Caste in social media
Topic, sentiment, emotion and engagement analysis of caste-based social media discourse
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22205355 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Khushboo Sahrawat (Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar), António Fonseca (0000-0001-5483-421X, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, corresponding author), Jaison A Manjaly (0000-0002-5067-368X, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Pages | 102785 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Sciences & Humanities Open (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2590-2911 • E-ISSN: 2590-2911 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.ssaho.2026.102785 |
| OpenAlex | W7160640173 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
Caste-based social exclusion in India continues to manifest as a deeply entrenched structural inequality, now extending into the digital sphere. This study investigates how caste-related narratives are articulated, contested, and emotionally responded to in social media discourse, specifically on Facebook. Using a dataset of over 250,000 user comments on caste-related news posts by major Indian newspapers (2012–2024), this research applies advanced transformer-based NLP models to analyze topic distributions, sentiment polarity, and 27 nuanced emotions. Five dominant themes emerge—Caste System, Reservation & Legislation, Community Life & Crime, Politics, and Minority Groups—each evoking distinct emotional and engagement patterns. The analysis reveals that caste-related discourse generates significantly higher levels of anger, disgust, and disapproval compared to neutral content, particularly around localized incidents and systemic injustices. In contrast, positive emotions such as joy, admiration, and gratitude are notably suppressed. Community Life & Crime topic stands out as the most emotionally resonant, drawing strong user engagement and moral outrage. The study also finds that caste discourse elicits complex affective responses—such as remorse, realization, and nervousness—indicating a public grappling with deeply embedded social inequalities. Through this multi-layered approach, the paper demonstrates that digital platforms both mirror and mediate structural exclusions, offering real-time insight into the evolving emotional and political landscape of caste in India
Caste · Discourse analysis · Narrative · Social media · Social relation · Digital Communication and Language · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
Social media analytics – Challenges in topic discovery, data collection, and data preparation
Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis
Indian Media and Caste
Hashtagging Caste Names
Dehumanization of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST)
Facebook reactions in the context of politics and social issues
Caste in the News
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |