Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Dalit atrocity and collective action
A dalit atrocity has taken place in a village. The village has equal strength of dalits and high castes. Police intervention has become fruitless to contain the inter-caste violence. Police intervention failed because dalits claimed that if they are given access to the well of drinking water, they would forget about the atrocity. High caste are not ready to budge to this demand. They say the person who committed atrocity needs to be penalized and no more concessions after that.
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We do observe that contagion and convergence theory is applicable in this case. Contagion theory is demonstrated when the atrocity arouses anger among the dalits. Convergence theory is demonstrated when the entire dalit community comes together against the high castes. Also "keynoting" mechanism is observed as the dalits wanted access to the well of drinking water.One practical solution may be to opt for "mediating public" theory by locating sensible and rational persons among both communities who can act as representatives and stop this quarrel.
The convergence theory could be applied in this case. It guides for crowd behaviour on the basis of the convergence of a number of persons who share the same predispositions. Here the predispositions are activated by the atrocity which took place. Further the selective definition(Keynoting)has observed when the dalit community claims for the access to the well of drinking water and the high caste was not ready to accept this demand. The mediating public could be a better tool to address this problem.
The dalits might have been sensitized with similar atrocities in past and the recent spate triggered their emotions and made it inter caste issue which might have been individual issue(contagium theory). This further led to the 'convergence' approach in dalit community while upper caste people perceived that yielding to dalit's demand would symbolically lower their stature so they resisted.
The most practical approach to this situation to this problem is to engage the two castes in meaningful dialogue by bringing the wise and sensible leaders of two parties togethr.Also, allow the dalits to asses well if it is a public/village property and definitely penalize the guilty.
The atrocity committed by the upper caste shows an occurrence of contagion theory wherein the spontaneous action and emotions of the individuals were transmitted across the group which lead to violence. While on the part of dalits the bargaining done shows occurrence of convergence theory wherein the disparate suppression faced by the lower castes aggregated to form such a decision. Later the upper castes by means of keynoting were crystallising the sentiments of their caste group to stand for their cause.
In this case, contagion and convergence theory is applicable.Dalit community is claiming for the access to well of drinking water. Upper caste is not ready to compromise with the dalits as they think it will lower down their status. To sort out this problem,representatives of both the community should talk and reach to a consensus. Well is the public property of the village. Everyone can access irrespective of the caste. Punish only those people who have committed heinous activity.
This might not be the only reason that the dalits are agitated but this is definitely the triggering point. Now once the dalits are together in action, they realize their power. So now, not only they want to avenge the act of atrocity, but they also want to settle this system of discrimination once it for all by getting access to well. And they are not wrong in doing so but their way of doing this wrong. With the higher caste people already on their back foot administration could intervene and initiate the change but first they will have to take the dalits and rational members of upper caste into confidence.
Both contagion and convergence theory are perceived, dalit atrocity by higher caste people can be explicated by contagion theory and the dalit’s dicker can be explicated by convergence theory. The predicament for dalit has been prolonged and the solution to soothe the discontent and tensions between the dalits and higher caste lies in an open discussion between the influential leaders from both sides.
The dalit atrocity triggers a sense of anger among the members of the society, they assemble and they try to address the bigger issue of access to the well taking the issue of atrocity as a base (read convergence theory). The initial spreading of anger follows the contagion theory. To solve the issue the leaders should be called, consulted and whoever has committed the atrocity should be punished. If not, then this issue of access to well will take centre stage and further exacerbate the condition.
The crowd in this case is an ‘acting crowd’ because it acts according to certain objectives and goals. The acting crowd of Dalits has put forward its demands in a well thought out manner. Also, the issue has taken a big stage because of the reason that both the parties involved are equal in size. In such a situation, it is necessary to identify the key persons from both the communities and hold a discussion among them. The person who has committed the atrocity should be punished anyway.
Both contagion and convergence theories are applicable in this case. there may be similar atrocites in the past against the Dalits which have further strengthened their demand for not access to water. These kind of friction has always been between the high and low castes in a community and often have resulted in a compromise from the lower caste people due to the high influence of the upper caste. What is required here is that a middle path is found by both the partie's representatives to maintain the peace of the overall community.
Certainly an atrocity has taken place against a member of Dalit community and they are now using the situation to put forward their demand for access to the well, which in all probability, is bound to be an age old demand in the community.
