Category: Middle Class

Counter-urbanisation is the process by which the population of a country becomes less centralised in large urban areas and people begin to sprawl out towards urban areas (Cloke, 1985). In Britain it is often associated with the migration of the middle-class from cities towards smaller communities, either for good in the context of retirement of commuting, or taken on as a second home (Gallent, 2006). These middle-class households leave urban areas in search of an escape to the British countryside portrayed in the media. In this essay, I will discuss the process of counter-urbanisation in Britain as well as the motivations behind it, followed by a discussion on whether this domestic migration has rendered the British countryside a middle-class space.

Counter-urbanisation is the product of a complicated social and political atmosphere which has resulted in middle class rural dream worlds pushing the middle class towards urban areas of Britain. It began when the productionist-era, the result of concerns during the Second World War that Britain was not self-sufficient, came to an end with move towards free trade (Woods, 2004). EU memberships and new world trade talks meant that the British government could no longer protect farmers from cheaper imports by imposing tariffs (Evans, Morris and Winter, 2002). This, combined with pressure from environmentalist groups to reduce the use of less intensive farming techniques, as well as pressure from industrialists to open up rural land for developments meant that agriculture in Britain became less profitable and therefore less appealing (May, 2020). Some farmers attempted to increase income with capitalist mechanisation by intensifying further and selling out to trans-national corporations, whilst other farms financially diversified and started to sell rural experiences (May, 2020). This sparks the appearance of a concept which Cloke names “the material and imaginative worlds of the rural” (2006: 24), referring to the beginning of the British rural being consumed for the experience rather than the goods produced by production. These experiences, in the form of rural getaways, portrayed rural life as calm and peaceful as a result of nature (Cloke and Goodwin, 1992). This provided middle-class people with a contrast to the busy and seemingly ceaseless urban life outlined by Harvey (1999). Harvey discusses the concept in which the homogeneity of global urban areas and developments in travel and communications technology have resulted in a globalised society in which processes must and do happen quickly in order to succeed (1999). As a result, rural Britain became an idyllic escape for middle-class Britons as a place which has remained at a slow pace in comparison to urban life. This idea of the rural idyll, supported by popular media such as Postman Pat, fuelled the influx of the middle-class into rural Britain during the late 1960s (Horton, 2008). This counter-urbanisation was aided by the increase in living costs in towns and cities pushing some people to move out to commuter towns for a cheaper cost of living (Cloke and Thrift, 1987). The state was also a factor through its improvement of rural services such as the expansion of the motorway, improvements to NHS facilities in rural areas and the construction of county universities which brought jobs and stimulated local economies (May, 2020). In 1990, remote urban and rural areas had a net migration increase of 13,665 (Champion, 1998 in May, 2020). This was one of many migrations which took place in Britain during this time as the middle-class moved from larger urban areas to rural areas in search of a rural idyll.

This influx of newcomers who have experiences, opinions and needs contrary to those of the native population can have significant effects on the communities in the British countryside. One of these is outlined by Cloke and Goodwin when they discuss how this flood of middle-class people can try to shape the communities they move to into their idea of a rural idyll (1992). They describe how the new middle-class population value traditional British countryside and can sometimes attempt to blockade modernisation, such as new housing developments (Cloke and Goodwin, 1992). These village regulators influence decisions through leadership roles in the council and support groups as they can be viewed as changes to the idyll which they chose to move to (Cloke, Phillips and Thrift, 1995). This can impede efforts to improve the quality of life for locals who could benefit from new developments stimulating the local economy and providing services (Cloke and Goodwin, 1992). The local economy also suffers with the introduction of middle-class households in that they are more likely to own personal transport, allowing them to travel outside the communities in search of cheaper goods and services, rather than using the ones within their communities (May, 2020). However, this is only one symptom of a larger problem with middle-class households taking advantage of the imaginative benefits of British countryside living without paying for the material benefits at the cost of the community around them. A key issue within this is the prevalence of second homes, currently owned by 175,000 households in England (Gallent, 2006: 98). Second homes also take up housing which is limited in rural areas thanks to a lack of funding and pressure groups to stop developers, leading to house prices being driven up possibly beyond the ability of locals to pay (May, 2020). Second homes also drive down social capital, this being the network of relationships within an area, as the occupants are not around enough to build relationships and rapport with members of the community (Gallent, 2006). This is exacerbated by the fact that the middle-class newcomers are unlikely to have anything in common with the community, being from a different class, area, occupation and overall culture, making them unlikely to participate in local social activities (Gallent, 2006). Whilst Cloke, Phillips and Thrift do acknowledge the existence of middle-class households which move into the community and make attempts to be a part of it, they by no means suggest that they are particularly common and these are overshadowed by those who do not (1995).This allows an existence in which the middle-class households reduce the availability of housing, driving up prices, without contributing to the local economy whilst influencing decisions on how to improve the local economy (May, 2020). This suggests the existence of a space which serves the middle-class even though they are not necessarily represented in the population and do not contribute socially or economically, making it a middle-class space at the expense of the existing communities.

