Unequal Opportunities: Class, Caste and Social Mobility1

Abstract

This chapter discusses intergenerational class mobility, which is the extent to which sons — and even daughters — follow in their father's footsteps. It asks how ‘open’ India is, and whether it is becoming more ‘open’ with greater equality of opportunity as it slowly modernises. The discussion is limited to the patterns of intergenerational mobility of men and women who are actually in paid employment.

Ascriptive hierarchies: Caste and its reproduction in contemporary India

“…Caste … provides networks necessary for contracts, for subcontracting and for labour recruitment within the informal economy … liberalisation makes these caste-based relationships more important because it places a new premium on the advancement of interests … caste is ultimately connected with all the other organizations of civil society that comprehensively regulate economic and social life. (2003: 178-179) The limited volume of empirical literature currently available on social mobility in India reinforces the point that caste indeed works to block those located at the lower end of caste hierarchy (Kumar, et al, 2002;Thorat and Attewell, 2007;Thorat and Newman, 2010;Vaid and Heath, 2010). Even when the cultural or ideological hold of caste disappears, the real possibility of vertical social and economic mobility remains rather limited.…”

Seeking the Indian Social Space

“…Their object of study effectively forces them to conceptualize the social space as a whole. Following on from the work by Bam Dev Sharda (1977), Edwin and Aloo Driver (1987) and many others, Sanjay Kumar, Anthony Heath and Oliver Heath (2002) as well as Divya Vaid's work represents another crucial step forward (Vaid 2012;Vaid and Heath 2010). In order to measure movement between social classes, these works are based on a schema of five main classes that allow us to apprehend Indian society as a whole.…”

‘Scheduled Tribe Dalit’ and the Recognition of Tribal Casteism

“…In contrast, scholarship on the relationship between caste and status continuity oftentimes lumps SC and ST together. While generalisations about these most disadvantaged populations highlight the failure of government reservations to establish equal competition between unequal social actors (Vaid & Heath, 2010, p. 156), it obscures the relative differences between low-castes and often high-caste tribals. By generalising about ‘SC/ST’ populations, it places the emphasis on their status relative to high castes and OBCs; it also suggests an equality-in-difference that obscures how caste exclusion operates within tribes.…”