India in global perspective

The starting point of these lectures will be a new book “Ethnic Stratification and Income Inequality around the World. The End of Exploitation and Exclusion?” (Ashgate 2015) by Max Haller. He argues and shows through aggregate data analysis comparing 123 countries and case studies of a dozen countries around the world, that economic inequality is higher in multi-ethnic societies, and particularly in societies which experienced a period of slavery. However, a democratic political system and a welfare state are able to provide for equality also in multi-ethnic societies. India is a particularly interesting case. In spite of its extreme ethnic heterogeneity, it is a relative equal society from the global comparative perspective. A.R. Momin will focus on the structure and dynamics of inequality of Indian society, looking at all relevant context factors, such as the caste system, gender inequality, the bearing of ethnicity on inequality (as reflected in the marginalization of Muslims, lower-caste Hindus or Dalits and tribals) and the relevance of legal and political factors and the role of the state on perpetuating or combating inequality.