Restructuring the New Middle Class in Liberalizing India

Leela Fernandes

Introduction sumer choice. Such processes have been particularly

The policies of economic liberalization, initiated in acute in metropolitan urban centers such as Mumbai
India in the 1990s, 1 have been accompanied by a set (Bombay). Contemporary Mumbai, characterized by
of public discourses that have increasingly begun to an economic transition which has included the growth
debate the character of the Indian middle class. On of the financial industry, the corresponding decline of
the one hand, proponents of economic liberalization the industries such as textiles in the manufacturing
portray the middle class as a sizeable market that sector, and local state policies of economic liberaliza-
should attract multinational corporations. Idealized tion which have actively sought foreign investment,
images of the urban middle class in the print media provides a striking instance of the new “global city”
and television contribute to the production of images (Sassen, 1991). In this context, Mumbai’s middle
of an affluent consumer, who has finally achieved the classes appear to denote an ideal typical ex ample of
ability to exercise choice through consumption. On the the rise of the “new middle classes” in liberalizing In -
other hand, critics of liberalization often point to the dia. 3 Thus, in the mid-1990s, at the height of the boom
negative social and cultural effects of consumerism period of economic reform in India, public discourses
and condemn the middle class for its vulnerability to focused on the rising urban culture of consumption in
the excesses of consumerism (Varma, 1998). Both Mumbai. Popular stories about the spread of con-
views, while located on oppositional poles of the ideo- sumer items such as cellphones, sharp rises in wage
logical spectrum converge in their discursive produc- levels for the managerial staff of multinational compa-
tion of the urban middle class as the site of commodity nies, and the expansion of consumer choice for goods
consumption and as the recipients of the benefits of such as cars, washing machines and color televisions
liberalization. 2 have produced an image of the rise of a new middle

Public discourses in India, for instance, produce an class culture in the context of liberalizing India.

array of images which depict the urban middle classes While recent studies on the effects of liberalization
as the primary beneficiaries of economic reform. Such in India in the 1990s have begun to debate and dem-
discourses are contained in idealized images of urban onstrate the potential negative effects on social
middle class consumption in print media and televi- groups such as the industrial working class and rural
sual advertisements and corresponding public dis- social groups, 4 less attention has been paid to the
courses that identify economic liberalization with new socioeconomic effects of liberalization on the middle
opportunities for the middle classes to exercise con- classes. Academic studies and public discourses

© 2000: Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 89

which have focused on the middle classes have con- litical debate in both academic and public discourses.7
centrated on the cultural and moral effects on the This debate has been closely linked with the question
middle class such as the rise of a culture of consum- of how to estimate the middle class consumer market
erism, the growing indifference of the middle classes in the context of state attempts to court foreign corpo-
to rural and urban poverty (Kothari, 1993; Karma, rate investment in India. The middle class consumer
1998) and the potential threat of excessive westerni- has, in fact, been portrayed in public discourses as
zation. 5 While such analyses point to a significant shift the primary beneficiary of new opportunities for con-
in the national political culture that has accompanied sumer choice in the context of liberalization. However,
the economic policies of liberalization in the 1990s, beyond the realm of consumption the effects of liber-
they in fact rest largely on an assessment of the “new alization have varied as different groups have been
rich,” the section of the middle classes that has in- marginalized, incorporated and excluded from a re-
creasingly been serving as the symbol of the benefits structured labor market. Such effects have unfolded
of liberalization in comparative contexts (Robison and through the processes of: (1) inclusion as the “new
Goodman, 1996; Pinches, 1998). Less attention has rich” (Robison and Goodman, 1996) benefit from new
been paid to the actual socioeconomic effects of eco- employment opportunities and rising salaries at multi-
nomic liberalization on the middle classes beyond the national firms, (2) marginalization as traditional public-
realm of consumption. A more comprehensive as- sector employees in industries such as banking and
sessment of the effects of the economic policies re- insurance sectors contest processes of retrenchment
quires an analysis that begins to address the struc- and restructuring, and (3) adaptation and survival as a
tural socioeconomic shifts for the middle classes. vast segment of the middle class draws on varying
Given the public circulation of idealized images of the strategies to obtain skills and confront unemployment.
benefits of economic policies of liberalization for the My focus on the urban middle classes employed in the
metropolitan urban middle classes, an assessment of private sector is precisely based on the fact that it is
the implications of this economic transition for the ur- this small segment of the urban upwardly mobile that
ban middle classes in a city such as Mumbai provides has provided the basis for the discursive production of
an important measure of the implications of such poli- the image of “the new middle class.” The article be-
cies.6 gins with a discussion of the discursive production of
Economic reform has produced a set of contradic - the new Indian middle class and then turns to an
tory effects for different segments of the urban middle analysis of various layers of the middle class ranging
classes. Drawing on a case study of the Mumbai mid- from clerical workers to upper level managerial work-
dle class, I analyze the structural dimensions of the ers drawing on qualitative interviews with recruitment
middle class in an effort to shift the focus away from agents and individual employees. An analysis of the
idealized images to an examination of the actual ma- restructuring of the labor market in liberalizing India
terial effects of liberalization on the Indian middle demonstrates striking structural parallels between the
class. The article provides a qualitative empirical view urban middle class and working class labor markets.
of changing labor market characteristics of segments The urban middle class labor market in Mumbai is
of the middle class in the private sector. Indeed the characterized by increasing job insecurity, a trend to-
very question of how one can define or classify “the wards the employment of contract workers (ranging
Indian middle class” has itself represents a site of po- from secretarial to upper managerial positions), and
90 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

sharp distinctions in income between different layers debate it has sparked in relation to the social role and
of “the middle class.” The analysis thus provides an responsibility of the Indian middle class. At a popular
empirical basis on which to assess images of the “new level, for instance, satirical stories regarding prolifera-
middle class” and also provides insights into the ways tion and disturbances caused by new commodities
in which individuals from this segment negotiate and such as cellphones abound in the media. At a another
strive to achieve such images. The research is based level, intellectual critics of India’s new culture of con-
on fieldwork conducted in Mumbai in 1995-96 and sumption have produced a more substantive censure
1998-99 including ethnographic observations, pub- of the Indian middle class.
lished materials and qualitative interviews with place- Parvan Varma, in his The Great Indian Middle
ment agencies, union leaders of white collar unions, Class (1998) for instance, initiated a significant na-
individual employees, and with managers and owners tional public debate on the declining social responsi-
of diploma-granting institutions which provide skills bility of the Indian middle class and its gradual abdica-
and credentials.8 tion of a broader ethical and moral responsibility to the

Inventing the “New” Middle Class in India poor and to the nation as a whole. Thus, he argues, in

The policies of economic liberalization initiated in the early years of Indian independence,

the 1990s have produced a significant debate on the Material pursuits were thus subsumed in a larger
framework that did not give them the aggressive pri-
role of the urban middle classes in contemporary In -
macy that they have acquired today. There was less of
dia. This debate has centered around the role of the
the feeling that one must have it all in the shortest time
urban middle classes in a culture of consumption that
possible. Even the more well-to-do families felt that to
has expanded with new commodities available in the
flaunt their assets was in bad taste. Indeed there was a
context of liberalization. Advertising and media im- sense of slight disdain for those who lived only at the
ages have contributed to the creation of an image of a level of their material acquisitions. There were other
“new” Indian middle class, one that has left behind its countervailing concepts such as status and respect
dependence on austerity and state protection and has which had a higher priority in the scale of social values.

embraced an open India that is at ease with broader Status, and the respect it earned, was not so directly
linked to what one owned; it still had more to do with
processes of globalization. In this image, the newness
what one did or what one had achieved. Keeping up
of the middle class rests on its embrace of social prac-
with the Jones’ was somehow a less compulsive pursuit
tices of taste and commodity consumption that mark a
than keeping up with the image of refinement associ-
new cultural standard that is specifically associated
ated with a restraint on materialistic exhibitionism in a
with liberalization and the opening of the Indian mar- poor country — an ideal directly imbibed from Gandhi,
ket to the global economy. Images of mobility associ- Nehru and the freedom movement (Varma, 1998:40).
ated with newly available commodities such as cell- It is this shift from the early tenets of the Gandhian
phones and automobiles, for instance, serve to create and Nehruvian visions of India to the current culture of
a standard which the urban middle classes can and consumption that marks the discursive boundaries of
should aspire to. In this process, the new (urban) In - the image of the new middle class in the context of
dian middle class becomes a central agent for the re- liberalization in India. That is, the “newness” of the
visioning of the Indian nation in the context of global- middle class involves an ideological-discursive projec-
ization. The significance of the production of this tion rather than a shift in the composition or social ba-
hegemonic cultural standard is marked by the public sis of India’s middle class. While on the one hand,
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 91

critics of this new middle class have pointed to the “new Indian middle class” in the context of contempo-
negative effects that middle class consumerism holds rary liberalization. This significance of the question of
in terms of environmental degradation and a “growing mediation is embodied in the current public contention
amnesia” (Kothari, 1993) towards poverty, proponents of the social responsibility of India’s new middle class
of liberalization have projected this new middle class which I have been describing. Thus, the public debate
as an idealized standard for a globalizing India. on the new middle class has had less to do with a
The invention of the new middle class in the con- shifting or expanding social basis of the middle class
text of economic liberalization thus involves a discur- than it has with the new cultural standard which has
sive production of a new cultural image of the Indian been projected onto the urban middle classes, a stan-
middle class rather than the entry of a new social dard which is inextricably linked to India’s policies of
group to this class.9 Such discursive debates on the economic liberalization. The process of mediation in
“newness” of the Indian middle class in fact have a the contemporary context of liberalization rests on the
longer historical precedent in the Indian context. Thus, invention of the new middle class as the social group
Partha Chatterjee (1992), for instance, argues that the which is able to negotiate India’s new relationship with
specificity of the new Indian middle class in the colo- the global economy in both cultural and economic
nial context rested on a paradoxical position where terms; in cultural terms by defining a new cultural
the middle class was culturally invented through a co- standard that rests on the sociosymbolic practices of
lonial English education yet structurally limited since it commodity consumption and in economic terms as
lacked a basis for economic expansion in the context the beneficiaries of the material benefits of jobs in In-
of colonial economic control. Chatterjee argues, “In dia’s “new economy.”10
the specific context of nineteenth-century Bengal, the The economic segment which is primarily linked to
middle class was not a fundamental class in this this discursive construction of the new middle class
sense, nor were its intellectuals organic to any funda- consists primarily of the expansion of the service sec-
mental project of social transformation or conquest of tor of the economy and of professional, white collar
hegemony. The new middle class was a product of employment within the private sector, in particular
English education. But in an economy under direct within multinational corporations. Consider the de-
colonial control, in which there was little prospect for scription by one analyst of India’s new economy,
the release of forces of industrialization, the attempt to The services sector dominates the Indian econom y to-
achieve through education what was denied to the day, contributing more than half of our national income.

