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Book Review
Negotiating boundaries
RAMAN MAHADEVAN
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Analysis of the processes that have linked the middle class to consumption
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INDIA’S NEW MIDDLE CLASS — Democratic Politics in an Era of Economic Reform: Leela Fernandes; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 575.
This book is a courageous attempt at researching a subject, the new Indian middle class, which is intrinsically problematic and intractable, at both the conceptual and empirical level, given its complexity and diversity. Moreover, unlike other classes, the boundaries of this class are ‘fluid’, indeterminate and constantly evolving, allowing for entry and exit. This throws up major problems of definition and estimation, which together with the absence of hard in
formation on it, perhaps explains the dearth of serious studies on this class.
Despite the modest spatial and sectoral coverage, being largely based on archival and ethnographic data drawn from Mumbai and those associated with the “new economy” — not that it is entirely unrepresentative of trends elsewhere — this study is sufficiently engaging and thought provoking. Most crucially, it re-invokes the need to recognise and address the centrality of the evolving relationship between state and classes within a modified political economy framework, one which is sensitive to discursive cultural representation. Attempting to bridge the prevailing hiatus between the structural and the cultural/discursive paradigms, the author makes a strong plea for “a theoretical understanding of class that provides conceptual space for an understanding of the linkages and interactions between realms such as structure on the one hand and culture and discourse on the other.”
Growth story
This well-researched and timely account also provides a much-needed corrective to the myopic, thoughtless and cacophonic media representation of the India growth story, underwritten by the mythic new middle class, cocooned in its glitzy world of insatiable consumption. These self-perpetuating, idealised, ahistorical and uncritical narratives are not merely exercises in legitimising economic liberalisation and market reform but part of a process of construction of a new nationalist ideology which “portrays urban middle class consumers as representative citizens of liberalising India.” In short, “middle-classization” itself is perceived as a panacea for sustained growth. It is this erroneous assumption that Fernandez’s study critiques and undermines effectively.
Uncannily, the findings of the recent Report of the National Commission for Unorganized Enterprises in a sense puncture the hype about an ever-expanding and buoyant middle class. According to its reckoning, close to 80 per cent of the Indian population come under the poor and marginal category with a daily income of less than Rs.20; the so called new middle class, defined as the high-income category, represent no more than four per cent of the population. For the other India, represented by the lower middle class and the working poor the growth process still remains elusive. The undercurrents of the contradictions arising out of these harsh socio-economic realities and the manner in which these are negotiated and contested in the “everyday” public and social sphere is the point of departure of this study.
Social differentiation
The author is essentially concerned with putting into perspective the broad contours of the development of this highly-socially differentiated class, underlining the fissures and contradictions within the class and with those outside it (i.e. the internal differentiation and external distinction), and the implications of this complex social process for sustainability of Indian democracy in the context of liberalisation.
The core argument of the book and one which could possibly invite contestation is that “the middle class is not new in terms of its structural or social basis” and the “newness lies essentially in the process of production of a distinctive social and political identity that represents and lays claims to benefits of liberalisation.” This seems to be a case of overstretching the continuity dimension and goes against the general understanding of the structural change in the Indian economy especially post-1980s and of the rise of the knowledge economy. Notable is the changing composition of the capitalist class or the new Indian bourgeoisie during this period, many of whom are first generation capitalists drawn from the middle class. The scaling up and scaling down, a part of the process of social differentiation, has not received the requisite attention, given its bearing on the project of the construction of the hegemonic new middle class identity.
The problem also stems from the adoption of a neo-Macauleyan definition of the new Indian middle class. Limiting the boundary of this class to the English-speaking white collar segment is questionably self- limiting. Where then would one locate many other important fractions of the new middle class such as the self-employed, small and medium service providers and traders etc? Shouldn’t one be looking beyond Mumbai for a more textured picture? Fernandez’s all encompassing theoretical framework, while interesting, seems to constrain her characterisation of the middle class, with all its diversity. Despite her claim to the contrary, there is an overt tilt towards the culturalist position.
These caveats notwithstanding, this book is a useful contribution to the sparse literature in this area. It provides ample food for thought and underlines the need for further research on the complex process of structuring of a diversified middle class and its negotiation with public space.
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