Hindutva: A Social Psychological Examination of the Structure, Content and Intergroup Consequences of Hindu Nationalism in India

Abstract

This thesis provides an elaborate account of the Hindu nationalist movement in India, with the specific aim of understanding the social psychological underpinnings of its emergence, ideology, strategies, growth and success. Specifically, it aims to elucidate the structure and content of Hindu nationalism and its consequences for Hindu-Muslim relations in contemporary India. The introduction begins with a historical and sociological description and analysis of the foundation, formation and operations of the Hindu nationalist movement, followed by an evaluation of the applicability of mainstream social psychological frameworks to understanding the phenomenon. This evaluation places emphasis upon the theoretical frameworks of Social Identity Theory (SIT), Self- Categorisation Theory (SCT) and Social Representations Theory (SRT). This is followed by a series of qualitative and quantitative studies examining the structure and content of the Hindu nationalist movement’s ideology, and its consequences for Hindu-Muslim relations in India. Study 1 comprised a qualitative analysis of the ideology of the Hindu nationalist movement. This revealed thirteen interconnected, yet coherent and distinct, themes pertaining to the origins, bases and history of Hindu nationhood. History was a key part of each theme, wherein the ideologues’ represented the Hindu community as primordial and originating in the Indus Valley civilisation, Vedas and Sanskrit. Furthermore, the Hindu community was argued to be sovereign to the Hindu nation, whereas India’s Christian and Muslim communities were considered alien, either to be excluded from, or subjugated in, the Hindu nation. Study 2A examined the structure and content of Hindu nationalist ideology quantitatively with a sample of Hindu participants in contemporary India. This study had two aims. The first was to examine how, and to what extent, the ideology of the Hindu nationalist movement was understood among Hindus in contemporary India. The second aim was to develop a psychometric scale assessing endorsement of Hindu nationalism. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses unearthed and validated a two-factor structure of Hindu nationalist ideology. The factors correlated positively and significantly and yielded high reliability and discriminant validity. Study 2B examined the predictive validity of the Hindu nationalism scale relative to a range of preoperationalised constructs, which theoretically should have been predictive of justification and support for an event, such as the Babri mosque demolition. Hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modelling revealed that the Hindu nationalism scale predicted justification and support for the Babri mosque demolition above and beyond any of the other constructs included in the study. Study 3 examined how perceptions of historical intergroup transgressions and economic intergroup competition were implicated with Hindu nationalism in explaining prejudice towards Muslims among Hindus in contemporary India. Four structural equation models revealed Hindu nationalism to be both a mediator and an antecedent of the associations of perceptions of historical intergroup transgressions and economic intergroup competition with prejudice towards Muslims. Finally, the general discussion summarises and evaluates the thesis findings, focussing specifically upon theoretical interpretation and integration. Overall, this thesis contributes towards an in-depth social psychological understanding of the contextual and ideological embeddedness of nationalism, national identity and intergroup relations in India.