Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T00:43:10.178Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can Descriptive Representation Change Beliefs about a Stigmatized Group? Evidence from Rural India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

SIMON CHAUCHARD
SIMON CHAUCHARD*
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College
*
Simon Chauchard is Assistant Professor of Dartmouth College ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Can descriptive representation for a stigmatized group change the beliefs and intentions of members of dominant groups? To address this question, I focus on quotas (reservations) that allow members of the scheduled castes to access key executive positions in India's village institutions. To measure the psychological effect of reservations, I combine a natural experiment with an innovative MP3-player-based self-administered survey that measures various beliefs and behavioral intentions. Results provide credible causal evidence that reservations affect the psychology of members of dominant castes. Even though villagers living in reserved villages continue to think poorly of members of the scheduled castes (stereotypes do not improve), reservation affects two other types of beliefs: perceived social norms of interactions and perceived legal norms of interactions. These changes in beliefs in turn appear to have far-reaching consequences for intercaste relations, as villagers’ discriminatory intentions also decrease under reservation.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 108 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 403 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allport, G. W. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Ajzen, I., and Fishbein, M. 2005. “The Influence of Attitudes on Behavior.” In The Handbook of Attitudes, eds. Albarracín, D., Johnson, B. T., and Zanna, M. P.. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Angrist, Joshua D., and Jörn-Steffen Pischke. 2008. Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asch, S. 1958. “Effects of Group Pressure upon the Modification and Distortion of Judgments.” In Readings in Social Psychology, eds. Macoby, E. E. et al. 3rd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 174–83.Google Scholar
Bardhan, Pranab, Mookherjee, Dilip and Parra Torrado, Monica L.. 2010. “Impact of Political Reservations in West Bengal Local Governments on Anti-Poverty Targeting.” Journal of Globalization and Development 1 (1): 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baviskar, B. S. 2009. “Including the Excluded: Empowering the Powerless through Panchayati Raj in Maharashtra.” In Inclusion and Exclusion in Local Governance: Field Studies from Rural India, eds. Baviskar, B. S. and Mathew, George. Sage: New Delhi.Google Scholar
Baviskar, B. S., and Mathew, George, eds. 2009. Inclusion and Exclusion in Local Governance: Field Studies from Rural India. Sage: New Delhi.Google Scholar
Beaman, Lori, Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, Duflo, Esther, Pande, Rohini, and Topalova, Petia. 2009. “Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Bias?” Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (4): 1497–1540.Google Scholar
Besley, Tim, Pande, Rohini, and Rao, Vijayendra. 2004. “The Politics of Public Good Provision: Evidence from Indian Local Governments.” Journal of the European Economics Association Papers and Proceedings 2 (2–3): 416–26.Google Scholar
Besley, Tim, Pande, Rohini, and Rao, Vijayendra. 2005. “Participatory Democracy in Action: Survey Evidence from India.” Journal of the European Economics Association Papers and Proceedings 3 (2–3): 648–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhavnani, Rikhil. 2009. “Do Electoral Quotas Work after They Are Withdrawn? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India.” American Political Science Review 103 (1): 23–35.Google Scholar
Bhushan Singh, Shashi 2009. “Devolution of Power through Panchayats in Rajasthan.” In Inclusion and Exclusion in Local Governance: Field Studies from Rural India, eds. Baviskar, B. S. and Mathew, George. Sage: New Delhi.Google Scholar
