Research

How do states use language for nation-building in multilingual states, and what are the consequences for citizens? In this paper, I advance a theory of `everyday imposition': a strategy employed by state elite to promote a national language through routine interactions with citizens. I examine this strategy in India, where the state has promoted Hindi, a language associated with an ethno-linguistic group, even in the presence of English, a dominant but ethnically neutral alternative. Through an in-person audit experiment in public banks (n=1,080) in Karnataka, I demonstrate that the Indian state prioritizes Hindi and English in routine citizen interactions, marginalizing the local language. This hierarchy has important affective consequences that vary by social status: higher-class individuals are largely insulated, while lower-class individuals report more negative affect when interacting in the local language compared to Hindi, but not compared to English. These findings highlight how everyday imposition produces language hierarchies, shaped by both ethnic content and the social status of those subject to them.