"Linking the economics of caste with its politics, sociology, and history, this innovative book provides a stimulating assessment of the continuities and changes in caste disparities in India over the last two decades. Deshpande uses rich empirical data to uncover how contemporary, formal, urban-sector labour markets reflect a deep awareness of caste, religious, gender, and class cleavages. She convincingly argues that discrimination is neither a relic of the past nor is it confined to rural areas, but is very much a modern, formal-sector phenomenon. This insightful book, with a new introduction to the paperback edition, is an important step towards a multidisciplinary dialogue for understanding (and mitigating) inequalities based on birth and descent."