ICSSRESRC Joint Workshop

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ICSSR--ESRC Joint Workshop on Economic
Restructuring Higher Education the Labour
Market Social Inequalities New Delhi, 4-5
December, 2008
Understanding Caste Statistically The
Possibilities and Problems of Macro Data
Satish Deshpande Department of Sociology Delhi
School of Economics, Delhi University
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The curious quirks of caste

• An Embarrassment barbaric? un-modern?

• No redemptive aspects only to be abolished

• Incongruity inability to grasp the modernity of
  caste

• Invisibility/Denial vs. Hypervisibility/Assertion

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Studying Caste in Contemporary India

• Data Issues a caste-blind state

• NSSO Data focus on poor understates
  inequality

• Major Areas MPCE, Occupation, Education, Land

SampleSizes
ToDataPossibilities
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Macro Data Possibilities

• Undermining Denial irrefutable evidence

• Aggregation Disaggregation

• Tracking Trends controlled comparisons

Evidence
Aggregtn/Disaggregtn
Trends
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Macro Data Problems

• Permanent risk of reification

• Cannot capture lived meanings

End
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Caste and Consumption Levels, Urban India
2000-2005
1999-2000
2004-2005
3750
3250
2750
2250
MPCE in 2004-05 Rupees
1750
1250
750
250
p5
p25
p50
p75
p95
p5
p25
p50
p75
p95
Percentiles of MPCE
ST
SC
OBC
UC
Source Computed from NSSO 55th and 61st Round
data.
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Thank You !