The Effects of Historical Dalit Social Mobilization

Abstract

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.