economy was utterly anomalous” (Chatterjee, It’s the fastest growing sector, with an average annual
growth rate of 8 per cent in the 1990s. One in every two
1992:24). The conceptual and political boundaries of
Indians earns his livelihood by providing services. An
this new Indian middle class thus rested, as Chatter-
INDIA TODAY-ORG-MARG poll shows that the majority
jee argues, elsewhere, on a question of mediation, of
of middle class families want their children to work in
the conscious action of a subject in the middle in
the services sector (Saran 2001: 32).
terms of both a relationship of subordination and a
At a structural level, the newness of this segment
relationship “premised upon its cultural leadership of
of the middle class thus is constituted not through the
the indigenized people” (Chatterjee, 1992:36). It is this
newness of its social basis (that is new groups enter-
historical relationship of mediation which I would ar-
ing the middle class) but through the newness of the
gue continues to characterize the construction of the
economic sector which is being constructed as the
92 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

ideal standard for the middle class, one that is specifi- at that and you’ll know.
cally linked to structural economic shifts linked to the In the context of this shift in the hegemonic social
liberalization of the Indian economy. In a telling con- standard for the urban middle class, the new liberaliz-
struction of the category for instance, Rohit Saran ing Indian middle class has been associated in struc-
(2001) includes working class jobs such as domestic tural terms with the expanded “new economy” service
workers and “old” middle class jobs such as school sector and professional workforces in the private sec-
teachers and IAS officers in his definition. However, tor. This construction conforms in many ways to older
the thrust of the article focuses on new economy conceptions of the emergence of the new middle class
segments such as information technology and associ- in advanced industrialized contexts. Thus, C. Wright
ates the service sector with the process of liberaliza- Mills in his classic formulation defined the new middle
tion. Thus, the article notes, “The bureaucracy’s grip class in the United States in terms of the rise of sala-
on the service sector is less stifling…. No wonder ried white collar professionals with a distinctive life-
there is hope that services will breed a new class of style (Mills 1956). However, the specific conditions of
entrepreneurs in India. A class that will be more com- contemporary globalization distinguish the process of
petitive, more innovative and more global in outlook the invention of the new Indian middle class in signifi-
than some of the established industrialists” (Saran, cant ways. The distinctiveness of the new Indian mid-
2001: 34). Thus, again we see the discursive inven- dle class lies largely in its discursive construction as a
tion of India’s “new” middle class or in this instance sign of the potential promise of the benefits of India’s
“new class” of entrepreneurs as potential leaders of integration with the global economy, benefits which
an Indian nation with a new global outlook. public cultural representations associate with particu-
The discursive boundaries of the new middle class lar practices of commodity consumption. Such images
are thus constituted by a shift in the aspirations, stan- of the new Indian middle class in fact correspond to a

dards and direction of the new middle class. Thus, in smaller upper echelon of the middle class that Robi-

symbolic terms, while for the old middle class the cul- son and Goodman have termed the “new rich.” Thus,

tural and economic standard may have been repre- as Salim Lakha has argued, in some conceptions the
sented by a job in a state bank or Indian civil service, new middle class has included “rich farmers, labour

the new middle class would aspire to a job in a multi- elite, small business entrepreneurs, professionals,

national corporation or foreign bank.11 As the editor of overseas workers in the Gulf region, and the salariat

one consumer magazine whom I interviewed put it from diverse backgrounds. Needless to say, the high
succinctly, the distinction lies in the way in which lib- status global consumer goods that are popularly seen
eralization has as the distinguishing markers of the middle class can-

redefined middle class ambition.… If you’re a citibanker not be afforded by all the groups included above...”
or if you’re with Am Ex [American Express] if you’re with (Lakha, 1999:264). In contrast to Mills’ classic formu-
Bank Am [Bank of America] then you’re hot. You’re not lation of the new middle class in the United States,
considered hot property if you’re with SBI [State Bank of then, in the India context the new middle class be-
India]. You won’t go to one. Look at the profile of the comes a sign of the promise of a new national model
brighter students and the kinds of jobs they will seek,
of development, one with a global outlook that will al-
where they are going. Where will the IIM [Indian Insti-
low India to catch up with larger processes of eco-
tute of Management] students go? Where will the IIT
nomic globalization. 12 This process of the construction
[Indian Institute of Technology] students go? Just look
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 93

of the new middle class in the context of economic interrogation of the idealized discursive construction of
globalization has been demonstrated in comparative the “new” middle class in India and in other compara-
contexts in the cases of other newly industrializing tive contexts.
countries in Asia. Various studies of cases in East and Contradictory Locations: Liberalization, the Labor
Southeast Asia have thus begun to examine the rise Market and the Middle Class
of the new middle classes in Asia in the context of
Economic liberalization in the 1990s has produced
processes of economic and cultural globalization a form of restructuring of the Indian middle class. This
(Robison and Goodman, 1996; Pinches, 1999). As restructuring has taken place on two levels. The at-
Maila Stivens has pointed out in her analysis of the
tempted shift from a state-managed to a liberalized
rise of the new Malaysian middle class, for instance,
economy creates conflicts within the middle class as
“what really stands out in all the present commentary restructuring marginalizes the traditional middle class
about the future of Malay society is the way that the basis of state enterprises and benefits segments of
development of these new classes is seen as a cul-
the middle class that make gains in new private and
tural phenomenon, a cultural project” (Stivens,
multinational enterprises. Economic policies of liber-
1998:92). While such studies have provided important
alization have produced a set of “contradictory loca-
insights regarding the cultural construction of the new tions” (Wright, 1978) within the new middle classes as
middle classes and the new consumption practices
segments of this group constitute the new rich in met-
associated with it less attention has been paid to the
ropolitan India while other segments are restructured
actual effects which economic restructuring has held
in ways that parallel structural shifts among the indus-
for different segments of the new middle classes. The trial working classes. In the context of liberalization,
discursive invention of the new middle classes in much public attention has been focused on the actual
terms of new practices of commodity consumption has
and potential restructuring and retrenchment in public
tended to lead to a naturalized dichotomy where the
sector industries. However, less attention has been
effects of liberalization on the working classes and
paid to such processes in the private sector, particu-
rural poor have been examined in terms of economic larly in segments within the “new economy.”
restructuring and retrenchment while the effects of
Images of the prosperous urban middle class con-
liberalization on the new middle classes have been
sumer associated with liberalization correspond to the
analyzed in terms of consumption. Hence less atten-
rise of the new rich, particularly young urban profes-
tion has been paid to systematic analyses of eco-
sionals who have been able to benefit from sharp
nomic restructuring on the new middle classes, the
rises in salaries of multinational companies and sub-
presumed beneficiaries of liberalization. Such an
sequently of Indian companies. This has placed new
analysis is particularly significant given the ways in
value on business education and the achievement of
which the effects of the Asian economic crisis have
MBA degrees. Starting monthly salaries for MBAs
significantly curbed earlier idealized representations of
range from Rs. 6,000-8,000 for an MBA graduate from
the “new rich” in Asia. 13 The following analysis of labor
an average institute but may rise as high as Rs. 10-
market restructuring in the context of liberalization in
15,000 for MBA’s from highly ranked institutions such
contemporary Mumbai thus sheds light on the local
as Bajaj or the Indian Institute for Management.14 In
implications of the larger processes of economic glob-
addition to high salaries, a central monetary compo-
alization and in the process hopes to contribute to an
nent of the new rich lies in the high levels of perks
94 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

which multinational companies provide to their mana- set you up. You’re also going to look at marriage

gerial staff. These perks range from the provision of around 25, 26... so its not that simple for you to go into
a management school to study for 2 years. That’s one.
cars, housing, entertainment allowances, and clothing
Secondly where do you get the money? A management
allowances. Such perks in addition to constituting a
course costs. It could be 40,000 a year... Now an MBA
non-taxable source of income also form the basis for
school like a Bajaj or whatever would have an expecta-
the reproduction of status distinctions. For instance,
tion that you need to have bought books. You need to
companies may provide memberships in exclusive take on projects, you need to prepare the projects, you
social clubs, a source of cultural capital which tran- need to have a computer to prepare a report....So do
scends mere monetary value as leading social clubs you have that kind of money to invest when you’re not
in Mumbai often have long waiting lists which exclude even working for those 2 years?

even people who can afford the exorbitant member- In practice, middle class individuals without such
ship fees. Such perks have also historically been pro- financial capital to invest in the acquisition MBA cre-
vided by public sector enterprises for instance in the dentials rely on a vast field of institutes that grant di-
form of housing provided by public sector banks. plomas and certificates to provide credentials in an
However, new private and multinational enterprises attempt to gain a foothold in the new middle class
have transformed the status implications of these dream of liberalization. Such institutes which have
benefits by linking non-wage benefits to new patterns mushroomed in both metropolitan areas and small
of consumption. Thus, while cars and club member- towns provide a wide array of services including the
ships may serve as significant status symbols at the provision of computer training, English classes, vari-
higher managerial rungs, cellphones serve as smaller ous managerial diplomas, and public speaking. Indi-
status markers for lower level executives. Such status viduals that avail of these services range from new
signifiers increasingly shape the aspirations and job- college graduates unsure of their career choice to in-
market strategies particularly of urban youth and have dividuals employed in companies searching for cre-
greatly increased the status of corporate employment. dentials in order to gain a promotion or “add value”
However, the attainment of an MBA requires a sub- that can make them more marketable in a liberalizing
stantial financial investment that is out of the reach of labor market. 15 This strategic credentialing represents
a substantial section of the middle class. As an em- a significant middle class strategy of skill acquisition
ployee at a recruitment agency argued, which can allow individuals to survive in a restructured
See for a typically middle class person... By 25 your labor market which requires abilities in new fields such
dad has retired, you need to after your graduation start as information technology. Such strategies are not
earning. You need to because that additional 6,000 or limited to the attainment of skills such as computer
5,000 which you’re going to contribute home is going to literacy but also in many instances involve the acquisi-
make a big difference. So it’s not that easy for such a
tion of new forms of symbolic capital necessary in a
person to leave his job and go into further studies. At
liberalizing labor market as individuals attempt to re-
times there would be people who’ve got a father who
spond to the image of the new middle class. Consider
maybe is not well so he’s absolutely not earning so
there’s a requirement for you to go on earning. There the following example of a private institute which

are others where the father is still earning and he’s go- grants non-certified diplomas in fields ranging from
ing to earn for another couple of years but you know hotel catering, sales and marketing to dressmaking.
you have to...because your dad doesn’t have enough to This institute which has operated in India since 1935
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 95

has developed a new course on “Personality Devel- A significant portion of the course emphasizes the
opment and Communication Skills.” The course has acquisition of manners and communications skills that
approximately 450-500 students a year, meets once a are appropriate for the new corporate cultural envi-
week, runs over a period of five weeks and costs ap- ronment. The course begins with the instructor making
proximately Rs. 2,000. The objective of the course is each student practice a personal introduction and a
to prepare students to engage with a distinctive class “proper” handshake one that the instructor says is “not
culture that characterizes corporate settings. Thus, in a heavy slap. Don’t just hold out your hand stiffly,
addition to training in basic areas such as interviewing don’t just catch the tip of the hand. Don’t hold on to
skills and resumé preparation, a substantial portion of the hand.… You smile and shake hands. That’s how
the course focuses on the acquisition of manners, you become a trend setter rather than a follower.”
taste and style, “the symbolic capital” (Bourdieu, Substantial portions of the session are devoted to sty-
1984) perceived as necessary for an upwardly mobile listic training that includes advice on the type of de-
middle class individual. Consider one sample of stu- odorants (including affordable brand names) that
dents attending the course. The students, consisting should be worn, how to apply deodorants, the types of
of 17 men and six women represented a broad spec- clothes appropriate for office wear, advice that men
trum of educational and professional backgrounds. never keep anything in their shirt pockets. While these
Almost all of the students were college graduates. portions of the session are presented with humor, they
Close to half were currently employed in a wide range are taken seriously as students take careful notes and
of jobs including engineering, computer programming, ask follow-up questions. The individuals enrolled in
and management. Meanwhile, close to half were stu- this courses were attempting to gain the symbolic
dents who had recently graduated from a number of capital necessary to conform to the cultural standard
colleges at the University of Mumbai or were close to of the new liberalizing middle class and this points to
graduation. Three students had masters degrees and the ways in which the discursive images of the new
there were three unemployed individuals (see table 1 middle class begin to shape the micro-level practices
below). of individuals attempting to aspire to these images.
Table 1: Diploma Institute Student Status Characteristics However, such micro-level practices also begin to
Uncerti- Bachelor’s Mas- Total No of point to a significant discrepancy between images of
fied Degree ter’s Students
the “new” middle classes in the media and the actual
Diploma Degree
experiences of middle class individuals. The acquisi-
Educa- 1 19 3 23
tional tion of such symbolic capital represent one strand of
Back- the credentialing strategies which middle class indi-
ground viduals attempt to use in order to negotiate the uncer-
Currently Unem- Stu- Total No. of
tainties of a restructured labor market. One placement
Em- ployed dents/ Students
agency representative argued,
ployed New
gradu- [for somebody whose ] dad’s been a VP [Vice Presi-
ates dent] of a big time company you’ve had sufficient expo-
Employ- 10 3 10 23 sure to culture, you’ve got that polish. You don’t need to
ment have that MBA but you’re the one who can afford the
Back- MBA...but look at a typically middle class person, he’s
ground
96 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

the one who needs the MBA course. He needs to get customer service, if you go by and meet those customer
himself polished, you know organize his knowledge or service people you’ll see a lot of them, they’re all draw-
whatever. So what happens is for these people these ing salaries of about 7 and a half to 8 [thousand ru-
certificate courses and these diploma courses are really pees].
good…. They are not that costly and its not so tough to In this case, while an investment in credentialing
get in. allows for a higher starting salary at a multinational,
Many individuals whom I interviewed argued that the addition of skill does not transform the structural
they had enrolled in various institutes as a strategy of definition of the employment category within the or-
upward mobility, for instance to enhance their ganizational hierarchy of the company; that is, there is
chances of gaining job promotions. However, in prac- no structural upward mobility in the labor market. This
tice while such training may “add value” by providing often reproduces gender hierarchies as women oc-
an individual with specific skills it often does not pro- cupy an expanded category of “secretarial” work
duce upwardly mobility within the labor market. Con- which includes occupations ranging from administra-
sider the experience of one sales officer at a multina- tive/clerical assistants to marketing executives who in
tional company. The sales officer was receiving a effect perform the duties of higher level managerial
monthly income of Rs. 4,000 a month (substantially positions.16 Consider, for instance, the expansion of
lower than the inflated salaries commonly presumed the category of “executive assistant.” The skill re-
to characterize MNC employment) and did not receive quirements and income range for this form of em-
any sales incentives such as commissions on sales. ployment vary greatly. Required skills may range from
The officer who was supporting a wife and child de- secretarial duties including handling phone calls and
cided to obtain a marketing diploma from one of the typing to organizing conferences to managerial tasks
top private educational institutions in Mumbai with the including handling personnel matters and making
hopes of gaining a promotion. However, he indicated, substantive decisions on company projects. While
when he gave his diploma to his manager, his man- such employees are classified as “secretarial” work-
ager just set it aside and never mentioned it again. ers, processes of restructuring have increasingly led
Strategies of credentialing may in some cases lead to companies to delegate “managerial” responsibilities to
limited income mobility but such mobility often occurs them. Thus, in many instances, an executive assistant
within a fixed structural location in the labor market. will perform duties normally handled by an MBA such
For instance, acquisition of additional skills through as checking up with clients, picking up meetings, co-
diplomas and certificates may enable an individual to ordinating and organizing conferences and public rela-
move to higher paying employment through a move tions work. This transition has led to increasingly rig-
from a small firm to a larger Indian or multinational orous recruitment procedures. As one placement
company. However, such skills do not usually change agent put it, while earlier personal referrals were suffi-
the job classification of the individual. One recruitment cient for employment, now
agent even argued for instance They [companies] want to see an in-depth analysis, to
Now take an MNC. They would like even their secretar- meet the candidate, to give them a test, to give them an
ies and even their support staff to have an MBA be- aptitude test. Most companies have this. Even if they’re
cause they’re an MNC. The support staff are doing taking on a secretary they are not only giving her a
these small time MBA courses. So they’ll take these shorthand and a typing test, they’re giving her a com-
people over.… See a company has an image. People in puter test. They’re giving her a basic general knowledge
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 97

test. For comprehension...Today even if you’re hiring a India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), the gen-
secretary...the guy is going to see whether you can eral federation consisting of the majority of banks, has
think. Whether you’re looking good. Whether you want participated in general trade union campaigns against
to move into a larger role. Whether your computer
liberalization and more specifically against programs
knowledge is good. What other jobs can I hand over to
geared at retrenchment and voluntary retirement pro-
her. Can she take a decision if I'm not there. Or do I still
grams. The AIBEA which consists of a membership of
need to keep calling ten times and ask are you fine?
Are you fine? Can you handle something more?...There approximately 550,000-600,000 (of a total all-India

are secretaries who are upgrading themselves, taking banking workforce of approximately 2,200,000) 17 rep-
managerial courses. resents a section of the organized middle class which
In some instances, multinational companies dem- has opposed processes of liberalization. Union offi-
onstrate a preference for even their secretarial and cials, in particular, argue that insufficient attention has
support staff to have MBAs or some form of manage- been paid to the question of unemployment for both
rial training. Such processes are in line with the gen- the middle and working classes and that current im-
dered nature of economic restructuring in comparative ages of the new middle classes have little relevance
contexts (Bakker, 1994; Jenson et al., 1988). The in- for the reality of the majority of middle class individu-
crease in skill requirements without structural mobility als. This view is captured succinctly by one official
is an effect of broader processes of the restructuring who argued,
of the labor market. Such restructuring is character- The middle classes are neither here nor there. As Lenin

ized by two broad patterns. The labor market has said, the middle classes have no social basis. They
have some fancies. They imagine they would become
been marked by a decrease in job security which has
rich. Have a bungalow, have a car. But ultimately they
been manifested by an increasing movement from
live in a lottery; few are winners, most are losers. If em-
permanent to temporary or contract-based work on
ployment is blocked what will our children do? Com-
the one hand and retrenchment in both the public and
puter software engineers and doctors can be five to
private sectors on the other. There has been signifi-
seven percent of the population. What about the rest?
cant attention on the proposed need to restructure While public sector banks have emerged as a site
public sector enterprises. In the context of middle of contestation for the supporters and opponents of
class white collar employment, the banking and insur- restructuring, such potential processes of retrench-
ance industries have represented critical sites of po- ment in public sector units have already been clearly
litical contestation. The banking sector in particular established within the private sector. Such processes
has been identified as a critical arena for the re- have ranged from lower level white collar employees
trenchment of staff in order to cut costs and make to the upper echelons of the managerial staff. This
public sector banks competitive in the context of new retrenchment has resulted from excessive expecta-
financial standards of liberalization. While a strong tions in the initial boom period of liberalization in the
unionized staff has prevented wide scale retrench- 1990s. Thus, multinational companies in various sec-
ment, such pressures have been felt through a freeze tors recruited managerial employees with high sala-
on recruitment and through attempts to develop volun- ries and perks, a process which fed into the identifica-
tary retirement schemes (VRSs). According to trade tion of the liberalizing middle class with “the new rich.”
union representatives, there has been no fresh re- However, the combined effects of a global economic
cruitment in public sector banks since 1986. The All recession with the Asian crisis and a stagnation in
98 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

middle class consumer demand began to lead multi- industry put it, while people were not officially fired,
nationals to rein in costs. This stagnation began to they
produce significant cracks in the discursive image of had no choice but to leave. Work pressure was too
the new middle class as public discourses began to much. Things were not happening and somebody had

debate and explain the lack of consumer demand. to take responsibility and responsibility always lands up
at the middle level management.…What most of them
This was reflected in newspaper stories with titles
have done is they’ve jumped from one company in
such as “The Mirage of the Middle Class” and “What
white goods to another in the last three years and real-
Happened to the 200 Million Consumers?” While pub-
ized the industry is bad and now they’re looking at al-
lic discourses debated the size and character of the
ternatives outside the industry.
Indian middle class, the material effects of such proc-
Such trends were particularly acute in multinational
esses were concentrated in an increase in labor-
corporations as Indian companies did not engage in
market restructuring in the private sector. One place-
comparable drastic shifts such as doubling the wages
ment representative who focuses on managerial
of managerial staff. The result has been a significant
placements indicated that some foreign banks that
increase in job insecurity and instability which is rela-
initially hired people at five times their existing salary
tively new to Indian corporate culture. This instability
began to institute severe cutbacks after two years of
has taken a number of forms. First, it has resulted in
operation. 18 As she indicated, “they have literally in a
an increase in job movement as younger junior mana-
day’s notice asked something equivalent to five to six
gerial employees have repeatedly shifted between
hundred people at the management level to leave.”
companies. As one agent indicated,
This phenomena of downsizing foreign banks repre-
See in the long run if it shows that they’ve moved four
sented a general pattern across the sector in what times in two years or even three times in three years it
one newspaper report termed the “pink slip syn- doesn’t look good for a management student at that
drome.”19 This transition from an economic boom to level. He doesn’t come across well and it will reflect
restructuring within an economic slowdown has also badly on their credibility later on...even though every

characterized the consumer non-durables industry. In time they move they had no choice but to move be-
cause either the division was being closed down or two
the initial period of liberalization in the 1990s public
branches merged and things like that. Basically people
discourses focused on India’s vast untapped middle
were trying to survive somehow and these people had
classes with some estimates reaching as high as 300
no choice but to leave. But ultimately when he puts
million. This discursive production of the Indian middle
down in this resume that he’s left three companies in
class market helped fuel multinational expectations the last two years the fourth company will think thrice
particularly in the white-goods section as newly avail- before they see him. So there are lots of people whose
able commodities such as color televisions, VCRs and careers are in a mess right now. Basically its very mis-
washing machine were depicted as the symbols of a erable. I mean I can quote management students who

new liberalizing India. The inability of the Indian mid- have passed out in 1992-93 and been taken on by one
of these companies. Since 1993 they have changed five
dle class to measure up to such inflated standards of
jobs.
consumption (a fact that was intensified by the eco-
Meanwhile, in contrast, upper level managers who
nomic recession in the late 1990s) has resulted in
have not faced retrenchment have been unable to
cutbacks in the consumer non-durables industry. As
shift jobs or find alternative offers in order to negotiate
one agent who handles managerial recruitment in the
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 99

improved positions. As one agent put it, batch mate is thrown out by another company I will
Now no matter how good you are at your job you know somewhere remember it and hold it against them.
that you don’t have options. Security comes from know- Maybe I will choose not to deal with them business-
ing that I can put in my papers today if I don’t like the wise. It is still a close knit circle that people hold it
way things are going. Its not just that people are going
against you and it does have a negative impact.” Such
to throw you out maybe you know that your company’s
networks provide an informal class-based safety net
not going to throw you out but you also know that they
for upper tier managerial employees. Such safety nets
may decide not to give you an increment this year or
of VRSs are not available to new MBA entrants in the
not to give you a bonus or continue with last year’s pol-
icy of something that you didn’t like which they had job markets or for smaller companies that cannot af-

promised to change or whatever. But you can’t threaten ford the financial costs of generous VRSs. Thus even
them with leaving anymore in this scenario. No matter the credentialing process for the upper layers of the
how good, how senior you are. So we get a lot of calls middle class is contingent on such distinctions.
from most of the senior level management from most of In addition to processes of ret renchment, a second
these companies are in touch with us. And they call us
major characteristic of the restructuring of private sec-
saying that ok how’s the market looking? Is anything in-
tor labor market restructuring has been an increased
teresting happening? And we have to get back to them
trend towards linking job security with productivity.
saying there’s nothing interesting right now. We’ll get in
touch with you. And we don’t contact them for the next Workplace cultures of both multinational and Indian

three months which is something that would not have companies adopt methods used to measure employ-
happened. They know that if I had given a call to a re- ees’ productivity and time spent on the job and meth-
cruitment consultant at the most three days and I would ods used to engage in surveillance over employees.
have got five calls. For may be five different positions Companies use methods that for instance require
and maybe I would turn down all five but they would white collar employees to use time cards to punch in
have called me back. And now they don’t get a call for
and out, engage in the close monitoring of phone calls
three months. And when they get a call after three
in order to determine whether employees are making
months its something that even we know they wouldn’t
personal calls during office hours, or adopt a variety of
be too keen on moving into. But we just check with
them because they said they’re open to a change. Job strategies that measure productivity on a weekly or

insecurity is a way of life right now in professional com- daily basis. One placement agent for instance at-
panies. tempted to demonstrate the impact of the new post-
Nevertheless, the upper echelons of managerial liberalization workplace by contrasting images of
cadres have been protected by well-endowed VRSs. workplace in public and private sector banks,
Given the finite network of the upper level of manage- You walk into any public sector you go into a bank and

rial employees, larger companies have attempted to there are people all over just doing nothing. They’re be-

use generous financial terms to counteract the nega- ing paid but they’re actually not contributing anything.…
You go to a private bank lets say a Hong Kong bank or
tive publicity associated with the retrenchment of
a Citibank each and everybody is occupied each and
white collar workers. Strong social networks of elite
everybody is busy.… I have a friend who is working at
business school graduates have induced larger corpo-
Bank of America — he constantly has people checking
rations to temper the potential negative impact on the into telebanking. There are people listening into your
upper level managers of major corporations. As one conversation. The number of calls taken is monitored.
agent put it, “I mean if somebody who is my MBA The number of calls made is monitored. How many of
100 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

these are your personal calls? Everything is monitored within a company but are subcontracted to companies
for each and everybody is working their optimum. So that specialize in such tasks. Even processes of re-
now there’s this trend that you cut out any extra people cruitment are increasingly subcontracted to private
and you pay the one’s who are there, look after them.
placement agencies. While some aspects of this
Pay them higher salaries, give them better benefits,
structural shift toward subcontracting within the ser-
give them a better environment to work in and yet cut
vice and white collar sectors of industry are related to
costs.
increased efficiency through the specialization of
Such retrenchment schemes in the private sector
skills, in other instances, subcontracting represents a
are elements of larger processes inherent in the re -
process of the casualization of white collar work which
structuring of the middle class labor market. While
is closer to the shift from permanent to casual workers
political debates on liberalization have focused on the
in the industrial sector.
potential restructuring and retrenchment in public sec-
The processes of labor market restructuring which
tor enterprises and the need for an exit policy, less
I have been examining begin to disrupt the idealized
attention has been paid to such processes which have
already been unfolding within various levels in the pri- discursive images of “the new middle class.” Such
processes are not of course “new” or limited to the
vate sector. Increased competition in the context of
Indian middle class; rather they have characterized
liberalization and related changes in technology and
the experiences of working and middle class employ-
management style have led to significant processes of
ment in a range of national contexts. The particular
downsizing in the private sector. In some cases, as
salience of such patterns of restructuring in the con-
one Human Resources placement agent put it,
text of contemporary economic liberalization lie pre-
the person who works with a secretary, he’s not given a
secretary. He types his own letters. He’s given a PC to cisely in their relation to the recent ideological produc-

type his own letters. He makes his own calls. He tion of the category of “the new middle class.” Thus,
doesn’t have a secretary to get him somebody on the even the English news magazine, India Today, a pub-
line. He makes his own calls. If a secretary is needed its lication whose stories of new forms of consumption
shared between four executives. That way you cut and lifestyle have epitomized the construction of the
numbers. The issue of support staff so to speak to line “new rich/new middle class Indian” published a lead
staff is decreasing.
story on the downsizing of white collar jobs with a
A central trend related to such processes of re -
melodramatic opening: “Jobs relocated, work out-
trenchment is the increased trend towards a restruc-
sourced. People given golden handshakes, pushed
turing of the workplace. Processes of the reorganiza-
down with a golden parachute, or plain axed. Body-
tion of the workplace have led to processes of
slammed. Eliminated like in a Stalinist Gulag” (1997:
subcontracting of tasks were previously carried out by
41). 20
employees within the workplace in question. In some
The empirical analysis which I have been present -
cases, subcontracting takes the form of franchising
ing cautions us against an assumption of the distinct-
where, for instance, a company downsizes its sales
iveness or “newness” of the liberalizing middle class in
personnel and subcontracts sales work to another
India. On the contrary, processes of restructuring pre-
organization for a percentage of the profits or reve-
sent important parallels between the experiences of
nue. Or, to take another example, payroll calculations
industrial workers and segments of the urban middle
are often no longer handled by individual employees
classes. However, such structural similarities do not
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 101

necessarily lead to self-evident alliances between the generation entrepreneurs. Thus, he argues,
middle and working classes. In fact, it is precisely the We tried to go through a lot of institutions. We tried
search for distinction and upward mobility which leads BIFR; even those institutions became very tight be-

these segments of the middle class to aspire to ideal- cause of liberalization. Some day I came to a feeling
that there’s a sudden shift like before if they were very
ized images of consumption, lifestyle and status. Let
helpful to see that OK your company continues now
us further consider these processes by turning from a
they were more keen to see that we close down you
discussion of such general patterns of restructuring to
know and finish off with them. I can understand you
specific case histories of middle class employees.
know maybe you don’t want the economy to bleed but
Restructuring the “new” Middle Class: Work Histories the question of welfare was gone. That was government

The “new” middle classes which have been the tar- point of view but for an individual for the trauma which
you go through of losing a business its terrible you
get of the lens of liberalization, whether in terms of
know. I mean we lost all our money because we were
media representations, academic discourses or the
first generation entrepreneurs. See there are two
advertising strategies of various industries represent a
classes I find in India one is the people who already
central site where processes of workplace restructur-
have industries who have big industries and who go in
ing have been unfolding in the context of liberalizing for projects in terms of diversification There’s another
India. However, such processes do not necessarily class which I feel is kind of entrepreneur class which
lead to political opposition to economic reform.21 On has product which says ok lets build a plant, small plant
the contrary, middle class employees often turn to and let’s manufacture and start selling. I belong to the

individualized strategies in the context of an increas- second.

ingly competitive labor marker. Consider the following This points to an important move way from earlier

work history of A.L. Rao, a white collar worker at a state strategies towards the middle class. Those ear-

leading multinational company.22 Rao was a first- lier policies of state support for small scale enterprises

generation entrepreneur, attempting to start his own produced a significant segment of the “new rich” from

machine-tool business in Karnataka. He started the diverse regional and caste groups. As Salim Lakha

project in the pre-liberalization period in 1990 and had (1999:254) has argued, “the small scale sector was

developed the blueprint and obtained all of the gov- regarded as a means of broadening the ‘entrepreneu-

ernment licenses required for a medium scale manu- rial base’ and counteracting the concentration of

facturing unit with a workforce of 100 workers. The wealth and resources.” Rao’s attempt to enter the

project was finalized just prior to the dawn of India’s ranks of the “new rich” through this strategy thus fal-

first phase of economic reforms in the 1990s. In a tered with India’s shift to a liberalizing economy. The

trend typical of start-up companies during that time bankruptcy of his business led Rao to migrate to

the rising costs of imports due to the devaluation of Mumbai as he was unable to find a job in Bangalore.

the rupee and increased competition transformed the First what happened was ...getting a job was difficult
again a job suitable for you was very difficult and people
unit into an economically unviable project. The unit
looking at you with a look of failed project you know
became sick within a year. New financial norms in the
people who have done the failed project and so that
period of liberalization prevented state lending institu-
was one of the reasons why I’ve come here. This pro-
tions from bailing out the unit, which was eventually
ject was in Bangalore so I had to leave that state and
shut down in 1992. Rao interprets this in terms of new come here to Mumbai.… There are cases now running
obstacles which liberalization placed on first- against me...for recovery of loans more than three cro-
102 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

crores and I don’t even have property worth even occurs in two main forms: (i) a company may provide
30,000 rupees. I told you first generation entrepreneurs certain specialized services that are routinely subcon-
we put all our savings into this the whole thing and we tracted to other companies; thus, such companies
couldn’t recover the whole thing so I had written a letter
may provide services such as book-keeping and pay-
to the court saying that I have nothing so if you want if
roll accounting or advertising services such as exhibi-
you feel that you can recover anything from me let me
tions or road shows; (ii) multinational companies hire
know anytime I’ll show you all my assets. So in effect
lets say in American terms I would be bankrupt. I've individuals yet place them in the formal employment of

given them the bankruptcy kind of a thing. And job in a second independent company, as in Rao’s case.
the machine tool was impossible because I [could] go The multinational company in this case hires the indi-
into marketing lets say but again the trauma of having a vidual but informs the individual that there is a sub-
failed product was very big... every body knows about contractor who will pay the individual and send a bill
your project in the industry...again you can be in ma- for a service charge to the multinational. A distinctive
chine tools but someone will know where you are from.
characteristic of this form of recruitment is that the
These are some of the things which made me leave
individual in question does not approach the subcon-
machine tools and come into an IT [information tech-
tractor for services in obtaining a job with the multina-
nology] field so I started again back from scratch . And
for one year I couldn’t do anything I was just trying to tional. Rather the multinational directs its recruits to

recover from what had happened and where I went the subcontractor rather than placing them on their
wrong. Now I’m in a different city so I’m totally in a dif- own payroll. As Rao put it,
ferent field which I’ve never done before. The agency which pays me...if you think that if I ap-
Rao was eventually able to obtain a job with a proach this agency Ill get a job in [multinational] no it

leading American multinational company in the field of doesn’t work that way. I told you it’s from the managers
[in the MNC]. Managers will decide whether I want a
information technology. He works in the marketing
guy… [the job] came through a friend to me. My friend
department of the company and is a dealer in charge
is one of the managers. It usually comes like this. It
of handling accounts in the western region of India.
comes as a temporary job for six months. [not openly
However, Rao’s position within this multinational is not
publicized] it is again through word of mouth. You’re
one of a regular managerial position within the com- looking for six-month job. That time I was thinking OK
pany’s marketing department. Instead his situation I’m going to the U.S. I want some IT experience so
represents a significant pattern within multinational when I joined in March I had time for six months so I
companies in which white collar workers are hired came in, OK the company also grows and you are also

through a process of subcontracting that mirrors the getting used to the company they want you to [be] re-
tained because again training process getting a new
structural pattern of subcontracting used for the indus-
person is quite a headache so you continue in that.
trial working classes. Rao is hired and paid by an in-
Despite Rao’s unstable position within the com-
termediary company which then subcont racts his ser-
pany, he perceives his location as a potential oppor-
vices to the multinational company in question. He
tunity for upward mobility rather than as a situation of
has been working for over a year-and-a-half on the
structural exploitation. Thus, he subscribes to the no-
basis of an oral contract which provides him with a
tion that he is merely selling his services with as he
fixed salary but without additional perks and benefits
puts it “total freedom.” He thus views his job as an
provided for permanent employees. The process of
opportunity as he believes that either experience in a
subcontracting among white collar service workers
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 103

leading multinational will provide him with future job ity of this presumed symbolic protection presents an
opportunities or that his performance will eventually ironic reflection of the situation of segments of the ur-
lead to a permanent position in the multinational com- ban middle classes that confront the contradictions
pany; as he put it “when there is an opportunity for between the uncertainty of economic processes of
them to take maybe they will take me.” Rao’s case labor market restructuring on the one hand and the
history points to the paradox of such contradictory aspirations of the discursive images of prosperity and
locations which segments of the urban middle classes consumption that characterize images of the “new”
occupy in the context of liberalization in India. While, middle class dream in liberalizing n
I dia on the other
the restructuring of the white collar labor market pro- hand.
vides a structural parallel to the casualization of labor Despite such paradoxes, Rao adheres to the no-
in the industrial working classes, white collar workers tion that economic liberalization has been beneficial
continue to subscribe to an imagined potential for up- for India. While he places the blame on the state for
ward mobility which liberalization holds for them. Con- not cushioning the effects on entrepreneurs like him-
sider the following symbolic representation of Rao’s self he insists that he is “totally for liberalization.”
liminal position. In the middle of our interview, Rao Rao’s case history points to a wider pattern which has
paused and indicated that he wanted to show me begun to characterize the restructuring of the white
something. Pulling out his wallet, he removed his collar labor market. While Rao’s location is among the
business card and a company identification card. The managerial ranks, such processes have also charac-
business card is a blank company card on which he terized a larger segment within the lower sectors of
has hand written his name. He is not allowed to print this market, employees who serve as the secretarial,
his own business cards as he is not an official em- administrative and executive assistants in the private
ployee of the company yet he is able to borrow the sector. As we will see below individuals in these seg-
symbolic status of the multinational company. This ments fall into a similar pattern that mirrors Rao’s work
status as a temporary sojourner in the company is situation. Such individuals form part of the contract
contrasted to an official plastic identification card workforce in the private sector, employed in restruc-
which the company has inadvertently issued him. tured work situations. Yet like Rao they echo a strong
Pointing to the plastic card Rao argues, support for liberalization as they point to the new po-
legally in India if I’m going to take this and fight and say tential for commodity consumption that liberalization
I’m an ------ employee they will have to agree. This is I has brought to the urban middle classes.
feel a kind of I think somebody didn’t know what was
Let us consider further case histories of employees
happening. It’s a mistake. It’s a proof that I’m an em-
in order to examine the ways in which members of the
ployee. You need not have given me any contract…. In
“new middle classes” negotiate the dislocations of the
disguise there are more number of employees non-----
restructuring of the middle class labor market. As we
employees than permanent....
have seen, a primary strategy of the middle layers of
Rao views the plastic badge as a symbol which will
the urban middle classes consists of strategies of cre-
give him access to the protection of the very labor
dentialing and skill acquisition at various private insti-
laws which have been eschewed in the context of the
tutes. One such program, affiliated with one of the
new liberalizing market; a market in which he must
oldest and most prestigious liberal arts colleges in
sell his services in “total freedom.” The material fragil-
Mumbai, offers postgraduate diplomas in business
104 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

management primarily designed for students without soon season). Significantly, this retrenchment does
the time, educational credentials or financial means to not merely occur at the lower rungs of employment
enroll in an MBA program. The year-long course costs but represents a restructuring of the workforce
approximately Rs. 8,500-10,000 in contrast to a three- through the replacement of senior permanent mana-
year MBA program which can cost an average of Rs. gerial representatives with young temporary execu-
30,000 a year. The course is officially designed for tives like Sujata. For instance, in Sujata’s case she
individuals who are already employed (although on began in the marketing department under two senior
occasion new college graduates are able to use per- marketing managers. However, both managers have
sonal connections to circumvent this policy) and lec- since been displaced and Sujata as the only remain-
tures are delivered by professionals and management ing member of the marketing department has taken on
representatives from various industries. During the their duties. Thus, like the three other senior manag-
course of my fieldwork I interviewed a cross section of ers in the office (maintenance, security and personnel)
one batch of graduates from this program. Graduates she reports directly to the managing director.
of the program occupied a variety of positions ranging The contradictory nature of Sujata’s position is un-
from lower level positions as “executive assistants” to derlined by the conditions of her employment. While
managerial employees and these positions were lo - her duties are characteristic of a white collar manage-
cated in some of the top multinational and Indian rial work, her working conditions in many ways reflect
companies in fields ranging from information tec hnol- the workplace organization of working class employ-
ogy, media corporate groups, recruitment agencies, ment. Her daily work experience, for instance, is char-
advertising, leisure and entertainment, consumer non- acterized by high degrees of surveillance and control
durables and other manufacturing industries. These over her time and movements. Sujata must punch in
employees who are generally young college gradu- and out on a time card. If she leaves early or arrives
ates occupy a significant segment of the middle class late she is given a late mark. After three late marks
flexible workforce in the private sector. her salary is cut by a half day’s wage. However, she is
Sujata is an executive employed in an Indian com- not paid overtime if she works late. She works a six
pany in the entertainment and leisure industry. She day week and is not provided any sick leave. Mean-
obtained a managerial diploma immediately after her while, while on the job her telephone calls are strictly
college graduation and since then has been employed monitored in terms of the number and length of calls
in the marketing department of a well-known amuse- she is permitted to make. Thus, although her job pri-
ment park and is responsible for booking corporate or marily involves contacting clients she must provide
private group events in the park. While she is consid- explanations for local phone calls that last more than
ered a permanent employee and receives benefits five minutes. As she states,
such as provident fund (retirement) benefits, after four They record on the computer the time and the num-
months of employment she has still not yet received a ber...They think business is a short term process. But

