This dissertation project investigates the relevance of coercion, manipulation, and freedom of choice in the experience of inequality in everyday life in India. It pursues this question about inequality and voluntariness through ethnographic research on inter-caste marriages in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. From the 1960s onwards, dominant-caste communities consolidated political and economic power in Tamil Nadu, subordinating and excluding Dalit (formerly known as ‘untouchable’) communities. Since the 1990s, however, Dalit political and economic mobilization has challenged dominant-caste supremacy. Over the last few years, diverse social actors in the city of Coimbatore in Western Tamil Nadu—from dominant and Dalit groups, to NGOs, to state bureaucrats—have become focused on inter-caste marriages between Dalit men and dominant-caste women. They attempt to shape these marriages, strengthen them, break them, and leverage them for other projects, while young people pursue love and marriage within and beyond these interventions. Central to these practices are concerns about whether, when, and how the attachments and actions of couples to each other, to their parents, and to their caste communities are voluntary or involuntary. I ask: what is the perceived relationship between marital kinship and caste hierarchy in Coimbatore, and how does concern over the in/voluntary shape this relationship? To answer this question, I will analyze the invocation of the in/voluntary in the everyday management of marriage: at bureaucratic sites, in the daily lives of young people, and in media. I will consider the relationship between political-economic transformation in Coimbatore, voluntariness, and perceptions of caste inequality. Bridging literature on the political economy of caste, studies of kinship and relatedness, and work on the political meanings of freedom, this research contributes to the study of inequality and its (re)production in the 21st century.My dissertation project investigates the relevance of coercion, manipulation, and freedom of choice in the experience of inequality in everyday life in India. It pursues this question about inequality and voluntariness through ethnographic research on inter-caste marriages in the state of Tamil Nadu. From the 1960s onwards, dominant-caste communities have consolidated political and economic power in Tamil Nadu, subordinating and excluding Dalit (formerly known as ‘untouchable’) communities. Since the 1990s, however, Dalit political and economic mobilization has challenged dominant-caste supremacy. Over the last few years, diverse social actors in Tamil Nadu—from dominant and Dalit groups, to NGOs, to state bureaucrats—have intervened into inter-caste marriages between Dalit men and dominant-caste women. They shape these marriages, strengthen them or break them, and leverage them for other projects. Meanwhile, young people with varying political commitments pursue love and marriage within and beyond these interventions. Central to these practices are concerns about whether, when, and how the attachments and actions of couples to each other, to their parents, and to their caste communities are voluntary or involuntary. My research asks: what is the perceived relationship between marital kinship and caste hierarchy in Tamil Nadu, and how does concern over the in/voluntary shape this relationship? To answer this question, I analyze the invocation of the in/voluntary in the everyday management of marriage: at bureaucratic sites, in the daily lives of young people, and in media. Bridging literature on the political economy of caste, studies of kinship and relatedness, and work on the political meanings of freedom, my research contributes to the study of inequality and its (re)production in the 21st century.