This study presents the major ideas of Mahatma Gandhi on social stratification and social inequality. The methodology consists of systematically reading and analyzing the literature through which the theoretical components of social stratification in Gandhi's writings become more explicit, and evaluating these theoretical components. A systematic statement of Gandhi's theory of social stratification included the following five components. First, social differentiation is inherent in human nature. Gandhi believed in the universality of social differentiations and was convinced that societies were organized into the divisions on the basis of vocations. Second, relations among strata imply that a division of labor is essential for the stability and organization of society. Gandhi also implied that this division of labor is necessary and functional. Third, normative patterns establish traditions of heredity. To Gandhi, the four divisions in society defined a person's "calling" which is essential for social organization. Fourth, the system of stratification is the universal law that everyone is obliged to follow. Gandhi tried to legitimize social stratification through moral and religious values of the society. Fifth, social stratification system defines duties only and does not confer any privileges. To Gandhi, the divisions of people into strata was the best possible adjustment of social stability and progress. While accepting some form of social stratification for the benefit of total funcioning of the society, Gandhi refused to accept that social inequality necessarily grows out of the process of social stratification. To maintain the hereditary law of social stratification and reduce the inequality, Gandhi suggested the abolition of the present caste system and the revival of four orders of social organization, the removal of the concept of untouchability, the regulation of trusteeship, decentralization of power, the increase of women's status, and vocational education for all.

Ethics of Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhism since Gandhi

Dissertation--Frankfurt am Main Universität, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. XIII-XLVI.

The last four years of Gandhi's life saw the end of British rule in India and the emergence of the sovereign states of India and Pakistan. This thesis examines Gandhi's political progress during the period. It provides an account of how and why it came about that the independence of India was accompanied by partition. As late as 1946, the partition of India seemed an unlikely prospect: the British preferred a unitary India, Congress was committed on principle to Indian unity, and the Muslim League leaders intended to use their demand for "Pakistan" as a means of securing separate representation for Indian Muslims in an all India Union. However, while partition seemed unlikely, independence was known to be imminent: from mid-1945, H.M.G. was increasingly determined to effect a rapid transfer of power. The central argument of this study is that Gandhi played an important role in determining the outcome of Indian independence. At a profound level, the spirit of Gandhianism had long informed the Indian political culture within which the independence debate took place. In the period 1944 to 1948, the impact of Gandhianism contributed to the rise of sentiments which eventually compromised Indian unity. Furthermore, changing political conditions during this turbulent period often brought Gandhi to the front rank of the Congress leadership. On such occasions, fired by the Gandhian vision of an idealized future Indian society, his was a voice raised in consistent opposition to proposals likely to promote an equal, or nearly equal, distribution of power between Congress and the League at the Centre. Moreover, Gandhi's enthusiasm in this respect impelled him to attempt to subvert British intermediary efforts when, from time to time, such efforts appeared likely to succeed in reconstructing the power structure so as to accommodate the essence of the demands of the Muslim political separatists. By early 1947, in the absence of a power-sharing arrangement, the only alternative was partition: H.M.G. had placed a time limit on the Raj, and communalist forces were so aroused at the social level as to require that independence be informed by some form of Muslim separatism. This thesis contends that the Congress leaders settled upon partition as the preferred form of separatism to be implemented in the independence scheme. It analyzes the nature of Gandhi's eventual acquiescence to the Congress leaders' decision for partition, and examines the Mahatma's militant response to the reality of Pakistan.

Historically, emancipation has been interpreted as inseparable from modernity. Emancipation has been configured in terms of an increase in reason and a commensurate 'disenchantment' and a banishment of the sacred. The emergence of post-development as a recognisable discourse within the field of development studies and practice has raised important questions regarding understandings of social progress. Notable in the literature and practice of post-development is an increased reference to the human spirit and 'spirituality' as an integral part of the process of social liberation. According to Marxist theory, such reference undermines its emancipatory potential. This thesis provides an alternative way of interpreting this return of the sacred by arguing that post-development is more fruitfully interpreted as a reinvention of Gandhian praxis. Moreover, the conjunction of Gandhian categories with post-colonial and post-developmental analyses provide an alternative lens through which to frame a model of emancipation more appropriate to the context of post-modernity. This process foregrounds issues of agency and identity in social change locating discussion of the spiritual in activist narrative as central to the structural processes of social change. The framework produced by these discussions is subsequently employed in order to examine the verity of environmentalist claims to emancipation. The argument is informed by ongoing post-development activism in North India and a range of new social movement activity. Fundamental to the approach is the need to focus on the ongoing processes involved in social transformation as a means to emancipation, rather than to any pre-determined aims. In conclusion, I show how the conjunction of Gandhian thought and post-development. is providing a framework for re-enchanted understandings of emancipatory action. Contingent upon their location, such emancipations are applicable to the 'North' as well as the 'South'.

The age of Gandhian resistance left a substantial mark on the landscape of colonial Nigeria. Until the emergence of the Zikist Movement in 1946 Nigerian nationalists were content to talk and write, going no further than superficially criticizing the colonial government. The emergence of the Zikists marked the beginning of "Direct Action," as Nigerian nationalists were pressed to support their words with action. Based on the ideological formulations of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Nwafor Orizu, the Zikists sought effective techniques to actualize their desire for national independence. Following in the footsteps of Gandhi, the Zikist Movement attempted to achieve independence through the use of non-violent civil disobedience, boycotts and politicized strikes. Despite the significant role they played in the Nigerian nationalist movement, the Zikists have been largely overlooked in the extant literature.

The present study concentrates on the experience of nature in the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi. This detailed environmental biography of Gandhi follows him from the early years in India, through his years in England as a young man and on to South Africa where his beliefs about humanity's proper relationship with the nonhuman world were shaped. There is also a detailed examination of his dietary and nature-cure experiments which date from his years in England, 1888 - 1891, with a discussion of the original works that he cites in his own writings. Diet involves a most intimate relationship with the nonhuman environment. Gandhi sought a diet which involved the least unavoidable violence and which the poor could afford. Health for Gandhi was a state of total well-being - social, physical and spiritual. Gandhi established communities of workers dedicated to service, first in South Africa at Phoenix Settlement and Tolstoy Farm, and then in India at Sabarmati Ashram and Sevagram. Here his respect for the integrity of other living beings was tested by experience. Rabid dogs, the threat of venomous snakes to both livestock and humans, and the nuisance of monkeys pilfering from the ashram's fruit trees and vegetables were situations that had to be resolved. Since its inception in 1972 the Deep Ecology movement has been linked with the name of the Norwegian ecophilosopher Arne Naess, who has also devoted many years to an analysis of Gandhi's philosophy. The experience of nature and reflection on humanity's right relationship with the nonhuman environment is brought up to the present-day via a consideration of some of the individuals and indigenous people that deep ecology acknowledges as part of its background, such as Henry Thoreau, John Muir, Mary Austin, Aldo Leopold and Richard St. Barbe Baker.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 268-276). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR19854

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0557. Adviser: Thomas R. Conley. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 333-338) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.