ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on social change in the village known as Karimpur, with the goal of laying a framework for further explorations of modern South Asia. Social change in Karimpur is closely tied to the traditional caste-based village social structure. Castes in rural India are often ranked by who can take or give food to another caste. Patterns of social change in Karimpur vary most significantly by caste. Over the eighty-five or so years for which accurate census and other records for Karimpur are available, the Brahmins, Kachis, Kahars, and Dhanuks castes groups have had very different patterns of social change. While several changes and innovations have led to educational development since the Wisers began their study of Karimpur, the village lags in many markers of education. Karimpur shares with most of the South Asia, a new interconnectedness, whether via new forms of communication, urban migration, or education.
