Caste is a socio-cultural system that affects over two billion people in South Asia and the global South Asian diaspora by placing individuals on an arbitrarily determined social hierarchy that provides them with unequal rights and privileges. Despite its pervasive influence in all spheres of social and economic life of caste-practising individuals, caste has only recently received serious attention in scholarly work in management and organisation studies.

This conference attempts to create a platform that can bring scholars studying caste in contexts of work and business together to share latest research, help one another to develop ideas, and create new collaborations.

The conference will begin with a keynote session by a leading international scholar, followed by a series of research sessions where scholars will present their work for feedback, early-career development sessions and plenary sessions that bring together the day’s threads of conversation. There will also be many networking opportunities.

Registration is now closed.

There will be a limited number of hybrid sessions for those who cannot travel.

Submissions of papers are invited on any aspect of caste in the business and work setting, including topics such as:

• Caste and labour (recruitment of workers, stigma and dirty work, equal pay and treatment of workers, worker solidarity, occupational safety)
• Caste and business (discrimination and exclusion in the workplace, firm ownership, resource acquisition, corporate governance)
• Role of business in tackling caste (the role of leadership, CSR and philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, affirmative action, creating a caste-diverse workforce)
• Caste and capitalism (notions of merit, privilege and inequality, role of regulation in the private sector)
• Caste and entrepreneurship (access to finance, outcomes of entrepreneurial activities, homophily and entrepreneurial networks)
• Caste and global production (caste in global value chains; caste, migration and diaspora; caste, globalization and outsourcing)

This is only an indicative list of topics; we welcome submissions on any topics that lie at the intersection of caste, business and work.

Submissions of abstracts are due by Friday 2 February 2024. The results will be announced by Friday 5 April 2024.

Submission guidelines

• Submission should consist of long abstracts up to 750 words in length (excluding title, author affiliations, tables, figures and references).
• All abstracts and full papers should be submitted as a Word document using 12pt Times New Roman font.
• Please use double spacing and normal (2.54 cm) margins throughout and include page numbers.
• Please include the abstract/paper title and all author names and the email address of the corresponding author on page 1 of the abstract or paper (they will not be reviewed anonymously).
• Please submit the abstracts by Friday 2 February 2024 using this Google Form.

• Friday 2 February 2024: Submission deadline
• Friday 5 April 2024: Notification of decisions; registration opens
• Monday 15 April 2024: Deadline for confirmation of participation and registration
• Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 June 2024: In-person conference.

• Professor Vivek Soundararajan, University of Bath
• Dr Kamini Gupta, King’s College London
• Dr Akshay Mangla, University of Oxford
• Professor Hari Bapuji, University of Melbourne

Conference host

School of Management, University of Bath

Conference partner

Embed Dignity, a research initiative led by Professor Vivek Soundararajan at the University of Bath, aimed at embedding dignity in every aspect of an organisation.