Contemporary meaning of caste discrimination in Indian universities: a constructivist grounded theory

  • Published: 10 February 2024
  • Volume 88 , pages 1503–1524, ( 2024 )

Cite this article

case study on caste discrimination in india

  • Malhar Deshmukh   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2641-8109 1 ,
  • Deepika Sharma 1 ,
  • Sneha Prasad 1 ,
  • Sushmita Dey 1 &
  • Anurag Rai 2  

786 Accesses

1 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

In Indian society, caste is assigned to us before birth. Caste positions individuals in a social, economic, and political hierarchy. This study explores the meaning of caste discrimination from the perspectives of individuals who experience it in their everyday lives. Many studies have focused on the causes and consequences of caste discrimination and the nature of caste discrimination in different settings. Still, very few have dealt with the “meaning” of caste discrimination and how that meaning-making occurs in the context of present-day academia.

This paper adopts an ecological systems approach to explore individuals’ interactions with different social settings. Grounded in the epistemological standpoint of social constructionism, the study explored the meaning of caste discrimination through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions conducted with 22 students who belonged to reserved categories. Constructivist grounded theory was used for analysis to understand the process of meaning formation along with the meaning of caste discrimination. We found that students conceive caste discrimination as the maintenance of the social hierarchy, imposition of rigid identity, and invalidation of caste discriminatory practices. This conception of the meaning was influenced by multiple factors, such as interactions with peers, local cultural ideologies, and treatment received in the academia by teaching and non-teaching staff. The study’s findings indicate the need for an integrative indigenous theory of caste discrimination to ensure equitable higher education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save.

  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

case study on caste discrimination in india

From Obedience to Resistance: Understanding Equal Rights to Education Movement as a Cultural Process

case study on caste discrimination in india

The Promotion of Socially Inclusive East Asian Society: the Hong Kong Case

case study on caste discrimination in india

Black Women Professors in South African Universities: Advancing Social Justice

Agarwal, S., & Priyanka, M. (2017). Perceived caste discrimination, self esteem and self determination among college students belonging to scheduled castes. Journal of Psychosocial Research , 12 (1), 147–158. Retrieved 21 April, 2023 from www.printspublications.com

Ambedkar, B. R. (Bhimrao Ramji), 1891–1956. (1990). Annihilation of caste: an undelivered speech. New Delhi :Arnold Publishers,

Arora, N. (2016). Meritocracy in education: an implicit theory perspective. International Journal of Indian Psychology , 3 (4). https://doi.org/10.25215/0304.105

Bagde, S. K., Epple, D., & Taylor, L. (2016). Does affirmative action work? Caste, gender, college quality, and academic success in India. American Economic Review, 106 (6), 1495–1521. https://doi.org/10.1257/AER.20140783

Article   Google Scholar  

Bailwal, N., & Paul, S. (2021). Caste discrimination in provision of public schools in rural India. 57 (11), 1830–1851. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2020.1862796

Banerjee, S., & Ghosh, N. (2018). Introduction. Debating intersectionalities: challenges for a methodological framework. https://Journals.Openedition.Org/Samaj , 19 (19). https://doi.org/10.4000/SAMAJ.4745

Barman, R. K. (2020). Casteism and caste intolerance in India: a study on casteism of contemporary West Bengal. 12 (2), 165–180. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X19898451

Bhojani, U., Madegowda, C., Prashanth, N. S., Hebbar, P., Mirzoev, T., Karlsen, S., & Mir, G. (2019). Affirmative action, minorities, and public services in India: charting a future research and practice agenda. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 4 (4), 265. https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2019.062

Bishwakarma, L. B. (2017). Caste-based discrimination in schooling: a narrative inquiry. Nepalese Journal of Development and Rural Studies, 14 (1–2), 56–62. https://doi.org/10.3126/NJDRS.V14I1-2.19648

Bourdieu, P. (2021). Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. Routledge Library Editions: British Sociological Association, 3 , 71–112. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351018142-3/CULTURAL-REPRODUCTION-SOCIAL-REPRODUCTION-PIERRE-BOURDIEU

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32 (7), 513–531. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.513

Chakraborty, S., & Bohara, A. K. (2021). The Cost of Being ‘Backward’ in India: Socio-religious. Indian Journal of Human Development, 5 (2), 252–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/09737030211029634

Chand, D. (2023). (Re)-production of caste prejudices: viva-voce examination in higher education in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Caste in Everyday Life , 107–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30655-6_5

Charmaz, K. (2017). Constructivist grounded theory. Journal of Positive Psychology, 12 (3), 299–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1262612

Charmaz, K. (2014). Contructing grounded theory. In sage publishing (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. Retrieved January 2, 2023 from https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/constructing-grounded-theory/book235960

Charmaz, K. (2016). The power of constructivist grounded theory for critical inquiry. 23 (1), 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800416657105

Christensen, J. (2016). A critical reflection of Bronfenbrenner’s development ecology model. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 69 (1), 22–28.

Crenshaw, K. W. (2013). Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. The Public Nature of Private Violence: Women and the Discovery of Abuse , 93–118. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039

David, E. (2013). Internalized oppression: the psychology of marginalized groups . Retrieved April 22, 2023 from https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZDkzAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=internalized+oppression+and+intergenerational+trauma&ots=K4gXY7gcO0&sig=YhjpVhJImDscgbbpnXEf0HG3HuA

Desai, S., & Dubey, A. (2012). Caste in 21st Century India: Competing Narratives. Econ Polit Wkly, 46 (11), 40–49.

Google Scholar  

Desai, S., & Kulkarni, V. (2008). Changing educational inequalities in India in the context of affirmative action. Demography, 45 (2), 245. https://doi.org/10.1353/DEM.0.0001

Deshpande, S. (2006). Exclusive inequalities: merit, caste and discrimination in Indian higher education today on JSTOR. Economic and Political Weekly, 41 (24), 2438–2444. Retrieved March 3, 2023 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/4418346

Deshpande, A. (2011). Theories of discrimination and caste. In The Grammar of Caste (pp. 19–56). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ACPROF:OSO/9780198072034.003.0002

Deshpande, S., & Zacharias, U. (2013). Beyond inclusion: The practice of equal access in Indian higher education. Beyond Inclusion: The Practice of Equal Access in Indian Higher Education, 1–340. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315816296

Dhawan, N. B., Belluigi, D. Z., & Idahosa, G. E. O. (2022). “There is a hell and heaven difference among faculties who are from quota and those who are non-quota”: under the veneer of the “New Middle Class” production of Indian public universities. Higher Education , 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10734-022-00932-7/TABLES/3

Gergen, K. J. (1985). The social constructionist movement in modern psychology. American Psychologist, 40 (3), 266–275. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.40.3.266

Hiwrale, A. (2020). Caste: understanding the nuances from Ambedkar’s expositions. 6 (1), 78–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394481120944772

Jadhav, S., Mosse, D., & Dostaler, N. (2016). Minds of caste – discrimination and its affects. Anthropology Today, 32 (1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12221

Jamil, N., Azhar, Z., Bhatti, M. N., & Sohail, M. M. (2012). The impact of traditional social stratification on self esteem of students. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 2 (12), 2343–2356. Retrieved April 21, 2023 from https://archive.aessweb.com/index.php/5007/article/view/2396

Jaspal, R. (2011). Caste, social stigma and identity processes. Psychology and Developing Societies, 23 (1), 27–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/097133361002300102

Jodhka, S. S, & Shah, G. (2010). Comparative contexts of discrimination: caste and untouchability in South Asia on JSTOR. Economic and Political Weekly , 45 (48), 99–106. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25764189

Jodhka, S. S. (2015a). Ascriptive hierarchies: caste and its reproduction in contemporary India. 64 (2), 228–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115614784

Jodhka, S. S. (2015b). Engaging with caste: academic discourses, identity politics, and state policy. In India’s Children: Essays on Social Policy (pp. 331–349). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ACPROF:OSO/9780199455287.003.0013