In conclusion, I do believe that, with the exception of a few select households outlined by Cloke, Phillips and Thrift, counter-urbanisation in the form of the middle-class migrating to rural areas has rendered the British countryside a middle-class space (1995). By driving up house prices and blocking new developments whilst failing to support the local economy, the middle-class are willingly, or unwillingly, shaping the British countryside to be one which satisfies their dream of a rural idyll and excludes those which cannot afford to meet those expenses, which unfortunately often includes the community which is so idealised by the middle-class.

Meritocracy is part of a neoliberal ideology that has been made into an educational policy called marketisation and commodification. It is supposed to be a social system which gives people status or rewards because of what they achieve, rather than because of cultural and economic capital. This should therefore create equal opportunity for all of those in society, no matter what social class background they come from. Meritocracy is linked to social mobility as there is social inequality even though society is argued to be meritocratic. The model of the British Education System is unfair and is very much not meritocratic as those children form middle class backgrounds get a better standard of education compared to those children from working class backgrounds.

Education has been particularly significant as an instrument of social policy. A ‘good education’ is often seen as the key pathway to upward social mobility, made possible for individuals if there are equal opportunities for everyone. Educational policy is increasingly driven by the principles of market choice and competition and framed from the perspective of encouraging the best to succeed. These ideas of marketisation and meritocracy and whether if education is a public or private good, need to be criticised so sociologists can understand how the education system reproduces class inequality based off meritocracy and unequal opportunities for those of lower social class backgrounds compared to those of a higher social class background. In 1988, New Labour introduced the Education Reform Act which involved more central governmental control and direct funding and standardised tests. There were also new introductions to the education system such as tuition fees which made it harder for working class children to access the better standard of education as parents can’t afford to pay for tuition fees. Thus, making those from higher class backgrounds gaining a higher level of educational knowledge and grades as parents can afford to pay for private education. The objectives of the meritocratic model are to bring about educational reform to make society fairer and to also promote economic growth. This form of a rational organised system was to try and get rid of the social inequality that was reflected in differences shown in abilities and skills. These ‘abilities’ are allegedly supposed to be randomly distributed in society. Middle class children gain more abilities as their standard of education is better than those from a working-class background.

From a Marxist perspective, Marxists such as Bowles and Gintis (1979), education is serving the needs of the economy rather than the needs of the individual. It is argued that there is a myth of meritocracy which acts as a false class consciousness. For Marxists, education performs three important roles. Firstly, the socialisation role which is the role in instilling capitalist norms and values, secondly, the allocation role which is slotting people into their occupational positions to reproduce existing social class inequalities and lastly, the vocational role which is a further way in which the ruling class can instil capitalist norms and values in young people and provide an illusion of equality of opportunity. Louis Althusser argued that no class can hold power for long simply because of the use of force. Ideology provides a much more effective means of control as if people’s hearts and minds are won over then force becomes unnecessary. He also argued that in modern society the education system has largely replaced the church as the main agency for ideological control. Education, the family, religion and the media are part of the Ideological State Apparatus and all play a role in ‘brainwashing’, transmitting ruling class ideas, norms and values onto the lower and working class. Firstly, schools transmit an ideology which states that capitalism is just and fair or reasonable. Secondly, schools prepare pupils for their roles in the workforce and most are trained as workers. This means that they are taught to accept their future exploitation and are provided with an education and qualifications to match their adult work roles. Through this type of role allocation, their educational qualifications legitimate their positions of power. Bowles and Gintis (Schooling in Capitalist America 1979) represents the most famous Marxist theories of sociology of education. They argue that the hidden curriculum of schools does not instil shared norms and values, but rather those norms and values of the ruling class.

