Sociology

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    Income Inequality and Caste in India: Evidence from India Human Development Surveys
    (2021) Joshi, Omkar; Vanneman, Reeve D; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The problem of income inequality has become a defining problem in today’s world yet, the implications of overall income inequality for different social groups remain understudied. The sociological literature on stratification has treated these two important facets of inequality, namely overall income inequality and group income gaps, separately. I study these two problems together in this dissertation by examining overall income inequality and caste and religious groups in the context of Indian society. Using the nationally representative data from India Human Development Surveys, I first examine in detail, overall income and consumption changes and inequality from 2004-05 to 2011-12. Then, I look at changes in income and consumption for different caste and religious groups and study inequality changes between these groups. In the end, I evaluate the role played by educational expansion and returns to education in explaining changes in overall income inequality as well as group income gaps using OLS and Quintile regression models.I find that income inequality based on both income as well as consumption measures has increased in India between 2004-05 and 2011-12. But contrary to the global pattern of increasing income inequality, income inequality in India was driven not just because of high growth for households at the top, but more so due to low growth of incomes for households at the bottom of the income distribution. Despite this rise in overall income inequality, income gaps and inequality between the forward caste and disadvantaged caste groups are getting closed. Though caste disadvantage is operational at all parts of income distribution, it becomes less oppressive over time. I find that while education helps explain the declining between-caste income inequality, it does not satisfactorily answer why overall income inequality is growing. I also find that socially disadvantaged groups as well as low educational households who are concentrated disproportionately at lower incomes did better in terms of their income growth over time. Yet, the low-income households as a whole somehow did not grow much over time. These opposite trends among lower income households, is a puzzling result.
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    DETERMINANTS OF DIFFERENTIAL REGIONAL FERTILITY RATES IN INDIA: AN EXAMINATION OF FERTILITY INTENTIONS, BEHAVIOR, AND THE UNMET NEED FOR CONTRACEPTION
    (2020) Chatterjee, Esha; Desai, Sonalde; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation analyzes social, cultural, and structural factors that lead to women’s fertility related decision-making processes, and outcomes, in the Indian context. Although there is a rich literature on fertility in India, my work is the first to use nationally representative panel data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2005, and 2012, to study the impact of past intentions and actions on subsequent outcomes, and on how intendedness of a birth can affect maternal healthcare utilization. First, I examine the differences between factors that impact regional differences in fertility preferences, and on the ability to crystallize these preferences. Results show that while a substantial portion of regional differentials in fertility preferences are explained by socio-economic traits of individuals and their households, a much smaller proportion of differentials in unintended births across regions is explained by these factors. This suggests that unobserved factors, potentially those associated with regional health systems, have a far greater role in explaining underlying differences in unintended births than in explaining fertility preferences. Second, I evaluate why women who want to limit childbearing in 2005, do not use any contraception (and thus have, an unmet need for contraception); and how this unmet need of contraception translates into subsequent unintended births. Results show that women belonging to poorest households, and residing in neighborhoods with less access to the maternal and child healthcare system, are more likely to have an unmet need for contraception; and women who have an unmet need for contraception in 2005, are more than twice as likely as those without an unmet need to have an unintended birth between 2005 and 2012. Finally, I examine the consequences of having an unwanted birth on maternal healthcare utilization. Results show that women who have unwanted births are less likely to obtain adequate antenatal, and postnatal care to help support their own health and their babies’ health. Results from this study also highlight inequalities in access to maternal healthcare services, based on socio-economic status, caste group, religious group, and area of residence. Overall, the dissertation helps obtain a better understanding of unwanted fertility, contraception use, and sexual and reproductive health disparities in the Indian context.
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    "Fertility as Mobility" in India: Salience of Caste, Education and Employment Opportunities
    (2012) Banerji, Manjistha; Desai, Sonalde; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In this dissertation, we use the "fertility as mobility" approach to study the determinants of fertility outcomes in India. More elaborately, we re- examine the Beckerian hypothesis of a tradeoff between number and quality of children with increasing income levels using the India Human Development Survey (2005) data. Our contention is that it is not necessarily the case that couples at higher end of the income scale will have fewer but higher quality children as compared to those lower down the income scale. Drawing on the seminal work of Susan Greenhalgh on "fertility as mobility" in late nineteenth century traditional Chinese society (1989) and modifying Coale's three necessary and sufficient conditions for demographic transition (1975), we argue that even couples lower down the income scale will be willing to invest in quality rather than quantity of children if the institutional framework in terms of education and employment opportunities enhance mobility prospects. We also find considerable persistence of occupations across generations suggesting that increasing occupational mobility across generations particularly for those lower down the caste hierarchy is essential for mobility to be a relevant factor in fertility decisions for disenfranchised castes.
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    Social Capital's Dark Side and Patriarchy in India
    (2008-08-18) Andrist, Lester Howard; Andrist, Lester H; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Social capital is often extolled as a benevolent resource, but resources can be applied to any number of ends. Using new data from the India Human Development Survey (N=41,544), I examine social capital and patriarchy and demonstrate that social capital works to enhance restrictions placed on women's autonomy, revealing a darker side. Households which are well tied into their communities avail themselves to greater scrutiny and thus anticipate and react to the prescriptions of dominant, patriarchal norms. This study employs multivariate logistic and ordinal logistic regression to model the relationship between four measures of women's autonomy and the social capital of households: 1) wearing a veil; 2) eating order during meals; 3) mobility; 4) and decision making. A male-first eating order and restrictions on mobility are demonstrated to be associated with higher levels of social capital.
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    Indian Muslim Women's Education and Employment in the Context of Modernization, Religious Discrimination and Disadvantage, and the Rise of Hindu Fundamentalism and Muslim Identity Politics
    (2007-04-30) Rastogi, Sonya; Desai, Sonalde; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research on Muslim women in India has increased in recent years, but remains sparse. The few existing studies rarely examine the interplay of religion and gender on Muslim women, nor do they investigate the historical influences shaping Muslim women's lives. Using the National Sample Survey (NSS), this dissertation seeks to make a unique contribution to the literature by examining Muslim women's educational enrollment and wage employment in the context of three historical forces: modernization, religious discrimination and disadvantage, and the rise of Hindu fundamentalism and Muslim identity politics. We find that modernization has played an important role in increasing school enrollment for children ages 12 to 15. Modernizing forces have also influenced employment in India, modestly increasing wage employment. While Muslims have benefited from modernizing forces, they continue to face discrimination and disadvantage in the educational system and labor market; therefore they have lower levels of school enrollment and slightly lower engagement in wage employment compared to non-scheduled caste Hindus. There is also evidence that the rise of Hindu fundamentalism has had a negative impact on Muslim enrollment and wage employment over time, however these effects appear greater for Muslim enrollment compared to Muslim wage employment. Evidence suggests that enrollment for Muslims above the poverty line may have been more affected by Hindu fundamentalism relative to poorer Muslims from 1983 to 1987; however, wealthier and poorer Muslims appear similarly affected by Hindu fundamentalism after 1987. Contrary to expectations, results suggest that poorer Muslim's wage employment is more affected by the rise of Hindu fundamentalism relative to wealthier Muslims. As expected, the interplay of religion and gender has affected Muslim women's enrollment and wage employment. Specifically, they experience lower levels of enrollment and wage employment compared to Muslim men and Hindu men and women. Muslim women have been further affected by the rise of Hindu fundamentalism and Muslim identity politics in both enrollment and wage employment. However, it appears that these factors have been relatively more detrimental to Muslim women's wage employment compared to their enrollment.