Andhra Pradhesh Economic and Social Relations

The social relations of castes and their tribal counterparts in

various regions of Andhra are structured on the basis of various economic exchanges, and the

status of being lower and higher is not necessarily expressed in purity and pollution terms

vis-a-vis ritual, but rather on the basis of services and products that they can exchange.

Privileging the ritual sphere to explain social relations of castes and tribes, as done by Dumont

(1980) and many other later anthropologists (Pfaffenberger 1980), is to ignore the economic

concerns of society and the many changes that society has undergone in recent years. Social

relations in Andhra need to be explained from the standpoint of the great diversity that exists

both within groups as well as across groups, but primarily driven by economic concerns.

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