The immediate triggering of emotion in the community is a clear example of Contagion theory. Simultaneously, Convergence theory is also evident by the singleness of the stand taken by the Dalits. Emergent Norm is also observed from the higher caste side as they are ready to compromise one of their members but not their social beliefs.
Action of atrocity is clearly inspired from contagion theory by the upper caste. The emotional upburst and bargaining by dalits for the water from well is clearly related to convergence theory. Police intervention has failed here, so we need to find a middle way to have sustainable solution for this. Mediating public can be a possible option to meet the need of hour. Representatives from both the involved parties can identified and a common feasible solution be derived. The feasible solution can be worked out in light of not hurting ego of upper caste and meeting the demands of dalits.
Convergence theory explain here hoe the whole Dalit community come together and focus their anger on a greater goal of allowing access to water but does this also not points outs to the sudden outburst of frustartion of Dalits originating from the humiliation and atrocities which they were suuffering from the hands Upper caste.Actually a burst of common frustration of people may arouse them to come together and fight with common enemy.This is something which we oftenly see in case of people rebelling against the existing government
The dalit atrocity caused an emotional outburst within their community that finds its root cause in the contagion theory whereas the reaction on part of the dalits to bargain about their rights on well shows the occurrence of convergence theory. One solution could be to try to reach a consensus by making the representatives from both the communities to talk and sort out the issues. Also people should be made to realise that few people’s act should not affect the relations of both the communities and neither should it result in anyone trying to take undue advantage through the situation.
3. High caste people by not taking side of the person against whom the atrocity had taken place clearly display a caste bias. This caste bias can be because of both convergence and contagion behaviour. It possible that all members of the upper caste have a caste bias or some of them do not. The action displayed by dalits at first seems righteous but they have converged towards using this event as a rampart to project their previous grievances. Here the action has been utilized to mobilize the mass and solve an issue which had no relation to the case.
Firtsly, the failure of police is itself a concerning issue,as police has all the powers and authority, but is unable to exercise it.The incident could be because of both contagion and convergence theories, acting together.The solution to this problem could be a strict police action, to end the deadlock that is existing, the dalits should be given access to water as it is the property of the village itself, and then police should find the persons involved in committing atrocities and punish them.
The contagion theory as well as the convergence theory is applicable in this case. The best solution is that both the parties should sit down and come to a solution that is acceptable to all. As a crime has been committed here so it is the duty of the police to punish the guilty. But the authorities also should take a note of the difficulty the dalits are facing due to exclusive right of high caste on drinking water.
The dalit community amounts to contagion of crowd in the situation for which the atrocity was rationale behind such a step and that is when people in dalit community come against the high castes. When the dalits were ready to give away if compensated shows that few individuals thought this as solution and later the crowd amounts to convergence. We must recognize two leaders among parties and ask them to talk leaving crowd aside as the crowd hardly has a mind of its own and once a unanimous decision is taken it should be conveyed in small batches to crowd.
Here contagion theory is working.What is determining the attitude of people is the caste difference and the clash of interest.Dalits after suffering now have resorted to subtle form of resistence.On the other hand for the upper class people it has become a matter of prestige.So this problem can be solved by addressing problem of stratification
Here contagion theory is working.What is determining the attitude of people is the caste difference and the clash of interest.Dalits after suffering now have resorted to subtle form of resistence.On the other hand for the upper class people it has become a matter of prestige.So this problem can be solved by addressing problem of stratification
It can be taken for sure that the decision taken will hurt people. It is however up to us that the decision upsets the least number of people from both sides and also the level of anger should be reduced. The alleged person should undergo the law procedure, however, if the people of Dalit community agree to co-operate, pleas can be made to decrease the punishment. The high caste people would also be a little upset as the Dalit would not get maximum punishment, but if a middle way has to be reached, sacrificed have to be made.
This case is very similar to the one, which i had seen in one of the villages during my childhood. The issue of caste is ingrained in the people so much that they get violent over it. We need to talk to the representatives of both the castes and try to understand why they can’t co-operate. In case of the village where i had seen this problem they ended up by building a wall just in the middle of the well.
This is a typical scenario that happens in different pockets of our country daily. Equality is a fundamental right (Article 15) and that needs to be upheld and should be ensured in this village on a long term basis. Initially, we should try to have a tri partite dialogue where it should be strongly communicated to the upper caste representatives that discrimination of any sort is a punishable offence and that they should eradicate this in a phased manner so as to avoid violence otherwise strict action would be taken. Same time ensure that the dalits doesn’t adopt to violence
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