Excerpts from a paper[pdf file] by Surinder S. Jodhka & Katherine S. Newman
From the Working Paper Series, Volume III, Number 03, 2009
Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi
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This Working Paper “In the Name of Globalization: Meritocracy, Productivity and Hidden Language of Caste” draws on interview data to analyse the attitudes of 25 employers/hiring managers in India’s organized private sector towards the caste and community attributes of their potential employees. It focuses on the role ascriptive qualities play in employer perception of job candidates, arguing that they persist despite a formal adherence to the importance of merit.
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Caste plays an important role in organizing the rural labor force. As Mr. Vincor explained, even the unions are structured by caste:
Nearly 450 workers [in the first plant] belong to the local dominant caste of Jats and another 250 to 300 come from another dominant caste of Ahirs. Around 100 to 150 would be from different backward castes. Our workers are also organized on caste lines. Trade Union elections are mostly on caste lines….
Jat group is arrogant. It does not listen to any one. Ahirs are tamed. Brahmans are more learned and they speak well, and SCs are not vocal.
These are not neutral observations. The social organization of caste provides a platform for collective grievances, and the firm has been on the receiving end of labor actions that can be more easily organized, given the caste lines in the workforces. “At times they are very aggressive,” Vincor complained. “We have seen a lot of bad phase, strikes and lock outs.”
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India Motors relies on hiring practices that promote a mix of castes rather than permitting the dominance of a single group. And they avoid those groups that management regards as oppositional in character, likely to refuse management dictates and threaten labor actions instead.
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Such a preferential policy often exists side by side with a bright line that excludes those who do not fit these stereotypical expectations. For Fitness Health, this clearly includes Dalits, who need not apply. “Among SCs,” the manager explains, “there is a lack of technical skills. And their attitude is unmatchable for the company.” Is this an unfair, an example of bigotry? No, she insists, We have no prejudices about SCs and Muslims. This is a mind set issue.
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In the Name of Globalisation
The language of meritocracy has spread around the globe along with the competitive capitalism that gave birth to it. Largely gone is the notion that patrimonial ties, reciprocal obligations, and birthright should guarantee access to critical resources like jobs. Those ascriptive characteristics continue to matter – now dressed up as “family background” rather than caste – hardly causes the managers we interviewed to skip a beat. They are convinced that modernism is the future of their firms and the future of the country. It calls for the adoption of labor market practices that the advanced capitalist world embraces and a blind eye to the uneven playing field that produces merit in the first place.
What are the consequences of this cultural shift, of the spread of a common language that resonates with moral precepts of fairness, level playing fields? Can one argue against meritocracy in the modern world? Two responses come to mind. First, as we have suggested in this paper, the belief in merit is only sometimes accompanied by a truly “caste blind” orientation. Instead, we see the commitment to merit voiced alongside convictions that merit is distributed by caste or region and, hence, the qualities of individuals fade from view, replaced by stereotypes that – at best—will make it harder for a highly qualified low caste job applicant to gain recognition for his/her skills and accomplishments. At worst, they will be excluded simply by virtue of birthright. Under these circumstances, one must take the profession of deep belief in meritocracy with a heavy grain of salt. Anti-discrimination law is required to insist on the actual implementation of caste-blind policies of meritocratic hiring and, we submit, to question common and accepted practices of assessing
*All company names have been changed and identifying details modified slightly to protect the privacy of the firm and that of our interview subjects.
Read the full paper here[pdf file].
