Work

The Impact of Welfare on Intergroup Relations: Caste-Based Social Insurance and Social Integration in India

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Religious and ethnic communities have long helped people cope with risks. Does state-provided welfare substitute for ethnicity-based social insurance? If so, does it improve intergroup relations? Ethnicity-based insurance operates through reciprocity and solidarity, requiring social investment in in-group ties. This limits the formation of out-group ties, exacerbating ethnic divisions. Welfare reduces dependence on the ethnic group, allowing individuals to form productive out-group ties and increasing intergroup integration. I test this argument in caste networks in India. I leverage panel data on household loans to show that an income support program reduced within-caste borrowing by 38.5%. Using survey data from 3,020 households, I show that welfare enhanced intercaste ties, mainly in areas with lower caste-based land inequality. I draw on 56 qualitative interviews to document how caste-based social insurance exacerbates social segregation, and why intercaste ties increase with lower group inequality. These findings illuminate the persistence and demise of ethnic divisions.

Source: American Political Science Review

DOI: 10.1017/s0003055425101305

Author: AKSHAY GOVIND DIXIT

Institution: Princeton University

Language: English

Topic: South Asian Studies and Diaspora

Subfield: Philosophy

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, No poverty

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550