To Be or Not To Be (Aligned with Elites): Navigating Systemic Power within Informal Institutions

Social intermediaries play a critical role in addressing exclusion, but must navigate entrenched power relations within informal institutions. Drawing on comparative case studies of three social intermediaries, this study examines how intermediaries negotiate systemic power—manifested through domination and discipline—across intersecting caste–gender hierarchies. We identify three distinct approaches to elite engagement: elite delegation, elite co-optation, and creative accommodation. Each of these reflects a specific combination of communal positioning and power frame adopted by intermediaries. Elite delegation, grounded in a detached communal positioning and a zero-sum power frame, prioritizes rapid scaling but reproduces existing hierarchies. Elite co-optation, marked by pragmatic communal positioning and a conditional positive-sum power frame, fosters short-term cooperation yet achieves only partial inclusion. Creative accommodation, characterized by embedded communal positioning and a positive-sum power frame, enables social transformation by simultaneously empowering marginalized groups and constructively engaging elites. By demonstrating how communal positioning and power frames shape these approaches, the study advances understanding of how systemic power sustains exclusion and how it can be reconfigured from within. We contribute to research on informal institutions and inclusion by elucidating how intermediaries can leverage positive-sum engagements to reshape domination and discipline, fostering more equitable and enduring informal institutional change.