Caste and digital: a study on the reproduction of educational inequalities in the era of technology enabled learning in Kerala, India

Devadas, Mayukh (2025) Caste and digital: a study on the reproduction of educational inequalities in the era of technology enabled learning in Kerala, India. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This research is specifically targeted at understanding the disparity in the personal use of technology for education among higher secondary students in India, as these are the most competitive years in Indian schooling (Mann et al., 2021). Employing a digital sociological framework, this study particularly explored the role of the caste system, a religiously endorsed social hierarchy, on students' access to, usage of, and attitudes towards digital technology in the context of education.

Semi-structured interviews were applied to collect data from 45 higher secondary students hailing from three different caste groups and four distinct categories of schools in the state of Kerala, India. Kerala was an important sociopolitical and cultural setting for this inquiry. The relationship between caste and digital in the socially, educationally (Singh, 2011), and digitally (Moinuddin, 2019) most progressed region in the country provided important insights.

This research is based on Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and habitus, contextualised within the digital milieu, featuring the concepts of digital capital and digital habitus. By intertwining these notions with the caste structure, this study identifies the intricate relationship between capital, habitus, and caste in the digital domain. Through this conceptual lens, the researcher elucidates how the caste backgrounds of students impact their interaction with technology, thereby contributing to the reproduction and intensification of disparity in economic, social, and cultural capital in the digital domain, coupled with the distinction in digital habitus between different caste groups.

The difference in access to material and non-material digital resources, digital skills and usage, and the motivation to use technology for building the future, between different caste groups were discovered. This research not only revealed the digital-educational inequalities but also identified the reasons for its perpetuation. The study recognises the influence exerted by pre-existing sociocultural, economic, and technological factors including caste, family, neighbourhood, schools, and digital spaces in reinforcing the digital and educational inequalities. Furthermore, research widened the scope of Indian digital sociological research and policymaking by reconceptualising digital inequality, digital capital, and digital habitus in Indian context.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Supervisor's Name: Murphy, Dr. Mark, Capsada-Munsech, Dr. Queralt and Dagar, Dr. Preeti
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85202
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 Jun 2025 12:37
• Last Modified: 17 Jun 2025 13:04
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85202
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85202