India’s Middle Class

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Entrepreneurship ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
Ordinary Folk ◽  
Social Entities

The category “middle class” can refer to quite different social entities. In the United States, it is often used as a synonym for “ordinary folk.” In the United Kingdom it references an elite with economic and social privileges. In India, “the middle class” acquired its own valence through a history that encompasses colonialism, nationalism, and desire for upward social mobility. At one level the Indian middle class was evidently derivative. Indians who wished to emulate the achievements and standing of the British middle class adopted the category, “middle class” as a self-descriptor. Yet the Indian middle class was hardly a modular replica of a metropolitan “original.” The context of colonialism, indigenous hierarchies, and various local histories shaped the nature of the Indian middle class as much as any colonial model. Composed of people—often salaried professionals—who were reasonably well off but not among India’s richest, being middle class in colonial India was less a direct product of social and economic standing and more the result of endeavors of cultural and political entrepreneurship. These efforts gave the middle class its shape and its aspirations to cultural and political hegemony. The same history, in turn, shaped a variety of discourses about the nature of society, politics, culture, and morality in both colonial and post-independent India. Contradictions were inherent in the constitution of the middle class in colonial India, and continue to be apparent today. These contradictions become even more evident as newer, formerly subaltern social groups, seek to participate in a world created through middle class imaginations of society, culture, politics and economics.

Protestantism and the Latin American Middle Class

1971 ◽  
Vol os-18 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
Charles F. Denton
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
The Church ◽  
Positive Force

The author feels that the development of a middle class in Latin America has been fostered by the effects of Protestant evangelism among the lower classes, which has spurred upward social mobility. But instead of becoming a positive force for social and economic reform, this middle class has become as reactionary as the small traditional upper class. This, together with the inability of most Protestant pastors to minister effectively to middle class persons and intellectuals, is a serious problem for the church in Latin America.

Middle-Class Voices, c.1969–1979

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Common Culture ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
Post War ◽  
Class Distinction ◽  
Middle Class People

This chapter uses three different source bases to examine middle-class attitudes towards class and social change in the 1970s: interviews from Paul Thompson’s Edwardians oral history project, the journalistic study Voices from the Middle Class, by Jane Deverson and Katharine Lindsay, and the diaries of an upwardly mobile man, deposited with Mass Observation. It argues that some older middle-class people in the 1970s still thought of class as something given by birth and breeding, and still felt comfortable voicing class prejudices. However, even among older generations, some recognized that such attitudes were no longer widely acceptable. Younger generations of the middle classes were far more heterogeneous, and many younger middle-class people rejected class distinction and tradition. Social change, particularly the expansion of upward social mobility in the post-war decades, meant the middle classes were more heterogeneous and less bound by a common culture.

Class in the Millennium Memory Bank, 1998–2000

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Memory Bank ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Middle Group ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
Post War ◽  
Sociological Studies

This chapter examines discourses of class in interviews for the Millennium Memory Bank, at the end of the 1990s. It finds similar themes to those traced in earlier chapters: ordinariness, authenticity, and ambivalence were prominent in interviewees’ testimonies—working-class, middle-class, and even upper-class. Many thought the idea of ‘classlessness’, as espoused by John Major, was attractive; none thought he had achieved this goal, but many did think class divides had declined in the post-war period, and that an ‘ordinary’ middle group was now the largest in society. This chapter also examines narratives of upward social mobility in the 1990s, suggesting that the range of important sociological studies of the ‘hidden injuries’ and cultural facets of class that appeared in that decade were shaped by the experiences of upwardly mobile men and women who knew about the dislocations of moving class because they themselves had done it.

scholarly journals A Dream Deferred: African American Women’s Diminished Socioeconomic Returns of Postponing Childbearing from Teenage to Adulthood

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari ◽  
Shanika Boyce ◽  
Mohsen Bazargan ◽  
Cleopatra H. Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Marital Status ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
White Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
American Women ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

