scholarly journals Caste and the Indian Economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaivan Munshi
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indian Economy ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Urban Labor Markets ◽  
Caste Groups

Caste plays a role at every stage of an Indian's economic life, in school, university, the labor market, and into old age. The influence of caste extends beyond private economic activity into the public sphere, where caste politics determines access to public resources. The aggregate evidence indicates that there has been convergence in education, occupations, income, and access to public resources across caste groups in the decades after independence. Some of this convergence is likely due to affirmative action, but caste-based networks could also have played an equalizing role by exploiting the opportunities that became available in a globalizing economy. Ethnic networks were once active in many advanced economies but ceased to be salient once markets developed. With economic development, it is possible that caste networks will cease to be salient in India. The affirmative action programs may also be rolled back and (statistical) discrimination in urban labor markets may come to an end if and when there is convergence across caste groups. In the interim period, however, it is important to understand the positive and negative consequences of caste involvement across a variety of spheres in the Indian economy. (JEL G22, J15, J71, O15, O17, Z13)

scholarly journals The University as Public Sphere

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Ambrozas
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Women's Studies ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Compte Rendu ◽  
Elite Institution ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The University ◽  
Nancy Fraser

Abstract: There is a certain parallel between arguments about the decline of the public sphere and the decline of the university today. Both institutions are said to be increasingly fragmented and politicized. In this paper, I mobilize Nancy Fraser's alternative account of the public in order to defend contemporary political changes in the university, such as affirmative action or women's studies programs. Such changes are necessary to transform an elite institution into a more democratic one and, in addition, they broaden the scope of our knowledge. Résumé: On peut établir un certain parallèle entre les arguments concernant le déclin de la sphère publique et le déclin de l'université aujourd'hui. On dit que les deux institutions deviennent de plus en plus fragmentées et politisées. Dans cet article, j'utilise le compte-rendu alternatif de la sphère publique donné par Nancy Fraser pour défendre les changements politiques contemporains dans l'université, comme l'action affirmative ou les programmes d'études des femmes. Ces changements sont nécessaires pour transformer une institution élite en institution plus démocratique et ils contribuent en outre à élargir l'éventail de nos connaissances.

scholarly journals Should we fund research randomly? An epistemological criticism of the lottery model as an alternative to peer review for the funding of science

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-157
Author(s):  
Baptiste Bedessem
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Alternative Funding ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Epistemological Analysis ◽  
Fund Research

Abstract The way research is, and should be, funded by the public sphere is the subject of renewed interest for sociology, economics, management sciences, and more recently, for the philosophy of science. In this contribution, I propose a qualitative, epistemological criticism of the funding by lottery model, which is advocated by a growing number of scholars as an alternative to peer review. This lottery scheme draws on the lack of efficiency and of robustness of the peer-review-based evaluation to argue that the majority of public resources for basic science should be allocated randomly. I first differentiate between two distinct arguments used to defend this alternative funding scheme based on considerations about the logic of scientific research. To assess their epistemological limits, I then present and develop a conceptual frame, grounded on the notion of ‘system of practice’, which can be used to understand what precisely it means, for a research project, to be interesting or significant. I use this epistemological analysis to show that the lottery model is not theoretically optimal, since it underestimates the integration of all scientific projects in densely interconnected systems of conceptual, experimental, or technical practices which confer their proper interest to them. I also apply these arguments in order to criticize the classical peer-review process. I finally suggest, as a discussion, that some recently proposed models that bring to the fore a principle of decentralization of the evaluation and selection process may constitute a better alternative, if the practical conditions of their implementation are adequately settled.

scholarly journals Outsourcing to Not-for-Profits: Can Judicial Enforcement of Charity Law Provide Accountability for the Performance of ‘Public’ Functions?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Murray ◽  
Murray Wesson
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Front Line ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Limits ◽  
Government Functions ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
Legal Accountability ◽  
The Public Sphere

Governments increasingly rely on charities to provide services on behalf of government. Decisions on outsourced functions can relate to the distribution of public resources, such as the provision of housing, education or legal assistance. Accordingly, such decisions can be contentious and outsourcing potentially places that contention in the private sphere rather than the public sphere. This article examines the extent to which outsourcing service delivery to charities affects the ability of current or potential service recipients to hold decision-makers accountable. It argues that outsourcing government functions to charities will often place such functions beyond the scope of public law judicial review. However, charity law contains accountability mechanisms that have the potential to fill the gap. These mechanisms are identified and then compared with the availability of judicial review for government decisions by reference to scope, grounds, standing, time limits and remedies. This article finds that in many circumstances there should be no diminution of legal accountability. Nevertheless, charity law is less tested than administrative law, is not as effective in dealing with service decisions made by front line employees and does not as readily guarantee procedural fairness. Balanced against this, charity law may provide more generous time limits and better enable systemic issues to be addressed.