Before understanding the problems of an Indian middle-class family we should first understand what is a middle-class family. A middle-class family is a social group that consists of ordinary people who usually have good jobs and are neither rich nor very poor.

Monetary Problem: This is one of the most common problems a middle-class man has to deal with. With the slumping economy and the ever-increasing costs of everything from groceries to petrol, how can one expect something different? With a modest salary that can hardly even cover electricity bills and taxes, the middle-class man faces roadblocks every step of the way because there’s just no money left, no money to save, and no money to buy anything. Interest rates on loans are going through the ceiling; insurance premiums had never before been so costly; so now the middle-class man finds himself knee-deep in debts, mortgages and loans.

Quality Education: Along with everything today, education to has caught up in terms of cost. A decent education for their kids is something all parents think about. But maybe the middle-class man cannot even afford to think about it. Most children who go to esteemed colleges and universities think renowned private schools, tuition, coaching classes, etc all are a must. Also, there are additional expenses in terms of mandatory picnics, Industrial Visits, fees for other annual programs etc. But most middle-class children have to do with Government schools and maybe no tuition unless it’s very cheap. Sometimes even with an excellent academic record, the best colleges are out of reach without a scholarship due to financial constraints. In severe situations, parents even have to sell off their assets such as jewellery for their children’s education

Health-related and Medical Problems: Most middle-class people don’t have medical insurance. Not every doctor is kind, not every clinic is going to waive charges. What happens then if an unfortunate accident takes place or if someone has a medical condition and the treatment costs are way beyond their means? What happens is that they don’t go to the best hospitals and clinics, they don’t get the best treatments and operations, and they’re not in the best hands. Can you even imagine the risks attached to situations like that? Can you deal with it if you can’t get the best treatment for your sick child? That’s what a common man faces every day.

Catching up with technology: The pressure of coping up with the latest technology is also a new issue faced by a middle-class family. People having jobs should necessarily have a smartphone and laptop as it becomes their part of work. Also, parents who manage to educate their children in good school face difficulties like e-learning for which tablet or smartphone is necessary. I am not against technology or school policies but all these surely have an adverse monetary effect on Indian Middle-class family. There are still things like hi-fi laptops, pads, Smart television sets, microwaves, ovens etc which they cannot afford.

Attention deficit and Tension is always a companion: No one takes notice of an average, middle-class family. A middle-class family person is overlooked, ignored, sometimes even spoken to and treated badly. Even if they have a million buck solution to a world-threatening problem, their opinion will not be asked.

Also, Tension is always on their mind. All the above-listed problems not only keeps the adults of the family but also the children. The expectation to work hard and earn more always tenses the adults whereas the expectation of socializing and pressure of fulfilling their parents dreams tenses the children of a middle-class family.

Can’t Afford to dream: The last point brought something to my mind. I’m not talking here about the dreams that we see when we’re up in seventh heaven. Nah, the dreams I speak of are the ones all of us have about our future: our ambitions, our goals, what and where we want to be someday. A middle-class man can’t do that because if he does, there will be a lot of disappointments, heartbreaks and ego-bruising things to deal with and again their practical life and difficulties bring them back to earth.

Henrike Donner’s book ‘Domestic Goddesses: Maternity, Globalization and Middle-class Identity in Contemporary India’ published as a series of articles, is an ethnographic endeavor into the Calcutta of the 1990s. With the data she collects through extensive fieldwork, she examines the lives of its middle-class women, and how their identities got shaped and morphed by the processes of globalization and the introduction of neo-liberal policies. Donner limits her field to two paras (neighborhoods) in Calcutta, in the period between 1995-2005, she details the domestic lives of these women. Their marital lives, kin relations, roles in homemaking, the birthing of children, and consumer lives are the aspects Donner observes. Her work brings into focus the urban home and situated within it the maternal lives which embody the distinct identity of a modern middle-class, Indian woman. She states, ‘Notions of local, kinship, family and motherhoods aren’t conservative reminders of tradition but sites of a wider transformation in urban India.’ This ethnographic inquiry seeks to situate global shifts in the specific, in turn contributing to a body of anthropological literature which would add to the building of theories on reproduction of class, global change, and gender theory by drawings comparisons, contradicting or supporting other findings. She argues in her work that ‘it is through women’s work as mothers that class comes into being’ (p. 182) Through it she presents an analysis of urban lives and middle-class practices situated in the sphere of the domestic, filling what she deems to be a lacuna in urban anthropological literature. (Donner, 2008)

