Page 306 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 14: Emergence of Middle Class System

fluent in English) typify this diverse group. Many have ties to kinsmen living abroad who have Notes
done very well.
Rural and Urban Middle Class
In the last one and half decade, cities in India have become symbols of the economic growth
achieved by the nation in the preceding years. The hitherto centres of large-scale mechanised
industry (Ahmedabad, Kolkatta, Kanpur, Mumbai etc.) as well as other state capitals and major
towns (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Amritsar etc.) including the national
capital region of Delhi are witness to radical socio-economic restructuring. In several of the “post
industrial” cities, a significant proportion of the middle class have entered the market as owners
of capital in order to trade in various goods and services in the informal sector markets. They are
the important beneficiaries of urban economic growth while the recent spatial restructuring also
demands closure/ shifting of their economic establishments. Further, the growth of modern markets
catering to the needs of the aggressive consumer fetish of the middle class is displacing the
traditional hawkers who were also a source of relatively cheaper consumer items meeting the
immediate consumption needs of this class.
If we see the emergence of the middle class in the rural areas. Several of the states in India are
witness to the emergence of an agro-mercantile class who have stakes in agriculture but also
sufficient economic presence in the nearest urban economy. Their social habits, educational
achievements/ aspirations and consumerism seem to be similar to their urban counterparts.
In conclusion, the most striking feature of contemporary India is the rise of a confident new
middle class. It is full of energy and drive-and it is making things happen. That it goes about in an
uninhibited, pragmatic and amoral fashion is true.
It is different from the older bourgeoisie, which was tolerant, secular and ambiguous. The new
class is street-smart. It has had to fight to rise from the bottom, and it has learnt to maneuver the
system.
Modernity and the Middle Class in Contemporary India
The modernity of the middle class does not enter the realm of the mind. Perpetuating patriarchal
and hierarchical notions and reaffirming stereotypical gender roles are seen as commitment to
tradition. Being liberal is epitomised as consumption and spending. Modernity does not mean the
inclusion of more sections of society; on the contrary, it means exclusion. It is also politically
conservative, says Rowena Robinson.
It is interesting of reading about the modernity of the Indian middle class : its commitment to
democracy as well as its respect for “tradition”. The middle class Indian is fundamentally non-
democratic and his (the use of the pronoun is deliberate) “commitment” to so-called “tradition”
amply demonstrates his intolerance. If “Indian” (read Hindu) culture and “family values” exemplify
tradition, these encapsulate a notion of the family seen in films like “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun”,
“Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge” or in advertisements for anything from Pantaloons to Bartan
soap. This notion is hierarchical and patriarchal, perpetuating stereotypical ideas about gender
roles in the family, particularly those of the daughter and daughter-in-law.
The deeply non-democratic side of middle class Indians is brought out by the nature of the causes
they espouse (the romantic and the conveniently distant Narmada displaced tribals) and the ones
they unequivocally condemn (those of street vendors or municipal workers on strike). The latter
are assertions by people “getting above themselves” and threatening the environment and the
“ownership” of public space by middle class “citizens” or cutting off their access to particular
forms of consumption.
If, as in the advertisement, the middle-class Indian was asked, “How do you like your modernity?”,
the answer would undoubtedly be : “Pack it (packet)”. This allows me to answer the question that

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