Engineering equality? Education and im/mobility in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. Issue 3 (2nd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Upadhya, Carol
• Is Part Of: Contemporary South Asia. Volume 24:Issue 3(2016)
• Page Start: 242
• Page End: 256
• Publication Date: 2016-07-02
• Subjects: coastal Andhra -- IT jobs -- engineering degrees -- commercialisation of education -- social mobility -- migration -- NRIs; South Asia -- Periodicals; 954
• DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2016.1203863
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0958-4935

Abstract

Abstract : This article traces the intersections between higher education, social mobility, and the reproduction of inequalities in Coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. It explores the social history, political economy, and culture of education in the region, and the formation of a dominant social imaginary that equates engineering degrees, IT jobs, and migration with social prestige and success. This aspirational culture has shaped mobility strategies across social classes, the educational regime, and government policies aimed at greater inclusion. But state interventions in engineering education have produced contradictory outcomes, creating paths of mobility for some social groups but new modes of marginalisation and immobility for others.