Social Disharmony and Social Solidarity
Like we pointed out in chapter three,
keeping groups of people excluded from society give rise to disharmonic and
conflictual social relations. Social exclusion breeds mutual distrust, fear,
suspiciousness and structural violence between the secluded and those secluding,
which equals a zero-sum game for society as a whole. In the long run social
exclusion is harmful to the solidarity in any given society (Green et al. 2003,
Prakash 2007).
As expressed in the
above chapter of social inclusion, employment is an important agent in reducing
social exclusion, and increasing participation in the life of the community.
Providing employment has been an objective as well as a major challenge for
Samskar. Many of the ex-criminals are unemployed today due to their background
and the social stigma. They desire to live a respectable life by pro-social
means. According to Gandhi (2006) they are gradually taking to small jobs and
businesses and changing their lifestyles. But there are not many opportunities
either in the private or the public sector to provide them with some meaningful
occupations.
One 59-year old villager
said:
Unemployment is a major problem in Stuartpuram. My hope is to get
employment for all villagers. But employers think, “once a criminal always a
criminal”. We don’t get employed because we are from Stuartpuram. We are
hardworking and intelligent people but it doesn’t matter in the eye of the
employer.
A 45-year old ex-criminal further
explained:
There is little hope of getting a job. My only appeal is some employment
opportunity for my son, who is a post-graduate. If I go to Bapatla or Chirala
to ask an industrialist for a job he would maybe consider me like a normal
person. But when he finds out I’m from Stuartpuram he would think, “oh, but he
is a criminal.”
Lavanam said:
The ex-criminals don’t get permanent jobs. They perceive themselves, as
hardworking, sagacious, and self-sacrificing. And they are not perceived to be
anti-social by the society either. They don’t treat them as criminals, nor do
they accept them as regular members of society. The ex-criminals are somewhat
in a twilight zone. But prejudice from society against ex-criminal individuals
is still occurring. At the same time social inclusion is a process, a process
which demands generations of time and patience.
In these respects, in addition to
the economic impoverishment families suffer from unemployment, it can also
become disruptive of social relations. Knowing that an individual is an
ex-criminal creates distrust and suspiciousness on society’s behalf, rejecting
an individual’s links to mainstream society. Rejection and prejudice from
society against ex-criminal individuals may backlash in the form of resentment,
harshness and further exclusion, resulting in lack of solidarity as well as the
danger of ex-criminals reverting to their earlier criminal behaviour. This
would of course be suicidal for the initiation of a new more harmonic and
solidaric social formation (Green et al. 2003).
Prakash (2007) states
how the reliance upon each other is crucial for the social survival and
development. As noted in chapter three, a society in violent relations cannot
grow. Social exclusion is not only bad for the ex-criminal individuals, but
also for the community, in which they exist, creating conditions that give rise
to conflict, increased inequality, disharmony and distrust (Green et al. 2003).
Furthermore,
in addition to affecting social relations, the consequent lack of income and
poverty can lead to associated problems of ill-health and dependency. On
society’s behalf it means increased health costs needed to manage poor health.
Keeping groups of people excluded also means lack of customers, a less skilled
workforce and poor productivity (Green et al. 2003).
This complies in many
ways with the claim made by de Haan (1999), that social exclusion is
characterised by people being excluded from different things at different
levels of society at the same time. Even participation in political life,
beyond merely enjoying political rights, is denied for the ex-criminals because
of their status according to Gandhi (2006). They can have no representatives in
the legislatures who can genuinely urge the administration to push through
change in the settlement. As the project manager of Stuartpuram said, “due to their historical background and
social stigmatization, there is reason to believe that an ex-criminal entering
into politics will create some public upset.”
What the analysis above
indicates is that the ex-criminals of Stuartpuram are characterised in many
ways by social exclusion. The solution to the problem is the time-consuming
process of social inclusion and, as Prakash (2007) remark, well-planned
mechanisms for the uplifting of the excluded.