Background: Brookings Institution has identified postponing childbirth from teenage to adulthood as a major strategy that is needed for upward social mobility of women. However, according to the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs), the associations between aspirations, investments, behaviors, and socioeconomic position (SEP) may be diminished for marginalized groups such as African Americans. Objective: To extend the existing knowledge on the MDRs, the current study had two aims: First to compare White and African American women for the association between postponing childbearing to adulthood and SEP in a national sample of American women. Second, to test correlates of postponing childbearing to adulthood and SEP at birth with long term outcomes 15 years later when the child was 15 years old. Methods: For this longitudinal study, data came from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (FFCWS), a national longitudinal prospective study in the United States (US) that followed an ethnically diverse sample of women from childbirth for 15 years from 1998 to 2016. For the first aim, this study included 2679 women composed of 723 Whites and 1956 African Americans. For the second aim, among 1842 individuals who had available data 15 years later, we measured various economic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes when the child was 15 years old. For aim 1 we ran linear regression. Postponing childbearing to adulthood was the independent variable. The dependent variable, SEP (poverty) was treated as a continuous measure with higher score indicating more poverty. Confounders included marital status and delivery characteristics. For the aim 2, we ran Pearson correlation test (exploratory analysis) to test if baseline SEP correlates with future outcomes. Results: Postponing childbearing from adolescence to adulthood was associated with higher SEP in adulthood, net of all confounders including marital status and education. We found a significant interaction between postponing childbearing from adolescence to adulthood and race on SEP, suggesting that the economic reward of postponing childbearing may be weaker for African American women than for White women. Conclusions: Although postponing the age at childbirth is a recommended strategy for women who wish to maximize their chance of upward social mobility, this strategy may be associated with smaller economic returns for African American women than White women. The results can also be interpreted as MDRs in investments in terms of a postponing childbearing. In a fair society, the same investment should be similarly rewarded across diverse racial groups. In the reality, however, the US society differently rewards White and African American women who postpone childbearing. Research should explore the roles of social stratification, blocked opportunities, and concentrated poverty in explaining the unequal return of such an investment for African American and White women.

scholarly journals Perfil e caracterização de um bairro popular empreendedor em Feira de Santana: análise socioespacial dos processos de complexificação de centralidades de comércio e serviços

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Mateus Barbosa Santos da Silva ◽  
Angelo Serpa
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Mobility Analysis ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Methodological Procedures ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
First Moment

ResumoO objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender e analisar os processos de complexificação de centralidades de comércio e serviços, por meio dos campos da produção e do consumo - inclusive cultural - em um bairro popular de Feira de Santana. Para tanto, foram articulados os métodos dialético e fenomenológico. Como procedimentos metodológicos realizou-se uma revisão bibliográfica, uma pesquisa documental e pesquisas diretas em campo: aplicação de questionários junto aos usuários de comércios e serviços e aos empreendedores no bairro do Tomba (quantitativa); realização de entrevistas com os empreendedores (qualitativa). Os resultados estão estruturados em quatro etapas: uma discussão sobre o conceito de classe média no Brasil, o processo histórico de formação do Tomba e sua consolidação como centralidade na cidade, uma discussão sobre consumidores e outra sobre empreendedores no bairro. As principais conclusões apontam que o comércio e os serviços neste bairro exercem uma grande atratividade local, tornando-se indispensáveis aos seus moradores devido a sua amplitude, à gama de comércio e serviços ofertados, à facilidade de acesso e aos preços acessíveis.Palavras-chave: Empreendedorismo Popular; Ascensão Social; Análise Urbano-Regional; Bairro Popular; Feira de Santana. AbstractThe main goal of this research was to understand and analyze the processes of complexification of the centralities in retailand services, through the fields of production and consumption - including cultural production - in a popular neighborhood in Feira de Santana, state of Bahia, Brazil. The main methodological procedures were a literature review and fieldwork, in which we pursued to accomplish a quantitative stage and a qualitative stage. On the first moment we applied questionnaires to consumers and to entrepreneurs in the neighborhood of Tomba, the second part consisted of interviewing entrepreneurs who were also respondents of the questionnaire. This article is structured in four topics: discussion of the concept of middle-class in Brazil; Tomba’s neighborhood historical process of establishment and its consolidation as a centrality in Feira de Santana; a discussion on the profile of the consumers; and a reflection on the profile of the entrepreneurs. The main results show that retailand services in Tomba perform a major local attraction, due to its variety, range, low prices and scope.Keywords: Popular Entrepreneurship; Upward Social Mobility; Analysis Urban-Regional; Neighborhoods; Feira de Santana. ResumenEl principal objetivo de esta investigación es comprender y analizar los procesos de complejización de la centralización de comercio y servicios, a través de los campos de producción y de consumo – incluyendo la cultura – en un barrio popular en Feira de Santana, estado de Bahia, Brasil. Los principales procedimientos metodológicos fueron la revisión bibliográfica y el trabajo de campo, en el que buscamos lograr una etapa cuantitativa y una etapa cualitativa. Al principio se realizaron cuestionarios a los consumidores y emprendedores y posteriormente, se entrevistaron los emprendedores del barrio de Tomba. Este artículo se estructura en cuatro tópicos: discusión sobre el concepto de clase media en Brasil; el proceso histórico de formación del barrio de Tomba en Feira de Santana y la consolidación de su rol central en la ciudad; una discusión del perfil de los consumidores y otra sobre los emprendedores. Los principales resultados muestran que el comercio y los servicios en Tomba ejercen un gran atractivo local, debido a su variedad, facilidad de acceso y precios bajos.Palavras clave: Emprendimiento Popular; Ascenso Social; Análisis Urbano Regional; Barrios Populares; Feira de Santana.