John, R. K., Xavier, B., Waldmeier, A., Meyer, A., & Gaab, J. (2020). The governmental ranking of class and the academic performance of Indian adolescents. PLoS One . https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0241483

Komanapalli, V., & Rao, D. (2020). The mental health impact of caste and structural inequalities in higher education in India. 58 (3), 392–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461520963862

Kumar, Dr. .V. (2021). Nature and dynamics of caste discrimination on higher education campuses: a perspective from below. Cross-Currents: an International Peer-Reviewed Journal on Humanities & Social Sciences, 7 (1), 34–40. https://doi.org/10.36344/CCIJHSS.2021.V07I01.003

Kunduri, E. (2018). Between Khet (field) and factory, Gaanv (village) and Sheher (city): caste, gender and the (re)shaping of migrant identities in urban India. https://Journals.Openedition.Org/Samaj , 19 (19). https://doi.org/10.4000/SAMAJ.4582

Ligita, T., Harvey, N., Wicking, K., Nurjannah, I., & Francis, K. (2020). A practical example of using theoretical sampling throughout a grounded theory study: a methodological paper. Qualitative Research Journal, 20 (1), 116–126. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-07-2019-0059/FULL/PDF

Louis, M. R., & Bartunek, J. M. (1992). Insider/outsider research teams. 1 (2), 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1177/105649269212002

Maines, D. R. (2000). Charting futures for sociology: culture and meaning: the social construction of meaning. Contemporary Sociology, 29 (4), 577–584. https://doi.org/10.2307/2654557

Maruthi, I., & Peter, P. (2018). Caste discrimination practices in rural Karnataka . Retrieved April 21, 2023 from http://www.isec.ac.in/WP%20418%20-%20Maruthi%20and%20Pesala%20P%20-%20Final.pdf

Masquelier, C. (2017). Personal responsibilization. In Critique and Resistance in a Neoliberal Age (pp. 47–60). Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40194-6_5

Maurya, R. K. (2018). In their own voices: experiences of Dalit students in higher education institutions. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 20 (3), 17–38. https://doi.org/10.18251/IJME.V20I3.1627

Mosse, D. (2018). Caste and development: contemporary perspectives on a structure of discrimination and advantage. In World Development, 110 , 422–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.003 . Elsevier Ltd.

Mutz, D. C., & Goldman, S. K. (2010). Effects of mass media on prejudice. Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination, 108 , 241–258. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446200919.n15

Nightingale, A. J. (2011). Bounding difference: intersectionality and the material production of gender, caste, class and environment in Nepal. Geoforum, 42 (2), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GEOFORUM.2010.03.004

Palaganas, E. C., Sanchez, M. C., Molintas, M. V. P., & Caricativo, R. D. (2017). Reflexivity in qualitative research: A journey of learning. The Qualitative Report, 22 (2), 426–438. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2552

Pandey, P., & Pandey, S. (2018). Survey at an IIT campus shows how caste affects students’ perceptions. Economic and Political Weekly (Engage), 53 (9). Retrieved March 5, 2023 from https://www.epw.in/engage/article/Survey-at-an-IIT-Campus-Shows-How-Caste-Affects-Students-Perceptions

Pant, N., & Chaudhuri, C. (2022). Affirmative action policy in India: an analysis. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 2022 (4), 2601–2612. Retrieved April 7, 2023 from https://journalppw.com/index.php/jpsp/article/view/3718

Pathania, G. J., Jadhav, S., Thorat, A., Mosse, D., & Jain, S. (2023a). Caste identities and structures of threats: stigma, prejudice and social representation in Indian universities. CASTE/A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, 4 (1), 03–23. https://doi.org/10.26812/CASTE.V4I1.470

Pathania, G. J., Jadhav, S., Thorat, A., Mosse, D., & Jain, S. (2023b). Caste identities and structures of threats: stigma, prejudice and social representation in Indian universities. CASTE/A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, 4 (1), 03–23. https://doi.org/10.26812/CASTE.V4I1.470

