Abstract
Indian society has a unique experience in negotiating modernity where tradition has its own essence in shaping the social action of everyday life. ‘Caste of mind’ is still a cognitive terrain in Indian personality formation in an age of state-sponsored modern values and global cultural flows. By taking Dumount’s understanding of ‘religion as an ideology’ in shaping the Indian social structure, this paper establishes the sociological fact that ‘health and well-being’ in Indian society is largely shaped by caste normative behavior. The domestic gender dimension of food behavior, gender based role performance, and the sense of ‘purity’ in food intake are one of the major factors contributing to the poor health status of women in Indian society. In this sense, the dialectical relations of tradition and modernity within family values and role performance are also clearly visible where family occupational behavior, the educational status of women, and women’s decision-making in family as well as outside family is rapidly changing with a positive note, but the food behavior is still guided by the caste ideology of ‘purity’ and ‘impurity’, and the domestic role performance and role expectations are still based on the patriarchal ideology of gender socialization. In this context, women’s health is also directly influenced by caste and patriarchal ideology, which leads to poor nutritional intake among women, resulting in poor health and psychological wellness among women in India.
Presenters
Shibsankar JenaAssistant Professor, Sociology and Social Work, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University), Madhya Pradesh, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
KEYWORDS
DOMESTIC ROLE PERFORMANCE, CASTE AND PURITY, GENDER AND FOOD INTAKE
