Reproducing Inequality, Intersecting Hierarchies: Caste, Class, and Educational Reproduction in India and Germany
Reproducing Inequality, Intersecting Hierarchies: Caste, Class, and Educational Reproduction in India and Germany
Thursday, 10 July 2025: 09:24
Location: FSE007 (Faculty of Education Sciences (FSE))
Oral Presentation
This paper tries to explore comparative sociological analysis of caste and class inequalities within the educational systems of India and Germany, guided by Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction. The central objective is to examine how education functions as a site for the reproduction of social hierarchies in each context, through mechanisms that reflect the respective social structures of caste in India and class in Germany. However, in India it can further be understood that the caste also reproduces the class. Drawing on conflict theory and critical theories of education, the study seeks to explore how the educational field functions as an instrument of social control, reproducing dominant power relations through the distribution of cultural capital, and legitimating existing inequalities through symbolic violence.
This is a part of the doctoral thesis that employed a mixed-methods design integrating qualitative interviews with marginalized caste and class students in India and used content analysis for Germany to capture subjective experiences of educational inequality.
The study demonstrates that in India, the intersection of caste and class produces a dual system of stratification, echoing Durkheim’s theory of social division, whereby lower-caste students’ habitus conflicts with the dominant cultural capital valorized within the educational field. The resulting symbolic violence, as conceptualized by Bourdieu, leads to the naturalization of their failure within the system, reinforcing caste-based social stratification. In Germany, the early tracking system reflects Weber’s theory of life chances, where class-based inequalities are institutionalized through educational differentiation in education, privileging middle and upper class habitus. This reproduces class stratification through meritocratic discourses that obscure structural inequalities, reflecting Marxist critiques of ideological state apparatuses.This comparative analysis highlights the role of education as a mechanism of social reproduction, aligning with intersectionality and stratification, and emphasizes the need to challenge policies that perpetuate these inequalities in both contexts.
This is a part of the doctoral thesis that employed a mixed-methods design integrating qualitative interviews with marginalized caste and class students in India and used content analysis for Germany to capture subjective experiences of educational inequality.
The study demonstrates that in India, the intersection of caste and class produces a dual system of stratification, echoing Durkheim’s theory of social division, whereby lower-caste students’ habitus conflicts with the dominant cultural capital valorized within the educational field. The resulting symbolic violence, as conceptualized by Bourdieu, leads to the naturalization of their failure within the system, reinforcing caste-based social stratification. In Germany, the early tracking system reflects Weber’s theory of life chances, where class-based inequalities are institutionalized through educational differentiation in education, privileging middle and upper class habitus. This reproduces class stratification through meritocratic discourses that obscure structural inequalities, reflecting Marxist critiques of ideological state apparatuses.This comparative analysis highlights the role of education as a mechanism of social reproduction, aligning with intersectionality and stratification, and emphasizes the need to challenge policies that perpetuate these inequalities in both contexts.