Blanchard, F. A., Crandall, C. S., Brigham, J. C., and Vaughn, L. A.. 1994. “Condemning and Condoning Racism: A Social Context Approach to Interracial Settings.” Journal of Applied Psychology 79: 993–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chattopadhyay, R., and Duflo, Esther. 2004. “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India.” Econometrica 72 (5): 2004.Google Scholar
Chauchard, Simon. 2013. “Using MP3 Players in Surveys: The impact of a Low-Tech Self Administration Mode on Reporting of Sensitive Attitudes.” Public Opinion Quarterly 77 (S1): 220–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chauchard, Simon. N.d. Why Representation Matters: The Meaning of Ethnic Quotas in Rural India. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Chandra, Kanchan. 2004. Why Ethnic Parties Succeed? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chin, Aimee, and Prakash, Nishith. 2011. “The Redistributive Effects of Political Reservation for Minorities: Evidence from India.” Journal of Development Economics 96: 265–77.Google Scholar
Cialdini, R. B., Kallgren, C. A., and Reno, R. R.. 1991. “A Focus Theory of Normative Conduct: A Theoretical Refinement and Reevaluation of the Role of Norms in Human Behavior.” In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, ed. Zanna, M. P.. Vol. 24. New York: Academic Press, 201–34.Google Scholar
Coser, Lewis 1956. The Functions of Social Conflict. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Crandall, C. S., and Stangor, C.. 2005. “Conformity and Prejudice.” In On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport, eds. Dovidio, J. F., Glick, P., and Rudman, L. A.. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, N., and Asgari, S.. 2004. “Seeing is Believing: Exposure to Counterstereotypical Women Leaders and Its Effect on the Malleability of Automatic Gender Stereotyping.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 40: 642–58.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, N., and Rivera, L. M.. 2008. “When Social Context Matters: The Influence of Long-Term Contact and Short-Term Exposure to Admired Outgroup Members on Implicit Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions.” Social Cognition 26: 54–66.Google Scholar
Deliege, Robert. 1999. The Untouchables of India. Oxford: Berg Publishers.Google Scholar
Devine, Patricia G. 1989. “Stereotypes and Prejudice: Their Automatic and Controlled Components.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56 (1): 5–18.Google Scholar
Duflo, Esther. 2005. “Why Political Reservations.” Journal of the European Economic Association 3 (2–3): 668–78.Google Scholar
Dunham, Yarrow & J, J. Degner. 2010. “Origins of intergroup bias: Developmental and social cognitive research on intergroup attitudes.” European Journal of Social Psychology 40: 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, Thad. 2008. “Improving Causal Inference: Strengths and Limitations of Field Experiments.” Political Research Quarterly 61 (2): 282–93.Google Scholar
Dunning, Thad. 2010. “Do Quotas Promote Ethnic Solidarity? Field and Natural Experimental Evidence From India.” Working paper, Department of Political Science, Yale University.Google Scholar
Dunning, Thad, and Nilekani, Janhavi. 2013. “Ethnic Quotas and Political Mobilization: Caste, Parties, and Distribution in Indian Village Councils.” American Political Science Review 107 (1): 35–56.Google Scholar
Fazio, Russel H., Jackson, Joni R., Dunton, Bridget C., and Williams, Carol J.. 1995. “Variability in Automatic Activation as an Unobtrusive Measure of Racial Attitudes: A Bona Fide Pipeline?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (6): 1013–27.Google Scholar
Fenno, Richard. 2003. Going Home: Black Representatives and Their Constituencies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Fiske, Susan T. 1998. “Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination.” In The Handbook of Social Psychology, eds. Fiske, Susan T., Gilbert, Daniel, and Lindzey, Gardner. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Gay, Claudine. 2001.“The Effect of Black Congressional Representation on Political Participation.” American Political Science Review 95 (3): 589–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gay, Claudine. 2002.“Spirals of Trust: The Effect of Descriptive Representation on the Relationship between Citizens and their Government.” American Journal of Political Science 46 (4): 717–33.Google Scholar
