“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

Abstract

The university is a highly politicized and fractious realm for students and academics. Amidst trade-offs between the processes of massification, democratization, commodification, and globalization, the question of transformation for sustainability has become crucial to the social good(s) of higher education. This paper considers academic citizenry within Indian public higher education — a context where the increase in the enrollment of first-generation students and female students, due to affirmative action policies, has not substantially translated into altering the composition of academic staff. Informed by a mixed-method study conducted in 2019 with the participation of academics and those in leadership positions at four higher education institutions, we found that the enactment of such policies was operationalized for the production of the “New Middle Class” by universities. Of concern is that neither the representation nor the participation of academics who are women, “lower” castes, or minorities meets the mark of just, inclusive institutions. Despite the rhetoric of inclusiveness and development, the implementation of related policies clothe subalterns with the veneer of the intellectual class, permitting access on condition that sociocultural identities are concealed, and the hegemonic status quo maintained. Terms such as “quality” and “equality” function as tools for social control rather than serving social justice, where assertions of caste identity and resistance are simultaneously repudiated and misrecognized.

Caste studies today

“…However, we can grant that Majumdar and his sources do not have a legal background, and "institutional murder" need not be read as a term of art but as a sort of rhetorical device. Rohith Vemula's suicide note does not mention caste oppression (De Roover 2016), although a host of commentators from politicians to academics tried to paint the caste system as the cause of his suicide (see similarly, Dhawan et al 2022). Telangana police said at one point that he wasn't a Dalit, which puts in doubt his position in any claimed caste hierarchy (Express News Service 2016).…”

“…There is an inevitable tension between the two sides given that less qualified persons are accorded privileges on dubious grounds. It does not seem realistic or reasonable to reduce the resulting educational or workplace frictions or resentments to caste-based discrimination or harassment, as Dhawan et al (2022) and Paliwal (2023) also do more recently. 7 Caste reservations or quotas are based only on caste membership without any test of disadvantage or merit.…”

Unpacking (un)conscious social class bias in faculty hiring processes in Chile: PhD prestige granting university and network

“…Nonetheless, several quantitative studies from recent years reveal that academics from upper and uppermiddle classes are overrepresented in the group of tenure track faculty (for the USA, see Morgan et al, 2022; países revelan que la clase social de origen aún incide en las oportunidades de contratación en universidades prestigiosas para quienes provienen de la clase social más baja (Chiappa & Perez, 2019;Dhawan, Belluigi & Idahosa, 2022;Morgan et al, 2022). Considerando el contexto de Chile, la teoría de la reproducción social y cultural y una serie de marcos referenciales para garantizar procesos de contrataciones académicas 'justas', esta investigación identifica mecanismos de sesgo (in)conscientes asociados a la clase que operan en las etapas de reclutamiento y selección de candidatos/as a cargos académicos en siete departamentos de economía e ingeniería industrial (46 entrevistas).…”

“…Recomendaciones para hacer visible los segos (in)conscientes en los procesos de contratación académica son discutidos al final del artículo. Lee, 2017; for India, see Dhawan et al, 2022; for Germany, see Blome et al, 2019; for Chile, see Chiappa & Perez Mejias, 2019). In (post)colonial countries, social class of origin and race are highly correlated.…”

“…Nonetheless, several quantitative studies from recent years reveal that academics from upper and upper‐middle classes are overrepresented in the group of tenure track faculty (for the USA, see Morgan et al, 2022; Lee, 2017; for India, see Dhawan et al, 2022; for Germany, see Blome et al, 2019; for Chile, see Chiappa & Perez Mejias, 2019). In (post)colonial countries, social class of origin and race are highly correlated.…”