Starting the book with a lengthy introductory chapter, she makes keen observations at a meeting in the October of 1995 at a Congress Party’s women’s group, situated in the neighborhood she chose for her fieldwork. Donner observes how class and ethnicity are cited to evoke respectability, and appropriate behavior and are even the deciding factors in case-by-case considerations, this is common to all the committee members. While the domesticities differ within the group which is composed of multiple ethnicities, a general disdain is shown for the public lives of women. While hearing a case of domestic violence, they are careful to distance themselves from the working class woman, defining themselves as ‘respectable middle-class women. The woman who draws an income from outside the home, although faces the same problems as them, case in point, domestic violence, she is not as respected. Even as there is evident internal differentiation, a distinction is even made in contrast to the ‘bustee lok’ (slum-dwellers), wherein the middle-class identity, is at stake to defend, the middle-class woman has to be more guarded about her reputation. The bias in favor of the domestic roles of housewives and stay-at-home mothers is attached to the notion of reproducing the perfectly ‘reputable’ middle-class family.

In the subsequent chapters, Donner covers the ethnography of the domestic spheres demonstrating how the introduction of neo-liberal policies visible shifts in the lives of these urban middle-class women who inhabit the multiple roles of mothers, wives, and consumers. Chapter two ‘ Of Love, Marriage, and Intimacy’, followed by Chapter three, ‘The place of birth’, Chapter four ‘Education and the making of Middle-class mothers’, and finally ‘Motherhood, Food and the Body’ as chapter five is arranged chronologically, giving a glimpse into the typical life cycle of the woman that inhabits Donner’s field. As an advantage of the choice of her para or neighborhood, the living quarters that despite displaying signs of modern housing with nucleated portions, accommodate different generations of the same family. Thus Donner is able to record the shift in the practices, attitudes, and ways of life as experienced differently by several generations of women within the same family unit. Their decisions about having children, birthing practices, the decision of the education of children, and the intake of food is described and analyzed, it reveals several characteristic shifts within the category of middle-class urban practices.

Donner does not clearly state a research question and spends a lot of her words trying to locate herself within previous theoretical orientations. She makes a case for bringing together urban anthropology and anthropology of the household, to study a rarely researched subject. While the middle class itself has formed inflated public and academic rhetoric, been significant in the political sphere, has been the focus of economic growth and consumption projections, there has been a dearth of research on the middle class itself as opposed to the time spent by social scientists trying to characterize the category. Donner spends a significant amount of time within the households of her chosen subjects, including three-year-long visits and several short stays between 1995-2005. Through a series of formal and informal interviews over a long period of time, she establishes an intimacy with the women, wherein tales of determination, sacrifice, and resolve of participation in maternal roles are brought up. She is self-aware in her position as an outsider to the field of negotiating social networks, ‘linking local relationships and their transformations with wider socio-economic and spatial determinants.’ She talks about the gendered experience of being a female field worker moving through the public spaces of an urban environment and the ‘gendered city’, which strikes as particularly interesting. Donner intentionally restricts herself to the private lives of the women and cites structural limitations is accessing their public lives. Although this limits her study, it also widens the scope for further research on this aspect. She also lays down her intention of involving only females in her study and recognizes the limitations of her work by doing so. (Donner, 2008)

Donner picks two well-established middle-class neighborhoods for her study, Ganguly Bhagan, and Taltala, allowing a comparison and detailed study. The choice of the paras besides their unique geographical location with distinct architecture and demography is related to the centrality of the locality in the lives of the women as ‘a main site for social interaction.’ In a bottom-up approach, the neighborhood, its politics, and its histories are accessed through the smaller constituents of the family. The identity of the middle classes is marked by a politics of classification, the social interactions in Donner’s work confirm this.

