Understanding the persistence of caste: A commentary on Cotterill, Sidanius, Bhardwaj and Kumar (2014)

Abstract

We contextualise Cotterill, Sidanius, Bhardwaj, and Kumar’s (2014) paper within a broader literature on caste and collective mobilisation. Cotterill and colleagues’ paper represents a fresh and timely attempt to make sense of the persistence of caste from the perspective of Social Dominance Theory. Cotterill and colleagues, however, do not examine caste differences in the endorsement of karma, and take behavioural asymmetry among lower castes for granted. Cotterill and colleagues also adhere to a Varna model of the caste system that arguably is simplistic and benefits the upper castes of Indian society. We caution that emphasising behavioural asymmetry and endorsing the Varna model might further stigmatise lower castes, especially Dalits, and feed into a conformity bias already predominant in caste-related psychological research. We argue that the conceptualisation and operationalisation of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation and legitimising myths in the Indian context needs to take into account the particular meaning and functions of these constructs in specific intergroup contexts, and for identity positions salient within these contexts. We contend that any examination aimed at better understanding the nature of social hierarchy and oppression within the caste system and Indian society in general remains inconclusive without including a focus on the construction and contestation of social categories and social identities.

A cultural psychological analysis of collective memory as mediated action: Constructions of Indian history

“…In spite of how caste is perceived as antithetical to values of civility in urban regions in India (Jogdand, Khan, & Mishra, 2016), there has been a steady increase in incidents of caste-based injustices both in rural and urban regions (Teltumbde, 2011). Thus, participants belonging to lower castes may be especially likely to note caste-based injustices in spontaneous recall of events.…”

Group differences in the legitimization of inequality: Questioning the role of social dominance orientation

“…Similarly, there is much to gain from situated and contextually sensitive analysis of how particular legitimizing myths are embedded in specific identity positions, as Jogdand, Khan and Mishra (2016) illustrate powerfully with regard to karma and caste in India. By questioning the role of a general orientation in driving such phenomena, we hope to open the way for alternative accounts that meet them in all their richness and their specificity.…”

A Call to Action: The Need for a Cultural Psychological Approach to Discrimination on the Basis of Skin Color in Asia

“…I chose India and China because not only does colorism appear to play a major role in both countries, but also they contain the largest populations in Asia. Moreover, India is currently struggling with the aftermath of its caste system, which was deeply rooted in the classification of people according to their skin color (e.g., Jogdand, Khan, & Mishra, 2016; Vallabhaneni, 2015). These searches yielded a total of 4 studies when searching on “colorism” and 21 studies when searching on “skin color.” To ensure that this surprisingly small number was not an artifact of the specific search engine, I repeated all of the above searches using the well-known Web of Science engine, resulting in just four studies that were conducted within the psychological sciences that (a) focused on colorism and (b) used non-Western Asian participants.…”