Literature Review on Caste System in India

It is outstanding that the authors researched segregation phenomena and focused on three main issues:

The perpetuation of segregation and why it does not collapse.

Measurement of segregation and the point it has reached, and its evolution over time.

The properties of segregation equilibrium.

    Concerning perpetuation of segregation and why it doesn't collapse, some economists have tried to prove how a community can transform from separateness equilibria to a perfect one. According to Akerlof (1980), he noted some factors that prohibit the caste system from collapsing, although he didn't highlight how the caste system is formed. The same path was followed by Scoville (1996, 2003). Another model was presented by Lundberg and Startz (2007), that try to explain how segregation reinforces itself.

    The second issue is about the measurement of segregation and its empirical research. The works concentrated on either labor market discrimination or spatial segregation because these two are the main tangible forms of segregation. They are also reliable sources of data. These works give wonderful researches because they are legion but fail to explain the emergencies in segregation (Thorat and Katherine, 2012).

    The third issue about the properties of segregation equilibria does not address the origin of segregation but instead address the efficiency of segregation equilibria. The research that was carried out by Cutler et al. (2008) is the best example of this issue. The model pushes the analysis a bit far, although, in the end, it does not explain the adoption of the segregationist strategies by the agents.

Social Identity on Caste System in India

        Some questions should be answered to know the determinants of the social class as perceived by the Indians. The following is the question: is caste system the main determinant of social status? Are there other factors that can effectively alleviate social identity? If other factors exist, can they have the same effect in all the groups? For example, education can be used by the high castes to improve their social status efficiently. The analysis depended on the data that was collected by the World Values Survey that was carried out in 1995 and 2001. One of the questions that were used in the survey was "to which of the five social classes do you think you belong to?". The data covered more than 8000 households. The caste system is informed for only less than 3500 Indians.

    Three main results are obtained from the analysis. The first result is that being from Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste is a significant determinant of the social class. Occupation and income that is either supervisory or involve individual or even physical capital have a significant impact. Education has less relevance, and it causes a rift that occurs between secondary and college education.

    Secondly, the effect of the caste system on the social identity is relatively higher among the Scheduled Tribes than the Scheduled Castes, despite the closeness in their rituals.  The significant shifts in occupation and income can create caste effect, especially for the Scheduled Castes. For example, acquiring skills or land can nullify the caste effect. Some improvements are unlikely to compensate for the tribe effect.

    Thirdly, it was found that the Scheduled group had both direct and indirect effect on the social identity. The indirect impact increases in income and has a lower effect on the social identity of the Scheduled Castes. The impact on this group is greatly indirect for the Scheduled Castes. The income effect varies among groups, which makes an effect of belonging to disappear among the Scheduled Caste. Basically, there is a direct effect on the tribe. The long-lasting discrimination may be viewed as the indirect caste effect since the Scheduled Castes are the untouchables and therefore are not ranked according to their wealth. The membership of the group may lower the expectations and ambitions, especially without reflecting on discrimination and stereotyping threat.

    Many sociologists and anthropologists have shown that the caste system is the primary determinant of social identity. Considerations by the caste may be somehow permeant as their code may rule several aspects of Indian’s lifestyle which includes rituals, marriages, food diets, and social interactions. Although there is significant heterogeneity in obeying the code, the caste system remains the central issue in social interaction.

References of Caste System in India

Thorat, Sukhadeo, and Katherine S. Neuman. Blocked by caste: economic discrimination in modern India. Oxford University Press, 2012.