The contemporary Indian middle class still grapples with the burden of the image of a class that represents universal and aspiring public interests of a newly economically liberated nation, practicing alongside a politics of exclusion and differentiation. (Fernandes, 2015) Donner’s contribution lies in trying to understand the macro changes and shifts in practices through the very private, social lives of urban Indian middle-class women living in an era of economic restructuring. In one of the chapters, she describes how the anxieties around job prospects of children with changes in the market, lead to massive tensions within the household over the specifics of the education and tuition for children. By accessing intimate territories, Donner also brings out well the role of grandparents in middle-class families in producing familial capital in the face of rising consumption and expenses. She notes a shift in birthing practices amongst generations from normal birth to cesarean births and natal homes to city hospitals, with the boom in private hospitals. This allows and legitimizes the modern woman from procuring a period of rest after birth, a break from household duties as women become ‘patients who undergo an ‘operation’,’ and thereby ‘gain extended periods of rest prescribed by their doctors.’ These changes in domestic relations, causing intergenerational conflicts are a direct result of economic restructuring, however, continuity is maintained through the reproduction of social identities and hierarchies thereby preventing radical transformations.

Donner goes in with several theoretically constituted categories of the ‘urban’, the ‘middle class, and the ‘maternal’ to understand the production and reproduction of class identities. The subjective understandings of institutions of marriage, phenomena of childbirth and reproductive change as well as education reveal the change in social relations brought by the policy changes. It is interesting to note the work that goes into the self-preservation of the middle-class identity in the face of economic anxiety and socio-economic competition. A reality, despite the 90s being rife with inflated media representations of the expanding and emerging middle class, marked by political promises of new prosperity by participating in the private economy and an image of a new middle class, ‘now free to break from the old restrictions and state dependency associated with Nehruvian state socialist ideologies and Gandhian moral norms of austerity’ (Fernandes 2006). Their ‘middleness’ is constituted through a relationality, marked by distinction from the rich but also the poor. (slum dwellers) The precarity of status and identity is navigated ‘built on carefully crafted distinctions based on lifestyle, status markers and claims of cultural and moral superiority.’ While ‘doing class’ as mothers and housewives, these women who are constitutive of a diverse, heterogeneous middle class, draw boundaries to differentiate themselves internally reproducing social hierarchies of caste, gender, and ethnicity. (Fernandes, 2015)

References

1. Donner, H. (2008) Domestic Goddesses: Maternity, Globalization and Middle-class Identity in Contemporary India. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate.
2. Fernandes, L. (2006) India’s New Middle Class: Democratic Politics in an Era of Economic Reform, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
3. Fernandes, L. (2015) India’s middle classes in contemporary India from: Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India, Routledge.
4. Gupta, D. (2001) Mistaken Modernity: India Between Worlds, Noida: Harper Collins.

Chapter One. Introduction

Starting from 2015 the Egyptian government under the rule of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi started to develop new economic policies and reforms and since November 2016 it started to accelerate the implementation of these policies and economic decisions, the reforms mentioned included subsidy cuts, increased indirect taxes, and currency adjustment, all o theses have been done in order to pave the way to an agreement with the IMF for a major loan. Here comes a question about the importance of these policies and reforms and about the timing of it, why now? Why the previous government didn’t adopt these policies if so important? And the answer is ‘fear”, knowing that these reforms will have a cost that the population will have to bare, there was no enough courage to put another burden on the shoulder of the people if you want to maintain the power you established.

This project is examining the relationship between the reform process’s cost and its impact on the middle class in Egypt under the rule of president El Sisi, specifically from 2015 and till now, is the middle class declining and suppressed by having to pay the lion’s share from the cost of economic reforms? Will this lead it to vanish or it be temporarily affected before getting flourished? Will the gap between the working class and the upper class will continue to get widen causing more troubles or is this the pain of necessary surgery to cure the Egyptian economy? And if 2030’s Agenda is promising the middle class of better living standards or not?

Here popped another question of why to it’s important to pay such attention to the middle class and the way it’s affected. And well considering the middle class as the main object of the study is due to the importance of it role:

from the economic perspective, the middle class is the primer and main tax-payer, the key interior investor. According to Journalist Chris Baker ‘There are working families who can have some investments, but they depend on each paycheck for their well-being. And as the previous president of the U.S Barrack Obama mentioned in one of his speeches ‘ when the middle-class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, it drags down the entire economy.’

