Caste and Distributive Justice: Can Social Policy Address Durable Inequalities? 1 Sony Pellissery a , Amrutha Jose Pampackal a and Partha Bopaiah b a National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India b Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway Abstract This article examines the impact of social policy interventions on caste inequalities. The article accepts the proposition by Charles Tilly that durable inequalities are entrenched solutions while addressing organizational problems of society. The political economy approach to caste enables us to understand how the discriminatory practices around caste are durable. The article examines two types of social policies set up to deal with caste discrimination. The first type of policies are particularistic policies which directly address the concerns of the members of the depressed castes. The second type of policies are aimed at the general population, but from which a large number of depressed caste members benefit. The article concludes that both types of policies have only an ameliorative function rather than an emancipation role. It is argued here that ‘social policy’ in the context of durable inequality requires redefinition to include political interventions. The administra- tive view of social policy focuses heavily on the state, and in the context of durable inequality, the legitimacy of the state itself is in question. On the other hand, mobilization around politics addresses the organizational anomaly of the society, which is at the root of durable inequality. Keywords Caste; Durable inequality; Welfare state; Political economy Introduction Social policy conceptualization in the Indian sub-continent is hugely influenced by the British legacy due to post-colonial continuities. This has had a detrimental effect on scholarship, particularly because the ‘British literature on the welfare state focuses on “social administration” or, more recently, on policies and not on politics’ (Kaufmann 2013 : 7 ). On the other hand, the continental European approach towards social policy was more dynamic and viewed social policy as a political responsibility for the produc- tion of welfare. In this article, a departure is made from the British approach Author Emails: sony.pellissery@stx.oxon.org; amrutha.pampackal@gmail.com; pbopaiah@gmail.com SOCIAL POLICY &ADMINISTRATION ISSN 0144-5596 DOI: 10.1111/spol.12169 VOL. 49, NO. 6, November 2015, PP . 785–800 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd