The Great Indian Middle Class

Author: Pavan K Varma
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 232
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0140276580

Description

This comprehensive book examines the evolution of the middle class especially in with an When India embarked on a process of economic reform in 1991, the Indian middle class acquired a new prominence as one of the world's largest markets - 'urban India,' concluded one survey, 'is itself the world's third largest country.' But, as the author notes, 'what seemed to have been forgotten was the class in question was not conjured up overnight; it had a past and a history, which preceded its great discovery as a consumerist predator.'

Dwelling on key social and political developments since independence, the author shows us how the middle class, guided by self-interest alone, has subverted the goal of an egalitarian society. If the middle class remains insensitive to the needs of the 'other' India, it does so as the risk of considerable political instability which will militate against the very prosperity that it desires.

A powerful and insightful critique, this book is certain to be one of the most talked about books of recent times.

Contents

Preface

The Relevance of Beginnings

The Age of Hope

The End of Innocence

The Inner Landscape

The Writing on the Wall

Notes

Index