Professional perspective: Notably, in the latest Western societies up to sixtieth of the economically active population are engaged within the sphere of services (mostly, medical and educational services; “economically-active population” is those who are aged between sixteen and sixty and engaged in economic activities). the skilled profile of the higher middle class includes professors, doctors, lawyers, and prime managers, inn-keeping, whereas the representatives of lower and middle-middle categories add retail sales, public service establishment, etc.

From a social perspective: they are the link between the working class and the upper class that brings stability and grant that the society won’t be divided between the rich elite and the poor proletariat which will make both of them hostile toward the other party.

Also, middle class is considered as the source of innovation and transformation, Thomas Malthus s was the first to suggest that in the middle regions of society occur most of the intellectual improvements, McCloskey also went to argue that the rise of the middle class gets a reason for innovation. And the reason behind this is that the upper class may seem to lack the incentive to innovate and the lower class lack the opportunity, while the middle class are the ones who have the kind of opportunity and the aspiration toward improving their socioeconomic level.

Politically speaking: some argue that severe inequalities is one of the barriers of democracy and here lies the importance of the middle class balancing society and supporting democratic systems, also it’s a term that politicians use in their promising speeches like Republican candidate Mitt Romney when has proposed eliminating “taxes on dividends, capital gains, and interest on middle-class families.

The following section of this paper will present some of what scholars already mentioned about the relation between the middle class and the economic reforms.

Literature review

First of all will present works that was about the Egyptian case and then we will move to see what was written about other case studies.

Under the title of ‘political changes and the middle class in Egypt’ Shanghai International Studies University published a paper for Xiaoqi DAI in 2012 in which the author was concerned with the history of the Economic reforms in Egypt and the main changing features in the social structure as a reaction for the implemented policies in the last two centuries, especially from Mohamed Ali’s era. Tackling the post cold war context the author said that the new development model in Egypt was a result of 2 factors: oil price and the debt especially after relieving half of the Egyptian foreign debt after the war f Iraq, Egypt had to promise liberal reforms, thus Sadat went to adopt the ‘open door’ policies and after him Mubarak’s wave of privatization turning the society from production-based to consumer-based economy which the financial oligarchies gradually taken over, and eventually it led to Economic deterioration of the social structure. and the cost of these implications was paid by the middle class nearly vanished and the gap started to get widen to the extent that the society was divided into 2 parts or classes not three, where the lower class consisted of the original lower class and the middle class, and the upper class consisted of foreign capitalists and new national capitalists.

While in the working paper that was published in 2017 under the Name of ‘new developmentalist experiments in Brazil and Egypt’ that was written by Judit Ricz it argued that the accumulation of economic reforms impact on society especially from Sadat and Mubarak’s era led to tension and public discontent due to the clear deterioration and proved with some statistical data that despite of average economic growth rates close to 5% in the years preceding the 2011 that poverty increased sharply with estimated 10% than it was before , then it moved to investigate the heavy economic reforms of president Sisi and how this political turmoil was going along very challenging conditions, yet it managed to attain improvement in Egypt’s Economy but on the social level things are not better For 11 November appeared mass protests on the social media under the name of ‘ Al Ghalaba movement ‘, such movements came from the sense that the society is divided between those poor people struggling to survive and the upper class who’s living extremely luxuries life and none in between .

Also, Keith Glenn Whitmire’s paper was Texas Tech University under the title of ‘ counter-Revolution and Egypt’s lower middle class it claimed nothing different than the first two but the difference was that it was more specified by examining the lower middle class not the whole one.

The first 3 papers claimed that the main payer of the costs of the economic reforms was the middle class while in the following one it somehow differs, under the title of ‘Sisi’s Egypt’ that was written under the umbrella of Brandies University, Crown center for middle east studies, The paper said that middle class was already 44% in 2011 and If considering the middle class are those who are not falling behind the poverty line and thus they will range from 60% to 80% and that they are divided into subgroups in which are not equally affected, while some groups of the middle class got hurt others remain disaffected or get benefitted like the military middle class who got expanded in contrast with the private middle class who found their savings losing its value as a result from floating the Egyptian pound.

Moving to Examine the middle class in another country and the impact of the Economic reforms upon it we can start with the book of ‘ Globalization and the middle class in India ‘ in which the main concern was the cultural and social implications and impact of the neoliberal reforms, the author followed the middle class, especially the lower strata and start questioning their long-run benefits of these economic reforms.

In contrast with our case in Egypt in which the doubtful long-run implications is not as much as doubting the benefits on the short run and for the current generations.

