Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, professor of comparative religion and philosophy at Lancaster University, in Prospect magazine
“The political apathy of the middle class owes something to the differences in the way 21st-century India and 18th/19th-century western Europe developed. Whereas the growth of free-thinking western bourgeois culture preceded universal suffrage, Indian democracy is nearly half a century older than the birth of an economically vibrant middle class.
“So, whereas fighting for political power was a crucial element of early western bourgeois culture, in India political rights were taken for granted and are now neglected by those who see their prosperity as a result of their own economic wherewithal. Politics for the middle class is an intellectual preoccupation, not an urgent ethical imperative. Polls routinely show that compared to poorer sections of society, the middle class treats voting and other political activity as low priorities.”
Read the full article here: India’s middle class failure
1 September 2007 at 6:11 am
It is a chicken and egg situation. Which political party or politician dare talk in favour of the middle class? Who is interested in creating a middle class constituency? In our perpetual glorifying of poverty, talk of making things better for the middle class is an invitation to be kicked out of politics.
The funny thing is that no one wants to be poor. Yet, being middle class is not acceptable even as an aspiration for our power classes (which includes the media).
1 September 2007 at 4:34 pm
After reading that article, I have been looking for more information and just found this article “The Idea of South Asia and the Role of the Middle Class” by Nirvikar Singh:
http://econ.ucsc.edu/~boxjenk/The%20Idea%20of%20South%20Asia_Mar2006.pdf
I am still reading it and it seems to have some interesting references and discussion.
1 September 2007 at 10:11 pm
Just because they are just in the middle of nowhere