Caste, social networks and variety adoption

cg.contributor.affiliationGhent Universityen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Rice Research Instituteen
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1177/0973174120954632en
cg.issn0973-1741en
cg.issue2en
cg.journalJournal of South Asian Developmenten
cg.volume15en
dc.contributor.authorGupta, Ishikaen
dc.contributor.authorVeettil, Prakashan Chellattanen
dc.contributor.authorSpeelman, Stijnen
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-19T12:53:52Zen
dc.date.available2024-12-19T12:53:52Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/164420
dc.titleCaste, social networks and variety adoptionen
dcterms.abstractSocial networks influence technology diffusion but targeting formal leaders (institutional central nodes) may lead to distributional consequences. This paper analyzes the role of informal social networks in technology diffusion in a socially hierarchical caste-based society. Often, information flow and technology diffusion are constrained by social and economic boundaries where informal nodes such as caste play a very decisive role in everyday life. Proper targeting and dissemination of technology to the marginalized sections of society are very important for their development. We observed that only one-fourth of farmers cultivate newer varieties which include hybrids and recently released high yielding varieties. The results showed that individuals belonging to marginal groups are influential and act as informal leaders when they are the dominant caste in the village. Progressive farmers are found to fail in disseminating new varieties, and targeting influential informal leaders who belong to the dominant caste of the village appears to be a better strategy. Among non-dominant caste members, influential leaders belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs) are more desirable targets than other caste groups. The more concentrated a network is in terms of its caste composition, the faster will be the spread of any technology.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen
dcterms.available2020-10-07en
dcterms.bibliographicCitationGupta, Ishika; Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan and Speelman, Stijn. 2020. Caste, social networks and variety adoption. Journal of South Asian Development, Volume 15 no. 2 p. 155-183en
dcterms.extentpp. 155-183en
dcterms.issued2020-08en
dcterms.languageenen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-NC-4.0en
dcterms.publisherSAGE Publicationsen
dcterms.subjectbusiness and international management development general economicsen
dcterms.subjecteconometrics and finance general social sciences historyen
dcterms.typeJournal Articleen

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