An enduring debate launched by Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron in The Inheritors: French Students and Their Relation to Culture (1964) is whether the forces that maintain social hierarchy and its attendant distribution of advantages and disadvantages can be disrupted in a genuine, meaningful, and lasting manner. Using the case of the Indian state of Kerala, this paper considers the role of historical forces in mediating the impact of a nation-wide affirmative action policy in higher education. Due to a combination of factors, including its legacy of matriliny and experience with communism, Kerala has successfully expanded access to higher education for low-caste students, including women, to an extent that remains unrealized in the rest of India.
Affirmative action; India; Caste; Social mobility.
