Categories into which people classify themselves and others in a North Indian city were collected, together with identifying characteristics and stereotypes. Utilizing a symbolic interactionist perspective, these were analyzed with reference to social behavior: the manner in which interaction was conditioned or influenced by the system of social categories and the meanings attached to them. The complexity of the terminological system, its variability and manipulability, the crucial importance of situation and audience, and the tenuous relationship between terminology and behavior were revealed.
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Gerald D. Berreman (1972) studied this question.
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