A Study of Psycho-Educational Variables in the Light Socio-Economic Status

In spite of strict religious prohibition of caste system, yet the social stratification features have deeply crept into some Muslim societies and Kashmiri society is no exception. The proper reason might be due to the fact that Kashmiri people have retained some Pre-Islamic features despite conversion. The Kashmiri society is considered to be composed of 1906 castes which are just like other societies categorised into upper, middle and lower castes. At the upper end are Syeds, Khans and Pathans and at the lower end are watal, teeli, Gurjar, lohar etc. In the light of social psychology, the caste in which an individual is born and reared has a significant effect on the personality of that individual (Linton, 1936). Personality traits are expressed in learning styles, which in turn are reflected in learning strategies which eventually produce a certain learning outcome (Heinstorm, 2000). For the present study a sample of 800 students was drawn from seven castes of Kashmir valley i.e. two from dominant upper caste (Syeds and Khan)  and another five from under- privileged lower caste (Hajam, Kumar, Gurjar,Lohar and Teeli,) through cluster sampling technique.