Rathod, B. (2017). Caste-based discrimination in higher education: an application of microaggression theory in Indian context. Journal of Exclusion Studies, 7 (2), 171. https://doi.org/10.5958/2231-4555.2017.00015.8

Rhodes, M., & Baron, A. (2019). The development of social categorization. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 1 (1), 359–386. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-084824

Sahgal, N., Evans, J., Salazar, A. M., Starr, K. J., & Corichi, M. (2021). Religion in India: tolerance and segregation . Retrieved March 2, 2023 from https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/06/29/attitudes-about-caste/

Sengupta, S., & Guchhait, S. K. (2021). Inequality in contemporary India: does caste still matter? Journal of Developing Societies, 37 (1), 57–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X21998387

Sharma, D. A. P. (2021). Changing characteristics of the caste system in India. Journal of Oriental Studies, 96 (1), 32–40. https://doi.org/10.26577/JOS.2021.V96.I1.04

Sharma, B., & Geetha, K. (2021). Casteing gender: intersectional oppression of Dalit women. Journal of International Women’s Studies , 22 (10). Retrieved April 5, 2023 from https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol22/iss10/1

Singh, G., Vithayathil, T., & Pradhan, K. C. (2019). Recasting inequality: residential segregation by caste over time in urban India. Environment and Urbanization, 31 (2), 615–634. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247818812330

Smith, J. (1995). Rethinking methods in psychology. In Rethinking Methods in Psychology . SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446221792

Subramanian, A. (2015). Making merit: the Indian institutes of technology and the social life of caste. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 57 (2), 291–322. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417515000043

Subramanian, A. (2019). Meritocracy and democracy. Public Culture , 31 (2), 275–288. Retrieved March 2, 2023 from https://www.academia.edu/42242977/Meritocracy_and_Democracy_Indian_Reservations_and_the_Politics_of_Caste

Sukumar, N. (2023). Caste discrimination and exclusion in Indian universities : a critical reflection (1st ed.). Routledge India. Retrieved November 10, 2023 from https://www.routledge.com/Caste-Discrimination-and-Exclusion-in-Indian-Universities-A-Critical-Reflection/Sukumar/p/book/9781032290515#

Tajfel, H., Turner, J. C., Austin, W. G., & Worchel, S. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. Organizational identity: A reader, 56-65.

Thorat, S., & Madheswaran, S. (2018). Graded caste inequality and poverty: Evidence on role of economic discrimination.  4 (1), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394481118775873

Thorat, S., & Neuman, K. S. (2012). Blocked by caste: economic discrimination in modern India . Oxford University Press. Retrieved April 22, 2023 from https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oxp:obooks:9780198081692

Vaid, D. (2012). The caste-class association in India: an empirical analysis. Asian Survey, 52 (2), 395–422. https://doi.org/10.1525/AS.2012.52.2.395

Varma, R., & Kapur, D. (2010). Access, satisfaction, and future: undergraduate education at the Indian Institutes of Technology. Higher Education, 59 (6), 703–717. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10734-009-9275-0/TABLES/8

Yengde, S. (2019). Caste Matters. Penguin Random House, 325 pp., ₹599. ISBN: 978-0-670-09122-5 (Paperback).

Zhang, Y. (2018). Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach to understand academic advising with international community college students. Journal of International Students, 31 (1), 42–54. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1468084

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, IIT ISM Dhanbad, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India

Malhar Deshmukh, Deepika Sharma, Sneha Prasad & Sushmita Dey

Bapu Post-Graduate College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273165, India

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deepika Sharma .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 16 KB)

Rights and permissions.

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Deshmukh, M., Sharma, D., Prasad, S. et al. Contemporary meaning of caste discrimination in Indian universities: a constructivist grounded theory. High Educ 88 , 1503–1524 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01180-7

Download citation

Accepted : 03 January 2024

Published : 10 February 2024

Issue Date : October 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01180-7

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

  • Caste discrimination
  • Constructivist grounded theory
  • Ecological approach
  • Meaning formation
  • Find a journal
  • Publish with us
  • Track your research