Caste Southeast Asia. Caste Asia, Southeastern. South Asia Social conditions. India Social conditions.