Globalisation and the Middle Classes in India: The Social and Cultural Impact of Neoliberal Reforms

This book fills an important gap in the literature so far published on economic liberalization and globalization in India by providing much needed ethnographic data from those affected by the liberalization process. It reveals the complexity of the globalization process and describes and accounts for the contradictory attitudes of the lower middle classes. The notion of an homogenous Indian middle class as being the undoubted beneficiaries of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the implementation of structural adjustment programs is challenged. The ambivalence in opinions expressed by members of the middle class is examined by exploring the ways in which the structural causes and their discursive understanding is mediated. Importantly, while cultural globalization is perceived positively by some of the authors' informants, they remain doubtful about the long term benefits of the NEP and liberalization. Yet they do not wish to return to the days of state-controlled development. Significantly, too, this book discusses and analyzes both the economic and cultural sides to globalization in India, and it provides much-needed data in relation to several dimensions including: the changing costs of living; household expenditure, debt and consumerism; changes to, and satisfaction with, employment and workplace restructuring; gender relations and girls' education; reactions to, and effects of, global media and satellite television; and the significance of English in a globalizing India.