The Social Construction of Academic Ability: A Review of Literature

In this paper, various approaches to studying academic ability as a socially constructed category are presented. In particular, four types of studies are examined. Firstly, select studies which have approached the concept of ‘ability’ as a theoretical and academic construct are presented. These examine the forms taken by theories of ‘ability’, including assumptions about its origins, sources and dispersion among social groups. Secondly, studies which explore our ideas of academic ability as culturally embedded in the Indian context are reviewed. Indigenous concepts such as buddhi, pratibha, etc. influenced the changing notions of academic ability in the colonial period and they continue to do so post-Independence. Thirdly, a number of studies have explored how the modern discourses of the ‘nation’ and ‘national identity’ have influenced the construction of academic ability, including intelligence, talent and merit. Fourthly, the paper considers how ‘academic ability ’and in particular, ‘talent’ have been studied in policy contexts and have been shaped by various programmatic imperatives.