scholarly journals A Brief History of Incivility in Rural Postcolonial India: Caste, Religion, and Anthropology

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-89
Author(s):  
Edward Simpson ◽  
Alice Tilche ◽  
Tommaso Sbriccoli ◽  
Patricia Jeffery ◽  
Tina Otten
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Madhya Pradesh ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Rural India ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractAnthropological studies of Indian villages conducted in the 1950s and 1960s form a valuable archive of rural life soon after India's independence. We compare sections of that archive with recent fieldwork in the same villages in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. If we trust the ethnography of the 1950s, domestic and caste spheres were the locations of village incivility. It is noteworthy that there is no reference in the early work to the Partition of the subcontinent that had occurred just a few years before. Neither is there mention of discrimination or violence carried out in the name of religion in these locations. New fieldwork reveals a different story about the rise of wholesale religious incivility in the public sphere. Caste has not vanished, but inter-caste relations have taken on new forms. We suggest that the intersection of affirmative action policies, political parties, and the systematic penetration of Hindu nationalist organizations has been crucial in the remaking of rural India.

Challenging Corporate Personhood Theory: Reclaiming the Public

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-88
Author(s):  
Ronit Donyets-Kedar
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Corporate Personhood ◽  
The Public ◽  
Corporate Rights ◽  
Real Entity ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract The article aims is to show that the jurisprudence of corporate law, and specifically the theory of corporate personhood, lacks almost any explanatory power for legal doctrines and rules it is thought to inform. The article argues, first, as a matter of theory, that the different models of corporate personhood (the concession model, the aggregate theory and the real entity theory) do not carry normative weight to inform significant, concrete legal conclusions; and second, as a practical matter of legal doctrine, that the Supreme Court’s rulings on corporate rights deploy the theoretical models of corporate personhood interchangeably and inconsistently, to the effect that the same theoretical models are being used to suit contradictory purposes. As corporations are increasingly dominant in all aspects of social, political, and economic life, the article argues that reformulating the theoretical foundations that underlie corporate legal status has become especially urgent. The article therefore calls to develop a new discourse for corporate jurisprudence, and suggests that the central axis for this new discourse should be the substantive influence of corporate power on shaping the public sphere.

scholarly journals TERRITORIALIZAÇÃO DE POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS: APONTAMENTOS SOBRE A COVID-19 E O CÓDIGO DE ENDEREÇAMENTO POSTAL NAS FAVELAS CARIOCAS

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
André Luiz da Silva LIMA (COC/FIOCRUZ)
Keyword(s):  
Public Policies ◽  
Postal Address ◽  
The Public ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
The Face ◽  
Street Address ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Right

Em tempos de crise humanitária, provocada pela Pandemia do novo coronavírus, debates sobre o uso inteligente dos recursos públicos ocupam os tabloides com a opinião dos especialistas. No conjunto da sociedade brasileira, a fratura da desigualdade social ficou ainda mais exposta, e com isso a discussão em torno de políticas públicas e o papel do Estado diante do delicado momento ganhou espaço na esfera pública. Nesta direção, cabe referenciar a existência de contingentes populacionais significativos vivendo em localidades que não possuem o acesso adequado a serviços públicos básicos, que não gozam do direito à Cidade, e que são sistematicamente invisibilizados, inclusive no plano da estatística pública. São localidades sem CEP (Código de Endereçamento Postal), importantes não apenas para o serviço essencial de recebimento de cartas e encomendas pelos Correios, mas para atribuição de endereço aos indivíduos em contato com as malhas do Estado. Não ter endereço com CEP, por logradouro, significa ter a existência -espacialmente falando - atrelada a outro lugar que não é onde se vive, e por consequência, com danos ao exercício da cidadania plena. O enfrentamento ao Covid-19 depreende uma ação do Poder Público de forma eficaz, de políticas públicas articuladas, devidamente financiadas, transparentes e, não menos importante, territorializadas.Palavras Chave: Favelas. Covid-19. Políticas PúblicasTERRITORIALIZATION OF PUBLIC POLICIES: NOTES ABOUT COVID-19 AND THE POSTAL ADDRESS CODE IN RIO FAVELASIn times of humanitarian crisis, caused by the Pandemic of the new coronavirus, debates about the intelligent use of public resources occupy the tabloids with the opinion of experts. In Brazilian society as a whole, the fracture of social inequality was even more exposed, and with this the discussion around public policies and the role of the State in the face of this delicate moment gained space in the public sphere. In this sense, it is worth mentioning the existence of significant population contingents living in locations that do not have adequate access to basic public services, that do not enjoy the right to the City, and that are systematically made invisible, including in terms of public statistics. They are locations without CEP (Postal Address Code), important not only for the essential service of receiving letters and parcels by the Post Office, but for assigning addresses to individuals in contact with the state's networks. Not having a postal address, by street address, means having one's existence - spatially speaking - linked to another place that is not where one lives, and consequently, with damage to the exercise of full citizenship. The confrontation with Covid-19 implies an effective government action, articulated public policies, duly financed, transparent and, not least, territorialized.Keywords: Favelas. Covid-19. Public policy

