Amit Ahuja
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190916428
- eISBN:
- 9780190916466
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190916428.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Much of the anticaste historical mobilization was aimed at social transformation. Did mobilization actually achieve this, though? To what extent can we measure the ideological penetration of ...
More
Much of the anticaste historical mobilization was aimed at social transformation. Did mobilization actually achieve this, though? To what extent can we measure the ideological penetration of movements among Dalits? Among non-Dalits? To what extent do we detect any behavioral changes among either group? This chapter turns to a set of survey-based and qualitative indicators to measure the effects of Dalits’ social mobilization on Dalits and non-Dalits. These indicators, this chapter shows, vary between movement (Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra) and non-movement (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) states. These factors include the familiarity with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, including the ability to recognize his picture; attitudes toward policing caste boundaries via issues such as intercaste marriage and conversion; and attitudes toward the practice of untouchability.Less
Much of the anticaste historical mobilization was aimed at social transformation. Did mobilization actually achieve this, though? To what extent can we measure the ideological penetration of movements among Dalits? Among non-Dalits? To what extent do we detect any behavioral changes among either group? This chapter turns to a set of survey-based and qualitative indicators to measure the effects of Dalits’ social mobilization on Dalits and non-Dalits. These indicators, this chapter shows, vary between movement (Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra) and non-movement (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) states. These factors include the familiarity with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, including the ability to recognize his picture; attitudes toward policing caste boundaries via issues such as intercaste marriage and conversion; and attitudes toward the practice of untouchability.
Amit Ahuja
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190916428
- eISBN:
- 9780190916466
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190916428.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Ethnic identity, scholars remind us, is only one among the wide repertoire of identities to which an individual has access. Still, the marginalized struggle to break free of a single stigmatized ...
More
Ethnic identity, scholars remind us, is only one among the wide repertoire of identities to which an individual has access. Still, the marginalized struggle to break free of a single stigmatized identity. This chapter returns to Dalits’ choice of social identities. It argues Dalits’ ability to adopt new social identities is highly constrained because their social exclusion and material deprivation are self-reinforcing. When Dalits are able to choose alternate social identities, other groups do not recognize these identities. Dalits’ experience with stigma illustrates that it is difficult for a marginalized ethnic group to leverage political equality to remedy social inequality because the social stigma associated with a marginalized ethnic identity changes slowly.Less
Ethnic identity, scholars remind us, is only one among the wide repertoire of identities to which an individual has access. Still, the marginalized struggle to break free of a single stigmatized identity. This chapter returns to Dalits’ choice of social identities. It argues Dalits’ ability to adopt new social identities is highly constrained because their social exclusion and material deprivation are self-reinforcing. When Dalits are able to choose alternate social identities, other groups do not recognize these identities. Dalits’ experience with stigma illustrates that it is difficult for a marginalized ethnic group to leverage political equality to remedy social inequality because the social stigma associated with a marginalized ethnic identity changes slowly.
