Religious Conversion among Dalit and Adivasi Communities in India: A Learned Helplessness Perspective

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DOI: hhttps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19705069/a>

Selvaraj Nallathamni (Department of Psychology, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu)

The religious conversion of Dalit and Adivasi communities in India is often represented as a consequence of sociological, historical, and political factors depicting inequality, resistance, and identity. However, this review article goes beyond these paradigms by providing a psychosocial perspective that integrates the concept of learned helplessness with the examination of caste-based oppression to elucidate the rationale behind the conversion of the most marginalized to Islam, Christianity, or Buddhism. Prolonged discrimination based on caste almost always results in the feeling of powerlessness, the identification of one’s lower status, and psychological exhaustion, which are the main features of learned helplessness. Under such circumstances, religious conversion becomes not merely a response to deprivation but also an intentional and strategic manner of resistance. By rejecting caste identities through conversion, both individuals and communities are able to regain dignity, become agents of their own lives, and gain social recognition. Moreover, religious traditions with an egalitarian orientation not only provide the adherents with a worldview that challenges the existing hierarchy of social relations but also offer a loving community and support the members’ psychosocial renewal. This article, by linking structural oppression, psychological processes, and religious change, proposes a conceptual framework that understands conversion as a move to empower and transform rather than simply escape. The psycho-social perspective adopted here is a significant and valuable addition to the existing body of research on religious conversion in India.