Social Capital, Monitoring Habitus, and Social Power: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Patriarchy in India

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Abstract

Social capital is not always a benevolent resource. We employ a Bourdieusian analysis of patriarchy in India, and drawing on data from the India Human Development Survey (N=42,152), we examine the role of social capital in reproducing patriarchal power. We find that one of the “darker” aspects of social capital is that it is employed as a resource to enhance restrictions on women’s autonomy. Households which are well tied into their communities are monitored more closely within those communities, and consequently, avail themselves to greater scrutiny and thus anticipate and react to the prescriptions of dominant, patriarchal norms. This study employs multivariate regression to model the relationship between six predictor variables, which indicate the level of household community integration and six predictor variables, which indicate the level of women’s autonomy.

Authors

• Lester H. Andrist

• Sharan Sharma, University of Maryland, College Park

• Sonalde Desai, University of Maryland College Park