formal letter of employment. According to Sujata this business is an ongoing process and it’s a long term
thing. If you don’t keep your relationship with your client
represents a general strategy which the company
you are not going to be a success. I’ve faced such a
uses to maintain a temporary workforce. Thus the
problem because of the telephone calls. I get a firing
company retrenches staff during the slack season
every time. Even if I get a call and I’m talking for fifteen
(park attendance drops significantly during the mon-
minutes and the bill is not increasing I’m questioned on
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 105

that. the company asking her if she wanted to return for a

Such controls over Sujata’s work extend to the lack one-month period. As she had not obtained employ-
of managerial authority she holds although she must ment elsewhere she agreed and was taken back at a
perform managerial duties. While Sujata must negoti- reduced salary of Rs. 4,000 despite an initial promise
ate with individuals scheduling events in the park she to pay her original salary of Rs. 4,200. Once she was
does not hold any authority over the rates and dis- reinstated, the company extended her contract and
counts she can provide and must continually consult finally offered her an ongoing contract position. While
with her managing director. As Sujata indicates, this Maya was promised that she would be put on the pay-
often undermines her credibility with her higher level roll with a higher salary and benefits such as a bonus
corporate clients. While Sujata complains bitterly and insurance coverage she in fact never received
about such conditions, she indicates that she hopes this employment status. She was maintained as a
the experience she gains from her job will allow her to temporary worker and paid from the company’s petty
move to a better company in a year or two. Her job is cash fund.
relatively stable in contrast to individuals who are in- While Maya’s employment was never legally for-
creasingly employed on a temporary contract basis. malized, her duties as a customer-support executive
Consider the case of Maya, a young woman who involved a wide range of duties including contacting
received a diploma from the same institute as Sujata. customers with regard to the status of their orders,
Maya had completed her college degree from a small handling billing, ordering parts from regional offices in
rural college and migrated to Mumbai in search of India and in Southeast Asia, overseeing annual main-
employment where she obtained a job as a secretary tenance contracts with both individual and corporate
at a car dealership. After a few months, a placement clients, dealing with customer complaints as well as
agency obtained an interview for her in the customer managing an assistant who worked under her. Mean-
support department at a well known multinational cor- while, her work was placed under close surveillance
poration in the information and technology field. After with daily work assessments and continual productiv-
three interviews with various managers conducted ity increases measured in terms of the number of cus-
over a span of three weeks, the vice president of the tomers contacted on a daily basis. Thus, for instance
customer support department conducted a final inter- Maya was informed that she had to make 160 calls in
view and offered her a temporary job. As Maya puts it, a day to inform customers about the status of their
“He kept saying you’ll be a contract employee but order. Maya’s work experience signifies the Janus-
you’ll get credentials from ----- [a well known com- faced nature of the effects of liberalization for the ur-
pany]. It’ll only be for six months and if we need you ban middle classes; the other face of the idealized
for longer time maybe we’ll keep you.” After accepting image of the new middle class consumer is the new
the job, classified as a customer service executive middle class worker who must serve this consumer
with a salary of Rs. 4,200, she enrolled in the man- and handle the intensive workplace requirements of a
agement institute. However, after three months of restructured service economy. As Maya describes it,
employment Maya fell ill with jaundice and with the You know there was a lot of paperwork involved. It be-
absence of sick leave privileges associated with a came too much you know because the other girl [her

permanent contract she had to quit her position. Sev- assistant] also couldn’t pick up fast and just two people

eral months later, however, she received a call from you get crazy. You know sometimes you can get very
106 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

crazy ...it was absolute you know everyday you have to she quit her job despite the fact that she had not ob-
call up... one day it would be 160 maybe the next day it tained another job.
might be 180 customers. You have to do it. Sometimes
The work histories of Sujata and Maya begin to
we used to just say we called them, we called them. But
point to the significance of the gendered nature of la-
sometimes the customers call up and tell her we ha-
bor market restructuring in the private sector. Both
ven’t received calls or it goes to Delhi. So we have to
Maya and Sujata occupy positions as officially classi-
see that nothing goes to Delhi. If it becomes blown up
then its really bad. So we have to handle things. Other fied as secretarial work, a classic model of feminized
than that I was also handling what we call escalation work in India and in other countries as well (Crompton
cases as in it gets so heated up in Mumbai if the cus- and Jones, 1986). However, in the context of restruc-
tomer gets so agitated it goes to Delhi and it gets esca- turing their “secretarial” positions have increasingly
lated there and once it goes to Delhi you’re in boiling expanded to include managerial responsibilities.
water. Because Delhi will come down on you like fire
However, such expanded responsibilities do not pro-
and you have to handle the situation. There was this
vide them with structural upward mobility in the labor
one engineer ---- who used to handle it and plus I had
market. Thus, they are not considered part of the
to help him with that. Like he would ask me the case
company’s managerial workforce nor are their exten-
history. You have to remember cases that happened
long time back also. You can’t afford to forget things sive duties reflected in substantially higher salaries. In

you know you have to be you have to look at every the context of exorbitant real estate and housing
word the customer says. prices and high costs of living in Mumbai, for instance,
The stress and anxiety of Maya’s work responsibili- Maya is only able to afford to rent a shared room
ties was compounded by a highly personalized and (typically called a paying guest) in a private residence.
volatile work culture. One of her main complaints was Such women workers, an growing segment of service
the personal treatment she received from her supervi- sector and white collar employment, typically reside in
sor. As she describes it, such paying guest accommodations or in working
I don’t believe you need to treat somebody that way. women’s hostels if they are single and do not have
They believe you know I guess because its come up family members to reside with in Mumbai. There is
with my first boss she was like that. She used to scream currently little systematic published quantitative data
and shout so I guess this woman [her supervisor]
on salary scales for women working in white collar or
thought that’s the way you need to go about but that’s
service sector employment as published statistics on
not the way you deal with people especially see be-
women workers are limited to organized sector indus-
cause as it is the customer support job is a very tense
tries such as factories and plantations. My analysis
job. Your nerves are always like that because you’re
having people screaming down on your throat most of draws on interviews with recruitment agents, women

the time and you have to be calm you have to listen to employed at a range of companies who I contacted
what they’re saying. You can’t scream back at them. through networks at one managerial diploma-granting
And if you have somebody else screaming at you I institute as well as numerous interviews and informal
mean you know the environment you’re working in can conversations with women employed at two working
drive you up the wall. women’s hostel where I resided during my fieldwork.
Maya continued in this situation for six months and
My research finding suggest that Rs. 4,000 was an
yet was still unable to attain a formal position on the
average estimate for executive assistants who per-
company’s payroll despite earlier promises. Finally, formed secretarial and some managerial duties as in
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 107

the case of Maya and Sujata. Women employed in of women’s organizations holding anti-price rise pro-
managerial positions would earn substantially higher tests and marches. While in this case the actual
incomes particularly in multinational corporations. causes of the price rise were not a direct result of lib-
However, the work experiences of women like Maya eralization, the public outcry over the price of onions
and Sujata represent exemplars of a larger segment became a visible symbol that captured the economic
of middle class women workers. Such income distinc- pressures on working class and middle class families
tions between women residing in the hostel would of- and provided a sharp contrast to idealized images of
ten be reproduced on a daily basis by the status sym- middle class consumption of commodities such as
bols associated with images of the new middle class cars and cellphones. Such processes also serve to
which I have discussed earlier. Thus, for instance underline the gendered nature of processes of
women employed in multinationals would often bring consumption as it is generally middle class women
their company cellphones to the dining area and who must manage everyday household budgets and
pointedly place them out on the table. Meanwhile, negotiate the inflationary pressures on daily
women without access to cellphones would have to expenses.
In this context, liberalization has, in fact, produced
line up before a pay phone in the hostel in order to a contradictory set of gendered effects. On the one
place calls. hand, the expansion of service sector and private sec-
The fact that the high costs of merely renting an tor employment has produced employment opportuni-
apartment place them beyond the reach of most sin- ties for middle class women in metropolitan centers.
gle women employed in such positions begins to However, such opportunities often represent coping
demonstrate the significant limitations to the idealized strategies as households attempt to negotiate increas-
images of the new middle class described above. 23 As ing household costs and new lifestyle standards that
one woman, employed as a secretary in a small pri- correspond to public representations of the new mid-
vate Indian firm and residing in a working women’s dle class. This has produced familiar gendered pres-
hostel, put it, “I want a house. More than being mar- sures as middle class women must perform a dual
ried first I want a house. In Bombay that’s the main shift of paid and unpaid household work. The form of
thing to have. I told you even if I save my whole life- such pressures vary considerably depending on the
time I wont be able to afford a house.” income level of the individuals in question. Consider,
In the case of married women, a combination of for instance, the self-reflections of one woman em-
rising costs of living, high real estate costs and in - ployed as a journalist writing for a new print publica-
creasing pressures of lifestyle and consumption stan- tion specifically targeted at the new middle class
dards have also produced significant economic pres- Radha described herself as a “slightly upper middle
sures on middle class families and led to a shift class person living in a metro. Dual income and still
towards dual income families. 24 During the course of trying to make ends meet.” Thus she indicated,
my fieldwork, a significant example of such pressures I simply cannot give up my job. My mother gave up her

was captured by the rising price of vegetables, in par- job. I cannot do that because it is unthinkable. I don’t
like this rush but I cannot quit this race. I’m running. I
ticular the price of onions, a staple food for both work-
don’t want to run but I cannot stop running…. Out of a
ing and middle class families. The price of onions be-
total monthly income of Rs. 30,000 for us we are sup-
came a cross-class public symbol of economic
posed to be on the premium segment of society. But a
pressures and in the case of Mumbai led to a number
108 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

third of it goes in just running the family monthly ex- individuals attempt to negotiate a means to attain the
penses. And then you set apart another quarter for sav- status or at least the status symbols of the “new rich.”
ings for tax purposes or compulsory savings or what- These individuals thus do not translate their dissatis-
ever and what are you left with? What all will you do
faction with their work into an opposition to liberaliza-
with it? You would invest in infrastructure for your house
tion. On the contrary, as we have seen earlier with the
or you will flash it. I mean go on a vacation or som e-
case of Rao, individuals whom I interviewed inevitably
thing. You’ll buy dresses you’ll buy jewelry. See today’s
avenues for spending are more but the avenues for pointed to the presence of consumer choice as a mark

earning have not increased to that level and so I’m of the benefits of liberalization. Consider the case of
more frustrated.” Naresh, another graduate of the business manage-
This snapshot points to the anxieties of the seg- ment institute. Naresh has been employed in the mar-
ment of the middle class closest to the idealized rep- keting department at a well-known biomedical engi-
resentation of the new rich in India. neering company. The company, while a

These anxieties of the new upwardly mobile dual multinational, is one of the oldest companies in the

income upper middle class family only serve to under- field based in India and is run as an Indian private

line the contrast to women like Maya and Sujata who manufacturing company with operations primarily

are employed at substantially lower salaries in the based in India. As one of the older companies based

lower tier of white collar work.25 Their case histories in India, liberalization has to a large extent meant a

are typical of the employment situation of the lower loss in protection and competitiveness for the com-

tier of white collar work and the majority of middle pany. With liberalization and the increasing availability

class women. Consider the example of a well-known of cheaper imports with more sophisticated technol-
foreign bank which routinely hires temporary staff in ogy, the company has increasingly been confronting

various departments. For instance, individuals are the problems of maintaining its once profitable manu-

hired in the securities department and paid a competi- facturing orientation. However, despite this impact on

tive salary. However, the bank requires a break in an his company, Naresh’s analysis of liberalization is

individual’s employment after three or four months. based on an individual identification with a consumer-

After a break of six to nine months the individual can based identity. While he notes the disadvantages of

accept another temporary job at the bank. Such ex- liberalization, he argues that reforms have been good

amples point to a general pattern in which companies for India:

are increasingly creating a two-tiered white collar Because of reforms everyone is getting lot of benefits.

workforce — one comprised of permanent staff who We have a choice. We have various price brackets
available in front of you. We have international brand
gain substantial benefits and perks and one of tempo-
satisfaction. We have a quality product that is very im -
rary contract workers.
portant. If reforms could not have taken place then we
The perks which permanent staff receive in Maya’s
would have missed all that. We would not have any op-
company, for instance, include a provident fund and tions but to buy what they’re manufacturing. Today the
insurance coverage as well as additional perks which concept is different, today people know multinational
signify status symbols for the middle classes in liberal- people who are in India they’re saying we produce what
izing India — pagers, mobile phones, credit cards, air you want. Ten years back things were different. We

travel and accommodation at upscale hotels. Such produce — that you buy. That’s the difference. But to-

perks often serve as the enticements as middle class day customer is the king.
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 109

This perception of the consumer-oriented benefits image of the Indian middle class dream will shape the
of liberalization is echoed by individuals like Sujata political behavior of the liberalizing middle class.
and Maya, who are part of the category of “the new Analyses of the national rise of the BJP and of the
middle class” and rely on individualized strategies of Shiv Sena’s local historical activities in Maharashtra
upward mobility.26 In some instances individuals resort have already demonstrated the ways in which middle
to older strategies such as overseas migration; par- class frustrations have played an important factor in
ticularly attractive is temporary employment in the the rise of the Hindutva movement.28 An understand-
Gulf. In the context of liberalization, new informal work ing of the role of the middle class requires analyses
through direct marketing corporations such as Amway which go beyond self-evident assertions of consumer-
has attracted a wide range of people. 27 Invariably, re- ism, explore the underlying structural effects, and be-
gardless of the levels of job dissatisfaction which indi- gin to interrupt the discursive invention of the “new”
viduals whom I interviewed expressed, they confirmed Indian middle class in the context of India’s new eco-
that liberalization had on the whole provided more nomic policies of liberalization.
opportunities and choices.

Conclusion Acknowledgments
My analysis of the restructuring of the labor market Fieldwork for this article was supported by an ACLS/SSRC Interna-
tional Postdoctoral fellowship and by a Rutgers University Research
in Mumbai’s private sector has pointed to a significant
Council grant. I am grateful to Sharit Bhowmick for comments on an
contradiction in the position of the “new middle class”
earlier version of the article and to anonymous reviewer comments
in liberalizing India. On the one hand, the actual labor for useful suggestions for revision.
market experiences of the “new” upwardly mobile ur-
Notes
ban middle classes provide important parallels to 1
The article is specifically concerned with analyzing the effects of
processes of economic restructuring that have charac- Indian government policies initiated since 1991. The policies have

terized industrial labor. Processes of retrenchment, been aimed at restructuring the Indian economy and moving away
from a state-planned economy through policies of economic liberali-
increased job insecurity and a structural shift to sub-
zation. Such policies of liberalization have covered areas such as
contracted work represent striking points of conver- foreign exchange, trade liberalization and privatization of public
gence between the industrial working class and mid- sector units. For a comprehensive discussion of India’s reforms see

dle class experiences. Such points of convergence Jenkins 1999.

2
This is also reflected in the current academic literature which fo-
disrupt the idealized images of affluent consumers
cuses predominantly on the middle class as consumer of commodi-
that are characteristic of public representations of the
ties and culture. See Appadurai and Breckenridge 1995 for an
new Indian middle class. On the other the hand, indi- elaboration of this intellectual approach. For historical work that has

vidual strategies and responses of white collar work- attempted to present a more comprehensive sociological study of
other dimensions of the middle class see Misra 1961, and Frankel
ers demonstrate the effectiveness of these images as
1991 for a more recent analysis. For an analysis of media images
individual dissatisfaction has not led to political oppo-
and public discourses of the ‘new’ Indian middle class, see Fernan-
sition to India’s economic reform policies. Individuals des 2000 and 2001.

whom I interviewed consistently pointed to the impor- The category of the “new middle class” is associated with eco-
3

nomic policies of liberalization in a variety of contexts. See Pinches

tance of new choices available to consumers as a
1999.
sign of the benefits of reform. The contradictions that 4
Even pro-reform institutions such as the World Bank have begun
arise out of these empirical patterns point to the politi- to address the negative socioeconomic effects and support social
cal question of how the failure to achieve the idealized programs that can serve as a “safety net.”
110 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

5
This is also present in the popular print media and in television water for large segments of the middle class. Such economic dis-
sites such as new talk shows which focus on youth problems, consumer-
tinctions are particularly important as they underline the fragility of
ism
, the threat to Indian culture. There are, of course, exceptions to idealized representations of the new Indian middle class. I am
this view of middle class consumerism. Dipankar Gupta for instance grateful to Sharat Bhowmick for noting the significance of h
t ese
has argued against a confusion between consumption and con- distinctions.
sumerism and has suggested that the Indian middle class is too 13
Thus, Michael Pinches in Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia,
fragile economically to engage in consumerism (“Elitist Middle the fifth volume of Routledge’s “The New Rich in Asia” series, be-
Class: No Consciousness Beyond Consumption,” Times of India, gins the preface with a qualifier, “While the recent economic crisis
1998). has severely curbed the successes of the new rich in some coun-
6
The national significance of the political implications of middle tries, their rise and in some cases their fall have left a longstanding
class discontent has already been demonstrated in the role of the imprint on societies in the Asian region” (xi). For an analysis of the
middle class in providing support for the BJP and Hindutva move- Asian crisis see Godement (1999). For an interesting series of es-
ment (Hansen 1999) as well as in conflicts over the Mandal com- says examining economic restructuring and the middle class in the
mission and caste-based reservations. In Mumbai, the rise of the advanced industrialized countries see Steijn, Berting and de Jong,
Shiv Sena can be traced back to conflicts over white collar employ- 1998.
ment (Katzenstein, 1979). 14
One Times of India report, for instance, estimates that multina-
7
For an early classification see Misra 1961. For an analysis which tionals pay dollar equivalent salaries to new IIM graduates which
analyzes the question of caste distinctions in the middle class see range from $65,000 to over a $100,000 a year. Times of India,
Sheth, 1999. An NCAER study has recently attempted to provide a March 21, 1999.
comprehensive income-based definition of the middle class in an 15
The sharp rise in such institutions has also prompted fears of
effort to estimate the purchasing power of different segments of the illegal operations and false advertising. The All India Council for
middle class. Technical Education for instance has advertised warnings to “MBA
8
My aim is not to provide a comprehensive assessment of reforms aspirants not to fall prey to fly-by-night B-schools which claim their
in India but to present a specific overview of middle class labor diploma in management is equivalent to an MBA.” Economic Times,
market restructuring, an area which has received less attention the August 30, 1999.
wide literature on reforms. For broader overviews of reforms see, 16
A full discussion of the gendered implications of economic re-
Kohli, 1987; Sachs, Varshney and Bajpai, 1999; Jenkins, 1999. structuring is beyond the scope of this article. For a broader com-
9
Note that I am specifically concerned in this paper with processes parative discussion of gender and restructuring see Bakker 1994.
linked to India’s policies of liberalization initiated since the 1990s. 17
Interview with Vice President, All India Bank Employees Associa-
My concern is thus not to present a general description of the Indian tion, August 21, 1998. I interviewed union officials in the banking
middle class. The construction of the new middle class which I am and insurance sectors — two of the major public sector industries
examining thus refers to discourses, practices and economic shifts with strong white collar unions facing economic restructuring.
related to liberalization rather than the creation of a new middle 18
The financial sector was a key area that experienced an initial
through more general processes of social mobility. For this analysis boom in white collar salaries. See S. Somakhar, “A Lakh is Not
see for example Nandu Ram, The Mobile Scheduled Castes who Enough,” Times of India, February 12, 1995.
has examined the ways in which caste based reservations have 19
Sourav Mukherjee, “Pink Slips Haunt the Envied Pinstripes at
contributed to the entry of new caste groups to the middle classes. Foreign Banks,” Economic Times, December 11, 1998.
10
For an in-depth discussion of India’s “new economy” see for in- 20
For other reports see also Neera Jetley, “Blood, Sweat and
stance India Today’s series of articles devoted specifically to an Downsizing,” Outlook, April 23, 1997 and “Job Security: A Shattered
analysis of India’s new economy, February 19, 2001. Myth,” Your Money (Times of India), August 1998.
11
See, in a parallel shift, the changing composition of the Indian civil 21
This is, of course, in contrast to the unionized white collar workers
service with declining urban and increasing rural composition de- in the public sector.
scribed in “Enter the New Babu,” India Today , January 1, 2001. 22
All names of individuals interviewed have been changed to pro-
12
Note also in economic terms that a critical distinction between the tect their confidentiality.
industrialized and newly industrializing countries like India lies in the 23
Note that aside from costs, gendered social codes and restrictions
lack of social security provisions for the middle classes and in the
also induce single women to live in hostels or as paying guests
lack of basic infrastructural resources such as power, roads and rather than rent apartments.
 Fernandes: The New Middle Class in Liberalizing India 111

