Caste, Class and Democracy is concerned with recent changes in the stratifi cation systems of three communities in Uttar Pradesh, India, during the thirty-fi ve-year period from 1930 to 1965. "The major theoretical concern behind this research is to study the changes in a stratifi cation system over time and to identify the important societal factors that have influenced the process," and to examine "how institutionalized inequalities are created and distributed, particularly in India."