Social Inclusion and the Impacts of Education
The main objectives of the Samskar
agenda since the success of reforming
criminals has been to socially include the ex-criminal family members,
and prevent ex-criminals and their offspring’s returning or taking to anti-social
behaviour. As the analysis above reveal, the success of mainstreaming remains
incomplete. Social acceptance as non-criminals members of society has to a
large extent been achieved, yet regular social interaction is largely inactive
and poverty abide, affecting the solidarity and harmony of larger social
relations and maintaining social exclusion (Ramakrishna & Sundar 2007)..
The Joshua-Gora School
was established in Stuartpuram 2006, to facilitate social inclusion of the
children of habitual criminals to usher in a social change. First, the
strategic location of the school has its wider impacts. Previously, education
was provided by the Salvation Army within the boundaries of the settlement and
to Stuartpuram children only. The present institution, however, is according to
Lavanam consciously installed outside the immediate settlement with children
from ex-criminal families mixed with children from surrounding areas. In this
way Stuartpuram children procure impulses from the “culture of sociability” as
opposed to the “culture of crime”.
Second, an idea has been
to keep the medium of instruction English. The Stuartpuram project manager
informed:
While there might be a preference among some people to enrol them in
Telugu [(state language)] medium school, English medium is a craze within
mainstream society. Schools in India
and Andhra Pradesh, and the Andhra and Indian society in general prefer to have
English medium schools and perfect their children in English. The mainstream is
more interested in English medium education, so they ex-criminal families were
also interested in sending their children to English medium school.
Thus, English medium was implemented
to facilitate the process of inclusion. To mix with the mainstream a mainstream
trend was provided. However, as we remarked in the
social inclusion chapter, some might arrest such measures of being an
imposition of unwanted conformity. But as the project manager said, Samskar was
compelled by the ex-criminal families themselves to endue English medium for
their children.
Social Interaction
While the level of social
interaction among the ex-criminal generation is low, the researcher observed a
significantly different scene for the second generation youths. First of all,
as pupils the children develop relationships with other classmates, making
friends and interact in non-criminal, mainstream atmospheres. Besides such
regulated interaction, even outside the formal school they interact by visiting
each others houses as friends, developing personal relationships and engaging
in other mainstream social activities.
Children
from ex-criminal families play, have class, and take lunch together with other
children from non-criminal families in a healthy and proper environment, free
from crime, oppression, fear, harassment and suspicion. All the children sing
the national anthem of India
as a daily morning routine, strengthening the collective feeling and the
feeling of belongingness, and decaying the feeling of being an “unwanted”
social mass.
These
observations comply with many of the points suggested in the conception of
social inclusion. First, it proves the potential the school has in socializing
groups of young people. Second, the feeling of belonging to a common society is
strengthened when the children affiliate with others, are liked by and are
friends with others, and belong to mainstream groups. Third, by interacting in
mainstream environments the thinking, doing and way of behaving among the
children of ex-criminal families are guided by expected pro-social ways, values
and norms. In a different criminal atmospheric context their behaviour might
have steered in an anti-social direction (Green et al. 2003).
It
is also in the interest of the ex-criminal parents to see their children
leading an accepted pro-social way of life and not following the same criminal
path they had to take. A 45 year old ex-criminal father explained:
My father was a criminal and I was forced to take to crime. My
profession only caused me pain and harassment and I would never want my
children to suffer like me. I want them to live a normal comfortable life and
continue their studying to come up in life. I am extremely appreciative that
Samskar is giving them education.
The schooling has also further
impacts in the sense that children can contribute in socializing their parents.
The children and their experiences from school may produce a change in the
parents as the children share their experiences with them. The parent’s witness
their children interact and make friends with children from other non-criminal
families in society and, hence, their harsh view of society might alter.
Although
social interaction among the ex-criminals is less than what it should be, one
can observe that the education of their children increases their offspring’s
social interaction with the mainstream. In the next instance they are to a
steadily larger extent blending with mainstream society, disconnecting the
circle of crime in Stuartpuram.
Culture of Crime versus Culture of Sociability
Provision of educational facilities
by Samskar to the children of the ex-criminals has paved the way for them to
become part and parcel of the mainstream of national and social life. Education
helps to channel their energies into productive purposes and away from
anti-social acts. In this regard mainstream activities such as sports have also
been promoted as part of education. Social activities take place both within as
well as outside the community. Children come from outside Stuartpuram to
participate and vice versa (Lalitha 1995).
In this way, education
and sports promotes a sense of belongingness with the rest of society,
increasing social intercourse, senses of equality and equal status, and
indicates increased social solidarity. Creating atmospheres of togetherness
addresses in many regards the need for reinforcing common identities refereed
to in the conception of social inclusion. It lays ground for cooperation and
reduces the likelihood of structural violence and conflict (Hewitt de Alcántara 1994).
Furthermore, interaction
with the Stuartpuram youth and a focus group interview with some students also
revealed that their thoughts and ways are of pro-social designs like dancing,
reading, cricketing and playing with friends. Their hopes for their futures
ranged from becoming teachers, engineers and doctors to police officers and
tax-collectors.
It
would be interesting to compare this data with information from a 45-year old
ex-criminal informant, when asked about his hopes and expectations for the
future in the pre-reform period:
I don’t remember my hopes for the future. I had no hopes. At that time I
was a criminal. My father was a criminal and my uncles were criminals. I simply
lived of theft to feed myself and my family. Today, the way I look at life has
changed. Today I can have hopes and expectations for my children.
As we noted in the socio-history of
the ex-criminals, few alternative livelihoods abetted their criminal practice,
in addition to poverty, harassment and the culture of crime. Thus, the entry
into the criminal world was for most of them by default. This gives us a slight
impression of the intractability of the culture of crime and problems in
Stuartpuram (Ramakrishna & Sundar 2007, Reddy 2002).
Although
poverty remains a problem today, unnecessary harassment has ceased and most
importantly the culture of crime is gradually whisking away due to the
provision of education for their offspring’s. The impacts of education is
slowly entrenching the culture of sociability and erasing the aggressive
culture of crime. In this respect, the children of Stuartpuram act and behave
in pro-social manners with a pro-social mentality, and with the opportunity to
have desires and hopes for the future on par with their peers in society.
But
as Ramakrishna and Sundar (2007) stress, the second generation is not
completely free from social bondage since they are indirect victims of their
forefathers’ plight. Although social inclusion is presently occurring at fast
rate for the second generation, a not so unthinkable scenario might be a denial
of opportunities due to the fact that they are offspring’s of ex-criminals.
Employment opportunities
might illustrate this claim, as jobseekers in India traditionally have to state
where they are from, their fathers name and occupation, and caste or tribal
affiliation. In light of the above discussion on unemployment, there is reason
to believe that the social stigma attached to their ancestors might affect such
opportunities in life.
However, keeping the
three generation approach in mind, the third generation will avoid facing
similar challenges since the second generations has come out of the circle of
crime and been given proper education. It proves the importance and the
potential of education to fully integrate a member of society into his or her
own society. As opined in the theoretical framework, it is ones right to be a
full member of society, not only in certain aspects of society (Sen 1999).
Potential Pitfalls
Social inclusion has been the main
objective and policy aim for Samskar in the recent years. However, according to Hewitt de Alcántara (1994), in
working towards this aim, there is a tendency to downplay the fact that the
non-mainstream groups have their own forms of social organization and social
inclusion.
This
is true even in the context of Stuartpuram. On the other hand, like we pointed
out in the socio-historical framework, the ex-criminals were raised and
socialized only in an anti-social, criminal ethos. Their social customs and
religious beliefs were in tune with their anti-social criminal careers. Jail
punishments, violence, harassment, torture and fear complexes characterised
life of the settlers.
Many of the ex-criminals
gives credit to Lavanam and Hemalata for giving them a second lease of life, and
they have vowed never to go back to the crime field. Without the reformers’
untiring efforts, the dacoits and their families would have continued spending
horrible lives in an unbearable anti-social form of organization (Reddy 2002).
A second potential pitfall according
to Hewitt de
Alcántara (1994) is when emphasis is placed merely on
improving some indicators of opportunity, for instance school enrolment,
without dealing with why ostracism arise and persist to begin with. In the case
of Stuartpuram, education has been prompted as an arena for social inclusion.
We have identified and analysed the impacts and potential education has in
bringing about social transformation, removing social stigma, breaking the
cycle of criminality and eroding the isolated culture of crime, which was some
of the main structural causes of polarization. Hence, as Hewitt de Alcántara (1994) emphasise,
for inclusion in terms of attaining equal life chances to endure, the social
structures causing exclusion needs to be dealt with.
Thus, in addition to
education’s general effect in providing benefits such as economic development
and reduced crime, it also serves an important purpose in including excluded
groups into mainstream society, and thus in developing and preserving the integrity
of the wider society.
Conclusions The main objective of this thesis
has been to analyse the extent of social exclusion among the ex-criminals of
Stuartpuram, as well as examining the impacts education has on social inclusion
for their offspring’s. The study is based on conceptualizations of social
inclusion and social exclusion.
It was in 1871, tribes
of habitual criminals in India
were legally tagged as “criminal tribes” (CTs). In order to concentrate them
and keep them under surveillance the British government established segregated
CT settlements. Even though the stigma of being criminals was legally removed,
the social stigma continued (Gandhi 2006).
Stuartpuram settlement,
the location of the fieldwork, was established in 1914 and put under the
auspice of the Salvation Army. The settlers of Stuartpuram were Yerukulas who
were stigmatized as dacoits and burglers. What prompted them to commit crime
was mainly the lack of alternative means of livelihood and poverty, as well the
surcharge of the “culture of crime”, due to their social isolation (Gandhi
2006, Lalitha 1995).
In 1974, the atheist
couple Lavanam and Hemalata launched the criminal reformation project in
Stuartpuram. Decades of terror by the Yerukula tribe was eradicated by the
sheer commitment of the reformer couple, through counselling and different
approaches to reform the criminal elements staking in their lives (Marla 1992).
Since the success of
reformation the major emphasis of Samskar has been on socially including the ex-criminals
and their families. For this purpose the Joshua-Gora School
was established in 2006 to facilitate social inclusion and breaking the cycle
of criminality. The process of socially including the ex-criminal tribe and
breaking the circle of crime is expected to span three generations.
In this study we have
seen that the social interaction among the ex-criminals has increased in the
sense that social isolation has been broken, and they enjoy more freedom of
movement and social acceptance today. Yet regular social interactions in
mainstream domains are largely absent due to mainly two reasons, viz. the
impacts of the culture of crime on one hand and prejudice from society on the
other hand.
Second, most of the settlers live in stark poverty and miserable
living conditions which is contributing to their exclusion. Like Gandhi (2006)
says, they are bound to suffer from feelings of inferiority when they compare
themselves with people from different strata of society.
Third,
we find that because of social stigma and their background, many of the
ex-criminals are denied access to certain aspects of society, such as
employment. Such exclusionary measures are breeding ground for disharmony,
conflict, lack of solidarity, and not to mention the danger of ex-criminals
returning to their despised avocation.
With regard to the
impacts of education on social inclusion for the second generation of
Stuartpuram it was found that they are largely procuring mainstream impulses.
In this way the culture of crime is gradually becoming substituted with a
culture of sociability. This is mainly due, firstly, to the strategic location
of establishing the Joshua-Gora
School outside the boundaries
of Stuartpuram
Second, the provision of
schooling has significantly increased their degree of social interaction
compared to their forefathers. Third, in this context, the feelings of
belongingness are strengthened when they affiliate in such manners. Fourth, due
to the influence of the mainstream and culture of sociability, their mentality
and behaviour is largely guided by pro-social norms and values. Fifth, the
promotion of education and social activities as part of it creates senses of
equality and social belongingness and increase solidarity.
Poverty and relative
deprivation, exclusion in different realms of society, lack of solidarity, and
the remnants of the culture of crime have largely obstructed the mainstreaming
of the ex-criminals of Stuartpuram. Meanwhile, although they are to a large
extent excluded from important spheres of society, they are enjoying social
acceptance, even that a huge barrier to overcome.
Despite
the exclusion of their forefathers, their children are raised in the values of
the culture of sociability. The inclusionary effects of education, such as
increased social interaction, feelings of belongingness, forming of a
pro-social mentality and ways of behaving, and increased solidarity are
symptoms of the culture of sociability. In this way the culture of sociability
is slowly disconnecting the circle of crime. The third generation children will
establish the new social formation.
No comments:
Post a Comment