000			02255nam a22001697a 4500
005			20131030100620.0
008			131030b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780195691580
082			_222 _a305.550954 _bFER
100			_aFernandes,Leela.
245			_aIndia's new middle class : _b democratic politics in an era of economic reform / _cby Leela Fernamdes.
260			_aNew Delhi : _bOxford University Press ; _c2007.
300			_axxxix, 289 p. ; _eHB
520			_bSince the 1990s, the middle class in India has been substantially transformed in size and character. This educated workforce ?commonly thought to be between 325 to 350 million ?now threatens its counterparts in the US and Europe. The new middle class is shaping contemporary politics in India in distinctive ways, symbolizing the emergence of a wider national political culture hinged on a consumer-based on consumption. This study marks a departure from existing studies on the middle class that have either focused on estimating its size or approached it through the lens of consumption. Fernandes analyses the political processes that have linked the middle class to consumption and a pro-liberalization orientation. It then moves beyond these connections to examine the internal differentiations within this class, thereby challenging the thesis that the middle class benefits uniformly from the policies of economic liberalization. Fernandes argues that such analyses deepen our understanding of political dynamics of economic reforms. According to her, this middle class is not ‘new?in terms of its structural or social basis. Rather its newness refers to the production of a distinctive social and political identity that represents and lays claims to the benefits of liberalization. Simultaneously, the construction of this social group rests on the assumption that other social segments can potentially join it. This creates conflicts between those who constitute this group and those who aspire to be a part of it. The book demonstrates that the anxieties, responses, and practices that these fissures produce constitute the daily substance of contemporary democratic politics
650			_aSocial groups _vMiddle Class _yPolitics _zEconomic Reforms
942			_2ddc _cREF
999			_c30863 _d30863