Homo Hierarchicus

Homo Hierarchicus: Essai sur le système des castes (1966) is a work of social anthropology by Louis Dumont, devoted to the analysis of the Indian caste system.^[1] It analyses the caste hierarchy and the ascendancy tendency of the lower castes to follow the habits of the higher castes. This concept was termed as Sanskritisation by M. N. Srinivas.^[2]

He states that the ideology of caste system is fundamentally contrary to our idea of egalitarian society and arises from the nature, conditions and limitations of realisation of such a society. We can not restrict ourselves to understand caste system only as a form of 'social stratification'.^{[citation needed]}