Mass Observers’ Attitudes to Class, 1990

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Class A ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
Cultural Homelessness ◽  
Post War

This chapter uses responses to Mass Observation’s 1990 directive on ‘social divisions’ to examine what the Mass Observers thought about class. It concludes that earlier accounts have overstated these (largely middle-class) writers’ comfortableness with technical, sociological class language. Rather, many were hostile to or ambivalent about using such terms, and drew on popular culture, especially humour, when talking about class. A rejection of ‘class’ and snobbishness, and an emphasis on ordinariness and authenticity, were again central to many Mass Observers’ writings about class. In their testimonies, we can also see that new ethnic diversity and new, more diverse norms of gender in post-war Britain had disrupted the old class categories. Upwardly mobile people were particularly over-represented among the Mass Observers and their writing shows that upward social mobility—which expanded in the post-war decades—could lead to a cultural ‘homelessness’ and critiques of both traditional working-class and traditional middle-class cultures.

Through the Abyss

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-60
Author(s):  
Laura Hartnell
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Class Identity ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

This essay is an autoethnographic account of my transition from the working class to the middle class. It argues that performativity is central to upward social mobility, and that in my case this process has resulted in a loss of working-class identity. I perform this argument by having my working-class self comment upon the middle-class form to which I have committed my childhood. By making this split visible, I aim to evoke the complexities that are bound up in this class migration, and to question the middle-class academy's role in shutting out the working class.

scholarly journals Memoirs of a socialist childhood in China: socialism, nationalism and getting ahead

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Chen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Urban City ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
Middle Class Family ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

In this memoir, I accounted several episodes of my childhood of a middle class family in early 1990s in a Chinese urban city. Two major discourses permeated my account: the nationalism and socialism discourse and the upward social mobility discourse. While my family and I cherish the comfort and joy of everyday life enjoyed in the era of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, the suffering past is like a ghost, peeking out behind the curtain.

scholarly journals Italian Americans, Education, and Italian Language: 1880–1921

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Pretelli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Italian Language ◽  
Italian Americans ◽  
Italian American ◽  
Migrant Families ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
The Relationship

Italian migrants in the United States have been often associated to the tendency to neglect the importance of culture as an instrument of upward social mobility. Traditionally perceiving culture as a hegemonic tool of the elites, Italian migrants in the United States, who had a predominantly peasant background, were supposedly uninterested in educating their children, rather preferring that they drop out school to add with their work a supplemental income necessary to face the daily necessities of migrant families. Based on a long-standing prejudice, this supposed Italian-American disinterest towards culture and education has been revisited by some scholars, who have revaluated the migrant attitude towards the cultural realm. In the first part, this essay will offer an overview of the different scholarly views on the relationship between Italian-Americans, culture and education. In the second part, it will discuss how Italian-Americans approached the usage of the Italian language, the native idiom that was disappearing in the Little Italies with the progression of newer generations, which inevitably favoured the recourse to English. Finally, the essay will take into account how Italian governments in the Liberal Age (1861–1921) connected to the communities of the Italians in the United States through programs addressed to fostering the Italian language overseas as a way to preserve the Italianità, namely the Italian character of migrants.

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