(De)polarizing ICT Debates of Reservations and Affirmative Action Policy: A Plea for Reparations in India and the U.S

Kofi-Charu Nat Turner (), Nagaraju Gundemeda () and Sabiha Sultana ()
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Kofi-Charu Nat Turner: University of Massachusetts
Nagaraju Gundemeda: University of Hyderabad
Sabiha Sultana: Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Education

A chapter in Causes and Symptoms of Socio-Cultural Polarization, 2022, pp 133-148 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This paper explores the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in exacerbating social polarization in India and the United States. The paper aims to examine the role of ICT in shaping public opinion and group convictions about the reservation policy in India and the policy of affirmative action in the U.S. The proliferation of ICT platforms has meant the widening of spaces of social articulation across gender, race, religion, and castes whereby supporters and critics of these policies represent their claims and contestations. This widening creates concomitant insulation in “echo chambers” where exposure to content consistent with individual and group opinions reinforces existing beliefs, attitudes, and the resulting behavior. In both India and the U.S., the ideological systems and social values of dominant races and castes tend to dominate the multiple ICT platforms sowing further (mis)trust in the state-sponsored development policies aimed at educating and empowering subjugated groups such as Blacks in the U.S. and Dalits (ex-untouchables) in India. The paper argues that ICT mediated ideas of equality and justice fail to recognize centuries of racial and caste oppression and based on the content analysis of the data, a reparations policy in both nations that works towards the democratization of virtual spaces to represent the voices of the voiceless is one of the best remedies.

Keywords: Reservation policy; Affirmative action; Oppression; Information and communication technology; Discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-5268-4_6

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