Does the Indian Middle Class Really Exist?

The great Indian middle class is a myth. What we think of as the middle class is actually a tiny elite. This is their story - from their origins in colonial India to the present day.

India Ink is a public history project that communicates complicated ideas from history that are relevant to current debates.

India Ink Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSYWNPB2PepXZrOmgoBTL2g



Footnotes:

[1] Quote from Colver: https://www.livemint.com/Companies/11ECLUIfvTt0QqqJkXK5GM/India-will-be-one-of-Starbucks-top-five-markets-in-long-ter.html

[2] Data that says if you live in a city and spend more than 6300 rs per month, you’re in the top 5% of the whole country: https://www.thehindu.com/data/how-many-indians-are-richer-than-you/article8551773.ece

[3]: Quote from Macauley is from his Minute on Education: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html

Bibliography:

[1] Joshi, Sanjay, ed. “Introduction.” In The Middle Class in Colonial India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010.

[2] Pandian, M. S. S. “One Step Outside Modernity: Caste, Identity Politics and Public Sphere.” Economic and Political Weekly 37, no. 18 (2002): https://www.jstor.org/stable/4412071?seq=1

[3] Cutts, Elmer H. “The Background of Macaulay’s Minute.” The American Historical Review 58, no. 4 (1953): http://mr.crossref.org/iPage?doi=10.2307%2F1842459

[4] Torri, Michelguglielmo. “Westernised Middle Class, Intellectuals and Society in Late Colonial India.” Economic and Political Weekly 25, no. 4 (January 27, 1990): 7–8. https://www.epw.in/journal/1990/4/review-political-economy-review-issues-specials/westernised-middle-class

[5] Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton University Press, 1993. https://apps.crossref.org/coaccess/coaccess.html?doi=10.2307%2Fj.ctvzgb88s

[6] Sarkar, Sumit. “Identity and Difference: Caste in the Formation of the Ideologies of Nationalism and Hindutva.” In Writing Social History. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Music: Quasi Motion by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. https://incompetech.com/