Lecture- 3 BD Society and Social Classes & economy system

1. Lecture- 3BD Society and Social Classes& economy system Md. MAHBUBUR RAHMAN Lecturer Center for General Education (CGED) Northern University Bangladesh (NUB)

2. Introduction We all know that Bangladesh is a nation, a country, a society which has a great history and distinctiveness. Rabindra Nath’s Sonar Bangla, Nazrul’s Bangladesh and Jibon Ananda Das’s Ruposhi Bangla all these are the designations of the country. Many poets, singers and authors, since the very beginning, have been voicing the separate entity of the land as reflected in their poems, songs and their writings. For its distinctiveness, Bangladeshi sociologists anthropologists and economists are puzzled to identify its societal nature and the pattern of economy. Again, rural society of Bangladesh is distinct from its urban territory. Accordingly, there are distinct social classes in rural and urban areas of the country.

3. Society and economy of BD: • The nationality of Bangladesh has emerged from different ethnic groups like, Mongoloid, Caucasoid, Aryans, Dravidian, Persian, Mughol and from many others. We have also more than 33 ethnic groups, they are actually Bangladeshi but not Bengali. And they have also different and obviously distinctive societal and cultural pattern. So, Our sociologists and anthropologists became confused to draw back the unique picture of this culture and society.

4. Nature of economy in BD • Our nature of economy is also combined and mixed up from different economic basis. We have different economic institutions on the basis of varieties economic forms . We have many economic institutions, based on socialist features of economy, such as many banking sectors, universities, insurance companies that are directed by the Government. There are many private sectors in our society like, Private universities, private banking sectors, private transportations, insurance companies and many other institutions accelerated by privately. These are the examples of capitalism.

5. Nature of economy in Bangladesh: • Along with many economic institutions in Bangladesh that are executed by the following of Islamic rules and regulations. Like many banking sectors that are following to the Islamic sariah law. As well as many insurance companies, universities also directed by the Islamic rules .So we can say we have mixed economy.

6. Bangladeshi Type of Society So, What type of society does exist in Bangladesh? This is quite a burning question. There is a great debate to answer to the question. To analyze critically, we can do this from different perspectives: 1) Sociological / Anthropological view (measured by mode of production); 2) Macro level (Measured by labor force); and 3) Micro Level (measured by the features of peasant household). The above both are the examples of economic point of view.

7. 1. Sociological & Anthropological analyses Since the very beginning, Bangladesh is called peasant society. However, sociologists and anthropologists give different opinions of its mode of production as follows: 1. Feudal, capital and peasant mode of production (Abu Abdullah) 2. Semi-Feudal (M. Alamgir) 3. Semi –feudal and semi-colonial (Anwarullah Chawdhury ) 4. Feudal and colonial (Westergaard ) 5. Pre-capital (Van Schendel ) 6. Capital (Jahangir, Akhlakur Rahaman and Atiur Rahman)

8. 2. Macro level Analysis (Measured by labor force) From the view of Macro level, the amount of labor force may be only the indicator of a country to identify if she is an industrial or peasant society. Accordingly, in above 80% of the labor forces in Bangladesh is related to agriculture in accordance with the statistics of 19th century. In the present time more than 55% labour forces are being used in this sectors. Moreover, those who are related to non-agricultural services can't be designated as non-agricultural. For example, though a rickshaw puller lives on his occupation; his children are strongly linked with agricultural activities. Even, those who are govt. and non-govt. employees and live in urban areas such as Dhaka, Chittagong etc. depend partially on the agricultural products provided by their village family members. So, we can that BD is a peasant or agricultural based society.

9. Micro Level (measured by the features of peasant household) From the view of micro level, we can consider Bangladesh as a peasant society based on the primary & secondary features of peasant households: Primary Features: a) Small amount of land b) Family labor in production process is supplied by children, spouse etc. c) The basic objective is subsistence production

10. Secondary Features: a) Peasants are not agreed to welcome change b) Less surplus they tend to make. The above features of peasant households of Bangladesh truly prove that the existence of peasantry is more obvious in our country. But, who believe that Bangladesh is a semi- capitalist, semi-feudal society etc. in terms of mode of production, are not agreed to consider Bangladesh as a peasant society. Thus, the above features have created a problem of identifying BD society. Despite the above controversies, we can conclude that Bangladesh is a peasant society whether it may be partially or absolutely. However, recent changes in BD indicate to the emergence of capitalism, no doubt.

11. Social Classes in Bangladeshi Peasant Society: From the very beginning, like the pre British period, British period, Pakistani period, and after the liberation of Bangladesh, the feature of rural society that it is and was divided into many classes on the basis of specially status, power, and wealth. Rural society in Bangladesh has also its own class formation in terms of the following events, • Amount of land, cultivation & water control • Economic Strength & Occupation • Authority, Coerce & Politics • Religion, Status, Caste etc. • Education, Information and Knowledge

12. 1. Social Classes in terms of Amount of land, cultivation & water control Prominent economists and sociologists Arens & Beurden (1980) conducted a study in “Jhagrapur”through an empirical work and showed lands as the principal differentiation of classes. They are as follows: • Landless and poor peasants (55%): Less than 2 acres of land • Middle peasants (24 %): on an average 4 acres of land • Rich peasants (21 %): on an average 10 acres of land • Landlords (.05 %): on an average 50 acres of land”. [Source: Quoted by Anwarullah Chowdhury et. al, Changing Agrarian Communities in Bangladesh, 2002: xviii]

13. Anwarullah Chowdhury mentioned 5 classes as evident from the table:

14. 2. Social Classes in terms of Economic Strength & Occupation Wilem Ven Schendell mentioned 4 social classes: Here, A= Semi proletarian/small peasants B= Middle peasants C= Small Surplus Rich peasants D= Large Surplus Rich Peasants Ramkrishna Mukherjee (1971), in his “Six Villages of Bengal”mentioned three broad social classes as follows:

16. Social Classes in terms of Authority, Coerce & Politics S. Aminul Islam et. al., mentioned different social classes in terms of power through 4 models on which the following classes are found in rural society of BD: 1. Union Parishad Chairman and Members 2. Village Headman 3. Leader of Gushti 4. Active and conscious village people of leadership.

17. Social Classes in terms of Religion, Status & Caste Karim in his Bangladesh Village sketched some social classes as follows: Karim also described the following classes: i) Chowdhuries ii) Khundaker iii) Muhuries iv) Bhuyans v) Agriculturists vi) Landless vii) Agricultural laborers viii) Wage earners ix) Wood cutters x) Slaves or Ghulams

18. Social Classes in terms of Religion, Status & Caste: Continued Anwarullah Chowdhury, in his “A Bangladesh Village”, shows the following classes: i) Khandans (Upper caste) [powerful class] ii) Girhasta (Lower caste) iii) Scheduled Caste

19. Social Classes in terms of Education, Information and Knowledge Anwarullah Chowdhury, in his “Changing Agrarian Communities in Bangladesh”, mentioned the following classes:

20. Conclusion: • In the concluding words, we can say that society and social class in Bangladesh have become more complicated. There are many criterias that are playing an important role to form different social classes. But in the recent past specially education and politics are playing significant role to categorize social classes in Bangladesh.