Caste Mobility in Urban Welfare Politics: A Theoretical Appraisal of Political Socialization beyond Traditional Caste Alignments in Uttar Pradesh
Anushika Tyagi
Research Scholar of Political Science, Sharda School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India.
Rukmani
Assistant Professor, Sharda School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India.
This paper examines caste mobility in urban welfare politics in Uttar Pradesh through a theoretical appraisal of political socialization beyond traditional caste alignments. Caste has historically played a central role in shaping political identities, electoral preferences, and political mobilization in Uttar Pradesh. However, rapid urbanization, educational expansion, occupational diversification, migration, and changing socio-economic conditions have created new contexts in which caste identities interact with class, occupation, welfare access, and urban citizenship. The paper employs a theoretical framework combining Pitirim A. Sorokinâs (1959) Social Mobility Theory and Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verbaâs (1963) Political Socialization Theory. Sorokinâs framework helps explain how changes in social and economic position can transform the significance of inherited caste identities, while Political Socialization Theory explains how political attitudes and orientations develop through social experiences and interactions with political institutions. The paper argues that urban welfare programmes and state citizen interactions can become important mechanisms of political socialization by shaping perceptions of government performance, political participation, and political preferences. It further contends that welfare-oriented politics does not necessarily replace caste politics but may reshape and intersect with caste identities through emerging class, occupational, educational, and urban experiences. The study contributes to understanding changing political alignments and the evolving relationship between caste mobility, welfare politics, and political socialization in contemporary Uttar Pradesh.
Keywords: Caste Mobility; Urbanization; Welfare Politics; Political Socialization, Electoral Behaviour.
Almond, G. A., & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy in five nations. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400874569Auerbach, A. M., & Kruks-Wisner, G. (2020). The geography of citizenship practice: How the poor engage the state in rural and urban India. Perspectives on Politics, 18(4), 1118â1134. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720000043Bardhan, P., Mitra, S., Mookherjee, D., & Nath, A. (2024). How do voters respond to welfare vis-à -vis public good programs? Theory and evidence of political clientelism. Quantitative Economics, 15(3), 655â697. https://doi.org/10.3982/QE2315Chandra, K. (2004). Why ethnic parties succeed: Patronage and ethnic head counts in India. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108573481Chandra, K. (2005). Ethnic parties and democratic stability. Perspectives on Politics, 3(2), 235â252. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592705050188Chandrasekhar, S., & Mitra, A. (2019). Migration, caste and livelihood: Evidence from Indian city-slums. Urban Research & Practice, 12(2), 156â172. https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2018.1426781Chhotray, V., Adhikari, A., & Bahuguna, V. (2020). The political prioritization of welfare in India: Comparing the public distribution system in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. World Development, 128, 104853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104853Ciotti, M. (2009). The conditions of politics: Low-caste women's political agency in contemporary North Indian society. Feminist Review, 91(1), 113â134. https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2008.42Ciotti, M. (2012). Resurrecting seva (social service): Dalit and low-caste women party activists as producers and consumers of political culture and practice in urban North India. The Journal of Asian Studies, 71(1), 149â170. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002191181100297XDas, R., Dey, S., & Neogi, R. (2021). Across the stolen ponds: The political geography of social welfare in rural eastern India. World Development, 146, 105544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105544Datta, A. (2018). The digital turn in postcolonial urbanism: Smart citizenship in the making of Indiaâs 100 smart cities. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 43(3), 405â419. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12225Deshpande, R. (2024). Caste associations and the post-Mandal politics of caste. In S. S. Jodhka & J. Naudet (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of caste (pp. 320â330). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198896715.013.21Deshpande, R., Tillin, L., & Kailash, K. K. (2019). The BJPâs welfare schemes: Did they make a difference in the 2019 elections? Studies in Indian Politics, 7(2), 219â233. https://doi.org/10.1177/2321023019874911Duncan, I. (1999). Dalits and politics in rural North India: The Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 27(1), 35â60. