Politics as Negotiation: Changing Caste Norms in Rural India

Abstract

This article analyses processes of social change in rural India through an ethnographic analysis of everyday politics in two Indian states, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Its main argument is that even if overt resistance or ‘noisy’ collective action by the poor is rarely seen, a great deal of social change is occurring through a subtle ‘politics of negotiation’ whereby poor, low-caste agricultural labourers are questioning social norms that underpin their oppression. These negotiations are structured around labour relations and caste norms, which are so inextricably intertwined that a modification of one set of ‘rules’ necessarily has an impact on the other. The processes of democratization, the erosion of patron–client relations, the spread of education, an enduring agrarian crisis aggravated by climate change and the availability of alternative employment opportunities for the poor are chipping away at the dominance of India's rural elite. This continuous negotiating process between the (upper-caste) landed elite and the (lower-caste) labouring classes is non-confrontational and while it would be ambitious to suggest that it overturns the existing power relations, it nonetheless challenges and modifies them in a way that results in progressive social change.