The Ideology of Stratification During the Baseline Period

This chapter examines the ideology of stratification in the Rangama/Devideniya community at the turn of the century. Using the three dimensional model in the analysis of ideology, this chapter shows that Sinhalese notions of stratification in the baseline period were confined to caste but also included perceptions of power and material inequality. Examination of the descriptive component of the ideology of power demonstrates that a close ideational relationship prevailed between the different dimensions of stratification. Analysis of the evaluative component of ideology thus demonstrates that to describe the baseline period as a situation in which ideological consensus prevailed is to indulge in a synecdochic representation of the cultural conceptions of this community. The close correspondence between the ideology and social structure of power and the lack of such correspondence in the dimensions of caste and class assume significance when we turn our attention to contemporary stratification.