Hajnal, Zoltan. 2001. “White Residents, Black Incumbents, and a Declining Racial Divide.” American Political Science Review 95 (3): 603–17.Google Scholar
Hajnal, Zoltan. 2005. Changing White Attitudes toward Black Political Leadership. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harmon, Thomas, Turner, Charles F., Rogers, Susan M., Eggleston, Elizabeth, and Li, Sheping. 2009. “Impact of T-ACASI on Survey Measurements of Subjective Phenomena.” Public Opinion Quarterly 73 (2): 255–80.Google Scholar
Hewstone, M. 1994. “Revision and Change of Stereotypic Beliefs.” European Review of Social Psychology 5: 69–109.Google Scholar
Hoff, Karla, and Pandey, Prienka. 2004. “Beliefs Systems and Durable Inequalities: An Experimental Investigation of Indian Caste.” World Bank Research Working Paper 3351. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Iyer, Lakshmi, Mani, Anandi, Mishra, Prachi, and Topalova, Petia. 2011. “The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Jaffrelot, Christophe. 2003. India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low Castes in North Indian Politics. Delhi: Permanent Black.Google Scholar
Jaffrelot, Christophe & Kumar, Sanjay. 2009. Rise of the Plebeians? The Changing Face of Indian Legislative Assemblies. Routledge: New Delhi.Google Scholar
Jansenius, Francesca. 2013. Power, Performance and Bias: Evaluating the Electoral Quotas for Scheduled Castes in India. Ph.D. diss., University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Jeffrey, Craig, Jeffery, Patricia, and Jeffery, Roger. 2008. “Dalit Revolution? New Politicians in Uttar Pradesh, India.” Journal of Asian Studies 67 (4): 1365–96.Google Scholar
Kapur, Devesh, Prasad, Chandra Bhan, Pritchett, Lant, and Babu, D Shyam. 2010. “Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era.” Economic and Political Weekly XLV (35): 39–49.Google Scholar
Kish, Leslie. 1965. Survey Sampling. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Krishna, Anirudh. 2003. “What Is Happening to Caste? A View from Some North Indian Villages.” Journal of Asian Studies 62 (4): 1171–93.Google Scholar
Krishna, Anirudh. 2004. Active Social Capital: Tracing the Roots of Development and Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kumar, Narender, and Rai, Manoj. 2005. Dalit Leadership in Panchayats: A Comparative Study of Four States. New Dehli: Indian Institute of Dalit Studies.Google Scholar
Kunda, Z., and Oleson, K. C.. 1997. “When Exceptions Prove the Rule: How Extremity of Deviance Determines the Impact of Deviant Examples on Stereotypes.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 72: 965–79.Google Scholar
Kuran, T. 1995. Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Levi, M. 1988. Of Rule and Revenue. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Levi, M., and Sacks, A.. 2007. Legitimating Beliefs: Concepts and Indicators. Cape Town: Afrobarometer.Google Scholar
Levi, M., Tyler, T. R., and Sacks, A.. 2009. “The Reasons for Compliance with the Law.” In Understanding Social Action, Promoting Human Rights, eds. Goodman, R., Jenks, D., and Woods, A.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Maass, A., and Arcuri, L.. 1992. “The Role of Language in the Persistence of Stereotypes.” In Language, Interaction, and Social Cognition, eds. Semin, G. R. & Fiedler, K.. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Macrae, C. Neil, Hewstone, Miles, and Griffiths, R. G.. 1993. “Processing Load and Memory for Stereotype-Based Information.” European Journal of Social Physiology 23 (1): 77–87.Google Scholar
Macwan, Martin, Davenport, Christian, Stam, Allen et al. 2010. Understanding untouchability: A comprehensive study of practices and conditions in 1589 villages. RFK Center for Justice and Human rights.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent ‘Yes.’” Journal of Politics 61: 628–57.Google Scholar
Marschall, Melissa, and Ruhil, Anirudh. 2007. “Substantive Symbols: The Attitudinal Dimension of Black Political Incorporation in Local Government.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (1): 17–33.Google Scholar
Marschall, Melissa, and Shah, Paru. 2007. “The Attitudinal Effects of Minority Incorporation: Examining the Racial Dimensions of Trust in Urban America.” Urban Affairs Review 42 (May): 629–58.Google Scholar
Mathew, George, ed. 2000. Status of Panchayati Raj in the State and Union Territories of India. Delhi: Institute for Social Sciences.Google Scholar