Aspects of Change Among Female Migrants: The Case of Kukis in Delhi

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-312
Author(s):  
Thanggoulen Kipgen ◽  
Biswambhar Panda
Keyword(s):  
Field Work ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Patriarchal System ◽  
Female Migration ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
Domestic Roles ◽  
The Church

Female migration has increased globally in the last few decades. Women no longer migrate as passive followers of husbands, family or relatives but as independent migrants, causing various changes in their socio-economic life. Drawing insights primarily from field work data, the paper examines the changing role and status of Kuki women in Delhi, India, and argues that they have moved away from their traditional domestic roles. After migration, they have occupied important positions in various organizations such as the Sum Lom, Prayer Cell, the Church and the Kuki Inpi. They now play an important role in decision-making processes in the public sphere, thereby eroding elements in the traditional patriarchal system.

scholarly journals Domniemane i rzeczywiste przyczyny chińskiego cudu gospodarczego. Polemika z Kazimierzem Poznańskim

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemysław Rotengruber
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Economy ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Confucian Ethics ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economic Miracle ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Hearts And Minds

Domniemane i rzeczywiste przyczyny chińskiego cudu gospodarczego. Polemikaz Kazimierzem Poznańskim [Alleged and real reasons for the Chinese economy miracle. A polemicwith Kazimierz Poznański] edited by W. Banach, M.A. Michalski, J. Sójka, „Człowiek i Społeczeństwo”vol. XLVI: Między Chinami a Zachodem. Pytanie o źródła chińskiego sukcesu gospodarczego [BetweenChina and the West. An inquiry into the sources of the Chinese economic miracle], Poznań 2018,pp. 67–84, Adam Mickiewicz University. Faculty of Social Sciences Press. ISSN 0239-3271. China has come a long way in the last hundred years. It is so long that it’s easy to forget about the problems that the Chinese had to face earlier. They struggled with patterns of long duration making it difficult for them to break out of the centuries-old stagnation. The Chinese were looking for new patterns of political culture. However, not only those patterns required a correction. If Fukuyama is right, the rules of caring for one’s family at the expense of social obligations have turned out to be no less troublesome. The Chinese way to prosperity led then not only through the public sphere, but also through the hearts and minds of the Chinese. They had to cut themselves off from the past. Meanwhile, in the time of economic prosperity, the longing for the past returns. The place of doctrines borrowed from the Western world replaces nostalgia. Deng Xiaoping’s political references to the teachings of Confucius are – in the blink of an eye – becoming the basic message. It is not surprising that the Chinese people want to forget about the embarrassing moments of their own history. These trends, however, should not affect external observers of economic life in China. One of such observers is Kazimierz Poznański. He believes that the cause of the Chinese economic miracle is the Confucian ethics (despite the historical changes shaping the Chinese mentality). The aim of the article is to verify this hypothesis.

scholarly journals Laughing About Caste

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Shreyashi Ganguly
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Process Conditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Stand Up Comedy ◽  
Caste Discrimination ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Caste Groups

The literature on political humour in India has largely evaded the question of how humour intersects with caste stratification. Not much has been written about humour’s potential to discriminate against certain caste groups of the lower social order. Similarly, the traditional media in India has been silent about the issue of caste following which, social media has emerged as the ‘counter publics’ where caste identity can be collectively and freely expressed. Taking the now flourishing brand of English stand-up comedy on the Internet in India as an entry point, this study investigates if the symbolic articulation of caste identities is at all made possible in this genre. Using a combination of discourse analysis and social media analysis, to examine the jokes produced in stand-up shows, this analysis tries to gauge how frequently, and in what ways, caste finds mention in these performances on the Internet. This paper finds that caste identity, and the associated discrimination, are hardly evoked in the comedians’ discourse. And when spoken about, they are often done so in a disparaging light. I conclude this paper by illuminating the ways in which this disparaging humour bolsters caste discrimination, sustains stereotypes and, in the process, conditions the normalized exclusion of lower-caste groupings from the public sphere.

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