Caste and Its Ever-Changing Dimensions: A Socio-Political and Cultural Reassessment

Abstract

Caste in India has remained a permeating locus of inequalities, but it has been actively changing in a radical way. The current research paper, Caste and Its Ever-Changing Dimensions, provides an insight into how caste transitions and maintains in post-liberalization India in institutional, economic, political, cultural, spatial and even digital aspects. The research also relies on a mixed-method design to collect empirical data on both structural patterns and personal experiences of caste and gender-based discrimination by relying on a quantitative survey (n = 300) and qualitative interviews and focus group discussions. Results indicate that, even though visible barriers to caste existence are becoming less apparent, other covert and symbolic exclusion manifestations persist in education, employment, or in the digital domain. This paper singles out the ways in which caste hierarchies have restructured themselves in a manner that brings about a new mechanism of meritocracy, social network and digital participation, thus recreating privilege in apparently contemporary environments. Intersectional analysis can prove that Dalit and OBC women endure multiple disadvantages as they are disadvantaged by both caste disparities and gender inequality. Meanwhile, new kinds of opposition, such as student activism, digital mobilization and cross-caste solidarities, show an increase in population awareness and demand. The paper combines the traditional thinking (Srinivas, Béteille) and the new thinking (Gupta, Jodhka, Deshpande) to hold the view that caste does not represent a remnant or a structure which is on its way out but is instead a continuously evolved social order, keeping its pace with the democratic and neoliberal changes in India.