Dalits, Christianity, and the Search for Social Mobility in India

In order to promote social mobility, this sociological study looks at religious conversion to Christianity among Dalit groups in India. The study makes the case based on historical and contemporary analysis that conversion signified a break from caste hierarchy as well as a route to wealth accumulation through missionary education. However, the existence of caste in Christian institutions and larger Indian culture fundamentally limited this "ladder of mobility" revolutionary potential. A three-tiered theoretical framework is used in the analysis: 1) faith as an ideological weapon. 2) education as capital conversion and 3) limitations as structural reproduction. This study uses historical archives, ethnographic research, and current survey data to show how the Dalit Christian experience is dialectical, experiencing both ongoing marginalization and partial emancipation at the same time. The study advances notions about social mobility, religious conversion, and the extraordinary tenacity of caste as a social system. Keywords: education, caste, religious conversion, social mobility, Dalit Christians.