ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Dalit perspective on the existing role of the state in influencing accumulation processes in the markets, and how Dalit entrepreneurs experience and construct this role during the course of their various economic transactions. In his study of the state, Philip Abrams suggests that a distinction be made between the two objects of analysis, the state-system and the state-idea. Abrams points out that the state comes into being as a structuration within political practice. Dalit entrepreneurs indicate that their experience of engaging with the state cannot be equated with those of individuals from other social groups, especially those belonging to the dominant social groups. Dalit entrepreneurs fully understand that the upper-castes are not a homogeneous group, being horizontally divided by sub-caste locations, and vertically differentiated by class positions. Dalit businessmen see family, or extended family, as significantly influencing social relationships between market players and the state.
