Open-access edition of Living Class in India by Sara Dickey

FAIN: DR-299888-24

Rutgers, The State University (Piscataway, NJ 08854-8045)
Emma-Li Downer (Project Director: November 2023 to present)

Many Americans still envision India as rigidly caste-bound, locked in traditions that inhibit social mobility. Yet, class mobility has long been an ideal, and today globalization is radically transforming how India’s citizens perceive class. The work draws on over thirty years of fieldwork, focusing on how the notions of class and caste are rapidly transforming in the wake of globalization for residents in urban India. Putting a human face on the issue of class in India, it introduces four people who live in the “second-tier” city of Madurai. It considers how class is determined by both subjective perceptions and objective conditions, documenting Madurai residents’ palpable day-to-day experiences of class while also tracking their long-term impacts. By analyzing the intertwined symbolic and economic importance of phenomena like wedding ceremonies, religious practices, philanthropy, and loan arrangements, it reveals the material consequences of local class identities.

Associated Products

Single Publication (Open Access eBook or Collection)
Publication Type: Single Publication
Title: Living Class in Urban India
Year: 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8135-839
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Author: Sara Dickey
Abstract: Many Americans still envision India as rigidly caste-bound, locked in traditions that inhibit social mobility. In reality, class mobility has long been an ideal, and today globalization is radically transforming how India’s citizens perceive class. Living Class in Urban India examines a nation in flux, bombarded with media images of middle-class consumers, while navigating the currents of late capitalism and the surges of inequality they can produce. Anthropologist Sara Dickey puts a human face on the issue of class in India, introducing four people who live in the “second-tier” city of Madurai: an auto-rickshaw driver, a graphic designer, a teacher of high-status English, and a domestic worker. Drawing from over thirty years of fieldwork, she considers how class is determined by both subjective perceptions and objective conditions, documenting Madurai residents’ palpable day-to-day experiences of class while also tracking their long-term impacts. By analyzing the intertwined symbolic and economic importance of phenomena like wedding ceremonies, religious practices, philanthropy, and loan arrangements, Dickey’s study reveals the material consequences of local class identities. Simultaneously, this gracefully written book highlights the poignant drive for dignity in the face of moralizing class stereotypes. Through extensive interviews, Dickey scrutinizes the idioms and commonplaces used by residents to justify class inequality and, occasionally, to subvert it. Along the way, Living Class in Urban India reveals the myriad ways that class status is interpreted and performed, embedded in everything from cell phone usage to religious worship.
Primary URL: http://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/living-class-in-urban-india/9780813583914/
Primary URL Description: Webpage for the book on Rutgers University Press's website
Secondary URL: http://doi.org/10.36019/9780813583945
Secondary URL Description: De Gruyter's stable DOI link for the book, which notifies that there is an open-access edition.
URL 3: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ch78w3
URL 3 Description: Stable link from JSTOR for the open-access ebook.
Type: Single author monograph

---