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066159908438724Elliott, C. (2011). Moving from clientelist politics toward a welfare regime: Evidence from the 2009 assembly election in Andhra Pradesh. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 49(1), 48â79. https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2011.541111Gautam, R. (2023). The fall of an elephant: A case study of Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh. Studies in Indian Politics, 11(2), 251â266. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X231198718Goyal, A., & Kumar, R. (2022). Does social welfare programmes influence households trust in local administration and their political participation? Evidence from the MGNREG scheme in India. Studies in Development Economics, 16(3), 295â310. https://doi.org/10.1177/09737030221141249Jaffrelot, C. (2003). Indiaâs silent revolution: The rise of the lower castes in North Indian politics. Permanent Black.Jaffrelot, C. (2024). Do Indians vote their casteâor their jati, or their class, orâ¦? In S. S. Jodhka & J. Naudet (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of caste (pp. 331â344). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198896715.013.22Jeffrey, C., Jeffery, R., & Jeffery, P. (2004). Degrees without freedom: The impact of formal education on Dalit young men in North India. Development and Change, 35(5), 963â986. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2004.00388.xKailash, K. K. (2024). The politics of social welfare: The BJP and the discerning voter. Studies in Indian Politics, 12(2), 228â250. https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230241291220Kumar, T. (2022). Home-price subsidies increase local-level political participation in urban India. The Journal of Politics, 84(2), 1055â1070. https://doi.org/10.1086/715605Lynch, O. M. (1969). Social mobility in the caste system in India: An interdisciplinary symposium. American Journal of Sociology, 75(3), 466â467. https://doi.org/10.1086/224812Mishra, J., & Attri, V. (2020). Governance, public service delivery and trust in government. Studies in Indian Politics, 8(2), 186â202. https://doi.org/10.1177/2321023020963518Mukherji, R., Zarhani, S. H., & Raju, K. (2018). State capacity and welfare politics in India: Implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Studies in Indian Politics, 12(2), 161â176. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973703018794337Munshi, K., & Rosenzweig, M. (2006). Traditional institutions meet the modern world: Caste, gender, and schooling choice in a globalizing economy. American Economic Review, 96(4), 1225â1252. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.96.4.1225Pai, S. (2019). Changing political preferences among Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the 2000s: Shift from social justice to aspiration. Studies in Indian Politics, 5(1), 47â62. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394481119852190Pai, S. (2022). From social justice to aspiration: Transformation of lower caste politics in Uttar Pradesh in the 2000s. In S. Patel (Ed.), Neoliberalism, urbanization and aspirations in contemporary India (pp. 212â232). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190132019.003.0011Patel, S. (2022). The urban experience in contemporary India. In S. Patel (Ed.), Neoliberalism, urbanization and aspirations in contemporary India (pp. 89â106). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190132019.003.0005Roy, I. (2019). Class politics and social protection: A comparative analysis of local governments in India. Indian Journal of Human Development, 13(2), 167â182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0973174119854606Singh, S. S., & Trivedi, P. (2025). The Dalit movement in Uttar Pradesh and the party-politics dilemma: Insights from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Economic & Political Weekly, 60(37), 53â60. https://doi.org/10.71279/epw.v60i37.41400Syal, R. (2012). What are the effects of educational mobility on political interest and participation in the Indian electorate? Asian Survey, 52(2), 423â439. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2012.52.2.423Vaid, D. (2018). Cutting through: Caste and class mobility. In D. Vaid, Uneven odds: Social mobility in contemporary India (pp. 171â206). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199480142.003.0005Vaid, D. (2023). Mapping class and electoral participation in India from 1996 to 2019. Studies in Indian Politics, 11(2), 225â257. https://doi.org/10.1177/23210230231206649Vaid, D., & Heath, A. (2010). Unequal opportunities: Class, caste and social mobility. In A. F. Heath & R. Jeffery (Eds.), Diversity and change in modern India: Economic, social and political approaches (pp. 129â164). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197264515.003.0006Yadav, Y., & Palshikar, S. (2009). Between fortuna and virtu: Explaining the Congressâ ambiguous victory in 2009. Economic and Political Weekly, 44(39), 33â46. https://doi.org/10.2307/25663593
