Caste, Class and Stratification in India

This paper examines the nature and persistence of caste-based economic stratification in modern India. While the link between caste and hereditary occupation has weakened with economic modernization, caste remains a powerful axis of economic disparity. Using data from national surveys and censuses, the paper documents significant and persistent gaps between broad caste groups—Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Upper Castes—across key indicators such as education, occupation, income, and health. Recent changes to India's unique affirmative action policy ("reservation policy") has sparked a fresh debate on whether class (or economic status) has superseded caste as the primary marker of disadvantage. An evidence-based analysis reveals that caste-based gaps persist even within economic classes. The paper investigates the mechanisms that underlie the social reproduction of the caste system, identifying endogamy, and the illegal but persistent practice of untouchability, as the two main mechanisms. The latter has tangible negative consequences for early childhood development, which carries forward into adult life caste disparities. The paper also explores the intersection of caste with gender and finds that the classic trade-off between economic status and agency/autonomy has vanished over time. We conclude that caste, while transformed, continues to mediate economic outcomes and life chances in a globalizing India, presenting a complex challenge for policy aimed at achieving substantive equality.