RHETORIC AND REALITY

The two books under review discuss, albeit differently, the age-old issues relating to equality and inequality. While the first discusses the problem in a general vein, the second deals specifically with the pro¬blems of Scheduled Castes in India. The volume edited by Andre Beteille contains six articles by contributors belonging to different disciplines: econo¬mics, law, political science and sociology. Notwithstand¬ing this difference in orienta¬tion there is substantial over-lapping in their arguments for and against equality. Those who argue for equality contend that inequality is the creation of values, struc¬tures and processes in socie¬ties; the units under reference are Collectivities. And those who suggest. that inequality cannot be done away with refer to the variations among individuals based on physical prowess, genetical endow¬ments, motivations and intel¬lectual abilities within a given collectivity. This line of argu¬ment is outdated today. Argu¬ments for or against equality are based on two different sets of units and contents — to miss this is to confuse the issues involved.