British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Politics and Society in Contemporary India:
Change and Diversity

Thursday 5 October 5 2006

ABSTRACT

Class, Caste and Mobility in contemporary India
Divya Vaid and Anthony Heath, FBA (Oxford)

The aim of this paper will be to explore the extent of 'modernization' in India over the last few decades.  Our focus will be on occupational attainment.  Accounts of modernization suggest that ascribed characteristics such as caste, gender or social origins should be of declining significance as a society modernizes, especially so in less traditional sectors of the economy.  Using data from the Censuses and Indian National Election studies we will first chart the changes in the Indian occupational structure, showing the gradual decline of agriculture and the rise of the salaried, urban middle classes.  We will then explore patterns of social mobility (for both men and women) and the role that caste (broadly defined) plays in mediating the effects of class reproduction.  Initial results suggest that, despite major transformations of the occupational structure, there has been little change over time in the relative importance of class origins, caste or gender for occupational attainment.  The impact of modernization thus seems to be very uneven.

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