Stratified massification: higher education expansion and social (in)justice in India

This review examines whether India’s transition from elite to mass higher education (HE) can advance social justice, or whether expansion under current structural conditions reproduces entrenched hierarchies. Drawing on a structured review of scholarship across HE policy, sociological stratification and language politics, the analysis employs a triangulated theoretical framework integrating Bourdieu’s theory of practice, institutional isomorphism and Gramscian hegemony. The review is situated within reforms associated with India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The analysis shows that while massification has broadened participation numerically, inequalities in cultural, linguistic and epistemic capital remain intact. Institutional isomorphism and global academic hierarchies pull Indian HE towards English-medium, research-intensive and internationally ranked models aligned with Western epistemic norms, privileging urban, English-speaking, middle-class and upper-caste groups. By contrast, students and institutions rooted in regional languages, rural contexts and marginalised castes face structural and symbolic barriers that constrain their capacity to benefit from expansion. The review argues that unless epistemic, linguistic and infrastructural inequalities are addressed, massification risks intensifying stratification rather than promoting equity. It contributes to debates on globalisation, postcolonial inequality and the social justice implications of HE massification in the Global South.