How Caste Shapes the Origin and Transformation of Work and Employment in India

Abstract

Studies in social sciences have an extensive literature that deals with caste as a governing social institution and its relevance in India’s socio-political and economic realms. For instance, research on labour segmentation and its linkages with material inequality or economic status has a long history. This article contextualises the history of caste order in India, which recognised the predominant role of occupation and the related socio-economic superiority of work, value and reward. Based on an analytical review of available literature, it suggests that in addition to the debates on the policy of reservations in India, there is an equally pertinent question: Why the direct impact to disintegrate caste-occupational affiliations continues to remain at numerically miniscule levels (central government data) despite an elaborate constitutional mechanism to secure valued positions of formal employment in place?