24
Thus, for instance, during the course of my fieldwork much public Beneria, Lourdes and Shelley Feldman, eds. 1992. Unequal Bur-
attention was focused on the rising price of vegetables, in particular den: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women’s
onions, a staple for both working and middle class families. Note Work. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
also that pressures of higher consumption expectations have also Bhatia, B.M. 1994. India’s Middle Class: Role in Nation Building.
affected dowry standards as increasingly dowry demands on middle New Delhi: Konark Publishers.
class families include newly available consumer goods such as Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judge-
washing machines or color televisions. See Radha Kumar, 1993. ment of Taste. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge: Har-
25
Note that one of the few attempts to measure income levels of the vard University Press.
Indian middle class was represented by an NCAER study in 1994- Breckenridge, Carol, ed. 1995. Consuming Modernity: Public Cul-
1995. According to published reports this study defined the “con- ture in a South Asian World. Minneapolis: University of Minne-
suming class” as being in an annual income range of Rs. 45,000- sota Press.
215,000 and estimated it at 28.6 million households. See Nandini Cadene, Philippe and Mark Holmstrom. 1998. Decentralized Pr o-
Sen Gupta, “Consumer India on Highway to Prosperity,” Economic duction in India: Industrial Districts, Flexible Specialization and
Times, June 14, 1998. Note that this conceptualization corresponds Employment. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
to the boundaries of the new middle class which I have been exam-
Chatterjee, Partha. 1992. “A Religion of Urban Domesticity: Sri
ining. This monthly income range spans from Rs 3,750-17,916. Ramakrishna and the Calcutta Middle Class,” in Partha Chat-
Radha’s income of Rs. 30,000 per month would place her in the
terjee and Gyanendra Pandey, eds., Subaltern Studies VII:
“new rich” category (Robison and Goodman) or according to Writings on South Asian History and Society. New Delhi: Ox-
NCAER the “very rich category” with an annual income over Rs. ford University Press.
215,000. However, the NCAER study is an all-India study of market
Chibber, Yash Pal. 1968. From Caste to Class: A Study of the In-
demographics and does not qualify the boundaries of the “consum-
dian Middle Classes . New Delhi: Associated Publishing House.
ing class” in relation to specific cost of living factors such as the real
Crompton, Rosemary and Gareth Jones. 1986. Gender and Stratifi-
estate market in metropolitan cities like Mumbai.
cation. Cambridge: Polity Press.
26
There are some instances of more organized activity. For ni -
Denoon, David. 1998. “Cycles in Indian Economic Liberalization,
stance, the pharmaceutical company Bayer India has seen the rise
1966-1996.” Comparative Politics (October): 43-60
of officer associations. This association has mobilized junior man-
Dubey, Suman. 1991. “The Middle Class.” in Philip Oldenburg, ed.
agers and supervisors to gain better wage deals and bonuses but
India Briefing 1991. Boulder: Westview press.
has not engaged in anti-reform activities comparable to public sec-
Fernandes, Leela. 2001. “Rethinking Globalization: Gender and the
tor unions. See Economic Times articles, “Executives in Union
Nation in India.” in Marianne de Koven, ed. Feminist Locations:
Strike for Better Deals” and “Executives Don Trade Union Robes,”
Global and Local, Theory and Practice. New Brunswick: Rut-
February 28, 1998.
gers University Press.
27
The extent of the appeal of such informal strategies is marked by
________.2000. “Nationalizing ‘the Global’: Media Images, Cultural
the Indian government’s decision to monitor the activities of direct
Politics and the Middle Class in India. Media, Culture and So-
marketing companies such as Amway. Economic Times, April 4,
ciety. 22 (5): 611-628.
1999.
________. 1997. Producing Workers: The Politics of Gender, Class
28
See Thomas Hansen, The Saffron Wave for discussions of the
and Culture in the Calcutta Jute Mills. Philadelphia: University
middle class and the rise of the Hindutva movement.
of Pennsylvania Press.
References Frankel, Francine. 1978. India’s Political Economy, 1947-77. Princ e-
Aneja, Rajendra. 1996. “Marketing and Selling in India in the Year ton: Princeton University Press.
2000.” Economic and Political Weekly. May 25: M26-30. ________. 1991. “Middle Classes and Castes in India’s Politics:
Appadurai, Arjun and Carol Breckenridge. 1995. “Public Modernity Prospects for Accommodation” in Atul Kohli ed., India’s De-
in India.” In Breckenridge 1995. mocracy: An Analysis of Changing State-Society Relations.
Bakker, Isabella, ed. 1994. The Strategic Silence: Gender and Eco- Princeton: Princeton University Press.
nomic Policy. Atlantic Highlands: Zed Books. Godement, François. 1999. The Downsizing of Asia. New York:
Bardhan, Pranab. 1984. The Political Economy of Development in Routledge.
India. London: Oxford University Press. Gupta, Dipankar. 1982. Nativism in a Metropolis: Shiv Sena in
112 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol. XX Nos. 1&2 (2000)

Bombay. New Delhi New York: Routledge.

Gupta, S.P. 1993. Liberalisation - Its Impact on the Indian Economy. Przeworski, Adam. 1991. Democracy and the Market: Political and
New Delhi: Macmillan. Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. New
Haggard, Stephen and Robert Kaufman. 1995. The Political Econ- York: Cambridge University Press.
omy of Democratic Transitions. Princeton: Princeton University Ram, Nandu. 1988. The Mobile Scheduled Castes: Rise of a New
Press. Middle Class. Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation.
Hansen, Thomas. 1999. The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Robison, Richard and David Goodman, eds. 1996. The New Rich in
Nationalism in Modern India. Princeton NJ: Princeton Univer- Asia: Mobile Phones, McDonalds and Middle-Class Revolu-
sity Press. tion. New York: Routledge.
Jalan, Bimal. 1991. India’s Economic Crisis: The Way Ahead. New Sachs, Jeffrey, Ashutosh Varshney and Nirupam Bajpai. eds. 1999.
Delhi: Oxford University Press. India in the Era of Economic Reforms . New Delhi: Oxford Uni-
Jenkins, Rob. 1999. Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in versity Press.
India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Saran, Rohit. “Growth Engine,” India Today, February 19, 2001.
Jenson, Jane, Elisabeth Hagen and Ceallaigh Reddy. 1988. Fem- Sassen, Saskia. 1991. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.
inization of the Labor Force: Paradoxes and Promises . New NJ: Princeton University Press.
York: Oxford University Press. Sheth, D.L. 1999. “Secularisation of Caste and Making of New Mid-
Katzenstein, Mary. 1979. Ethnicity and Equality: The Shiv Sena dle Class,” Economic and Political Weekly, August 21-28:
Party and Preferential Policies in Bombay. Ithaca: Cornell Uni- 2502-2510.
versity Press. Steijn, Bram, Jan Berting and Mart-Jan de Jong, eds. 1998. Eco-
Kohli, Atul. 1987. “The Politics of Liberalisation in India.” World nomic Restructuring and the Growing Uncertainty of the Middle
Development. 17, 3. Class. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Kothari, Rajni. 1993. Growing Amnesia: An Essay on Poverty and Stivens, Maila. 1998. “Sex, Gender and the Making of the New
Human Consciousness. New Delhi: Viking. Malay Middle Classes,” in Krishna Sen and Maila Stivens,
Kreml, William. 1997. America’s Middle Class from Subsidy to eds., Gender and Power in Affluent Asia. New York:
Abandonment. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Routledge.
Press. Vasavi, A. R. 1996. “Co-opting Culture: Managerialism in Age of
Kumar, Radha. 1993. The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account Consumer Capitalism,” Economic and Political Weekly. May
of Movements for Women's Rights and Feminism in India, 25: M-22-M-25.
1800-1990. New York: Verso Press. Varma, Pavan. 1998. The Great Indian Middle Class. New Delhi:
Lakha, Salim. 1999. “The State Globalisation and Indian Middle Viking.
Class Identity.” in Pinches, ed., Culture and Privilege. Vyasulu, Vinod. 1996. Crisis and Response: An Assessment of
Lele, Jayant. 1981. Elite Pluralism and Class Rule: Political Devel- Economic Reforms . Delhi: Madhyam Books.
opment in Maharashtra, India. Weiner, Myron and Mary Katzenstein with K.V. Narayana Rao.
________. 1995. “Saffronisation of Shiv Sena: Political Economy of 1981. India’s Preferential Policies: Migrants the Middle
City, State and Nation.” Economic and Political Weekly. June Classes and Ethnic Equality. Chicago: University of Chicago
24:1520-1528. Press.
Mills, C. Wright. 1956. White Collar: The American Middle Classes. Wright, Erik Olin. 1978. Class, Crisis and the State. New York:
London: Oxford University Press. Verso Press.
Misra, B.B. 1961. The Indian Middle Classes: Their Growth in Mod-
ern Times. London: Oxford University Press.
Ninan, T.N. 1989. “Business and Economy : Reaching Out and Up-
ward,” in Marshall Bouton and Philip Oldenburg, eds. India
Briefing 1989. Boulder: Westview.
Patel, Sujata and Alice Thorner. 1996. Bombay: Metaphor for Mod-
ern India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Pinches, Michael, ed. 1999. Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia.