Being Middle-class in India: A Way of Life (Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series)

Hailed as the beneficiary, driving force and result of globalisation, India’s middle-class is puzzling in its diversity, as a multitude of traditions, social formations and political constellations manifest contribute to this project. This book looks at Indian middle-class lifestyles through a number of case studies, ranging from a historical account detailing the making of a savvy middle-class consumer in the late colonial period, to saving clubs among women in Delhi’s upmarket colonies and the dilemmas of entrepreneurial families in Tamil Nadu’s industrial towns. The book pays tribute to the diversity of regional, caste, rural and urban origins that shape middle- class lifestyles in contemporary India and highlights common themes, such as the quest for upward mobility, common consumption practices, the importance of family values, gender relations and educational trajectories. It unpacks the notion that the Indian middle-class can be understood in terms of public performances, surveys and economic markers, and emphasises how the study of middle-class culture needs to be based on detailed studies, as everyday practices and private lives create the distinctive sub-cultures and cultural politics that characterise the Indian middle class today. With its focus on private domains middleclassness appears as a carefully orchestrated and complex way of life and presents a fascinating way to understand South Asian cultures and communities through the prism of social class. Introduction / Henrike Donner And Geert De Neve -- Masculinity, Advertising, And The Reproduction Of The Middle-class Family In Western India, 1918-1940 / Douglas E. Haynes -- Gendered Bodies, Domestic Work, And Perfect Families : New Regimes Of Gender And Food In Bengali Middle-class Lifestyles / Henrike Donner -- Keeping It In The Family : Work, Education, And Gender Hierarchies Among Tiruppur's Industrial Capitalists / Geert De Neve -- Cultural Contractions And Intergenerational Relations : The Construction Of Selfhood Among Middle Class Youth In Baroda / Margit Van Wessel -- Globalisation, Neoliberalism, And Middle-class Cultural Politics In Kolkata / Timothy J. Scrase And Ruchira Ganguly-scrase -- The Social Transformation Of The Medical Profession In Urban Kerala : Doctors, Social Mobility, And The Middle Classes / Caroline Wilson -- Kitty-parties And Middle-class Femininity In New Delhi / Anne Waldrop -- Zara Hatke (somewhat Different) : The New Middle Classes And The Changing Forms Of Hindi Cinema / Rachel Dwyer. Henrike Donner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Being Middle-class in India: A way of life 8 Copyright 9 Contents 10 Figures and table 12 Contributors 13 Acknowledgements 15 Introduction 16 1 Masculinity, advertising and the reproduction of the middle-class family in Western India, 1918–1940 38 2 Gendered bodies, domestic work and perfect families: New regimes of gender and food in Bengali middle-class lifestyles 62 3 'Keeping in the family': Work, education and gender hierarchies among Tiruppur's industrial capitalists 88 4 Cultural contrations and intergenerational relations: The consturction of selfhood among middle-class youth in Baroda 115 5 Globalization, neoliberalism and middle-class cultural politics in Kolkata 132 6 The social transformation of the medical profession in urban Kerala: Doctors, social mobility and the middle classes 154 7 Kitty-parties and middle-class femininity in New Delhi 177 8 Zara hatke ('somewhat different'): The new middle classes and the changing forms of Hindi cinema 199 Index 224 This text looks at Indian middle-class lifestyles after liberalization through a number of ethnographic case studies, ranging from Delhi upper middle class elites to Tamilnadu's emerging industrial middle classes