Moreno, K. N., and Bodenhausen, Galen V.. 1999. “Resisting Stereotype Change: The Role of Motivation and Attentional Capacity in Defending Social Beliefs.” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 2 (1): 5–16.Google Scholar
Narula, Smita. 1999. Broken People: Caste Violence against Untouchables. New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Olzak, Susan. 1990. “The Political Context of Competition: Lynching and Urban Racial Violence, 1882–1914.” Social Forces 69 (2): 395–421.Google Scholar
Pai, Sudha. 2002. Dalit Assertion and the Unfinished Democratic Revolution: The Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Paluck, Elizabeth L. 2009. “Reducing Intergroup Prejudice and Conflict Using the Media: A Field Experiment in Rwanda.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96: 574–87.Google Scholar
Paluck, Elizabeth L., & Green, Donald P.. 2009. “Prejudice Reduction: What Works? A Critical Look at Evidence from the Field and the Laboratory.” Annual Review of Psychology 60; 339–67.Google Scholar
Paluck, E. L., & Shepherd, H. 2012. “The salience of social referents: A field experiment on collective norms and harassment behavior in a school social network.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103: 899–915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pande, Rohini 2003. “Can Mandated Political Representation Provide Disadvantaged Minorities Policy Influence? Theory and Evidence from India.” American Economic Review 93: 1132–51.Google Scholar
Petersen, Roger. 2002. Understanding Ethnic Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas F. 1998. “Intergroup Contact Theory.” Annual Review of Psychology 49: 65–85.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas F., and Tropp, L. R.. 2006. “A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup Contact Theory.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90: 751–83.Google Scholar
Phillips, Anne. 1995. The Politics of Presence. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Purohit, B. R., Chaturvedi, Arun, and Lodha, Sanjay. 2002. “Status of Panchayats in Rajasthan.” In Dynamics of the New Panchayati Raj System in India, ed. Palanithurai, Ganapathi. Vol. II. New Delhi: Concept Publication.Google Scholar
Shah, Ghanshyam, Mander, Harsh, Thorat, S. K., Deshpande, Satish, and Baviskar, Amita. 2006. Untouchability in Rural India. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Sherif, M. 1966. In Common Predicament: Social Psychology of Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Stangor, C., Sechrist, G. B., and Jost, J. T.. 2001. “Changing Racial Beliefs by Providing Consensus Information.” Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin 27: 484–94.Google Scholar
Talaska, Cara, Fiske, Susan and Chaiken, Shelly. 2008. “Legitimating Racial Discrimination: Emotions, Not Beliefs, Best Predict Discrimination in a Meta-Analysis.” Social Justice Research 21: 263–96.Google Scholar
Tropp, L. R., and Pettigrew, T. F.. 2004. “Intergroup Contact and the Central Role of Affect in Intergroup Prejudice.” In The Social Life of Emotion: Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction, eds. Tiedens, L. Z. and Leach, C. W.. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tourangeau, Roger, and Smith, Tom W.. 1996. “Asking Sensitive Questions: The Impact of Data Collection Mode Question Format, and Question Context.” Public Opinion Quarterly 60 (2): 275–304.Google Scholar
Vij, Shivam 2010. “An Election in Matsura.” The Caravan, August 1.Google Scholar
Weber, Renee, and Crocker, Jennifer. 1983. “Cognitive Processes in the Revision of Stereotypic Beliefs.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45 (5): 961–77.Google Scholar
Weiner, Myron. 2001. “The Struggle for Equality: Caste in Indian Politics.” In The Success of India's Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, Melissa. 1998. Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Yadav, Anumeha. 2010 “As Auditors Come Calling on NREGA, the Sarpanches Are Fleeing Rajasthan.” Tehelka 7 (36), September 11.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Chauchard Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Chauchard Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 603.9 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.