The OECD development centre published a working paper under the name of ‘ the emerging middle class in developing countries’ in which it examined cases like China, and India, and mentioned briefly Brazil, and South Korea, where in the case of China despite of being the second largest middle class in the term o size after the U.S.A, Yet the size of Chinese middle class is only 12%, Brazil managed to achieve notable economic growth and a higher per capita per year but due to income inequality middle class was estimated about 29% only,

While South Korea followed the same path but managed to produce a sizeable idle class that accounted for 53% of the whole population due to an even distribution of income.

Hence we can conclude that we have another element and important factor that affect the middle class not only the economic reforms which is inequalities of distributing resources or especially income inequality to be included with us in the conceptual framework.

Conceptual framework:

This section is concerned with defining the main concepts that this paper deal with, which are: the middle class, Economic reforms, and income inequality.

First middle class:

The classical definition of the middle class can be found within Weberian socio-economic terms. Here, the middle class is outlined as that consisting of professionals or business owners who share a culture of domesticity, sub-urbanity, and an extent of relative security (in the shape of socially desired skill or wealth) against a social crisis. Mostly, alternative sociological definitions of the middle class follow max, Weber. Some modern theories of political economy take into account a large middle class to possess a beneficial, stabilizing influence on society. On the other hand, A contrary approach is taken from FactCheck.org: it sounds negative and discouraging:

• ?“Q: Is there a standard, accepted definition of what constitutes the “middle class
• A: No, there isn’t.

”middle class” means various things to different people and politicians”. Taking into consideration the previous views, we come to the additional elaborative and in-depth definition of the middle class. The middle class could be a social group of individuals with an income more or less stable and adequate for the satisfaction of a wide vary of material and social necessities. The hallmark of this class is its high educational attainment. Thus the functions of the middle class embrace the introduction of new products and innovations, reproduction of expert labor, and maybe, support to long-term peace and stabilize society. The Drum Major Institute places the range for the middle class at individuals who’s making between $25,000 and $100,000 a year. Where in Egypt we measure it this way: First in any methodology to identify the middle class must address the challenge of how to isolate the poor. And second is estimating the value of the upper poverty line in order to identify the second group of households that are still poor, yet are not as deprived concerning basic consumption needs as the former group. The third is to identify the upper threshold for the middle-class measurement. The upper poverty line is the minimum threshold for middle-class consumers who not only meet the basic necessities of food expenditure but they also have more expenditure alternatives on non-essential food & non-food expenditure, like for instance on better health care and education.

Hence the middle-class consumers are located between the upper poverty line and what we call the upper-middle-class line, where the household’s non-essential non-food expenditure reaches an equivalent value to that of the lower poverty line.

The expenditure bracket for the middle class in Egypt ranges between PPP$3 and PPP$6.1 in 2011. Using those thresholds, the Egyptian middle-class population is estimated to be around 44% of the whole population in 2011.

Economic reform:

What I’m concerned with in this project is Economic reforms implemented in Egypt Since 2016, and it was IMF supported program that included: the floating of the Egyptian pound in order to enhance Egypt’s External competitiveness, The value-added tax, reform subsidies on energy by reducing it to fund another sector in a better way, about 1% of GDP from fiscal saving are targeting now additional food subsidy and also on the cash transfer to the elderly and poor families, and reforms in the business climate. And that’s according to the formal website of the IMF website.

Income inequality:

Income inequality is defined as extreme concentration of wealth or income within the hands of a little proportion of a population. it’s been represented because of the gap between the richest and the rest. Income inequality among people is measured here by 5 indicators. The Gini coefficient relies on the comparison of cumulative proportions of the population with cumulative proportions of income they receive, and it vary between 0 when there is perfect equality and 1 in the case of having perfect inequality. S80/S20 refers to the ratio of the average income of the 20% the most affluent to the 20% poorest; P90/P10 represents the ratio between the upper bound value of the ninth decile (the 10% of people with the highest income) to that of the first decile; P90/P50 is the ratio of the upper bound value of the ninth decile to that of the median income; and P50/P10 of median income to the upper bound value of the first decile. Whereas The Palma ratio is the share of aggregate income received by the 10% of people with the highest disposable income divided by the share of the aggregate income of those with the lowest disposable income which is estimated with 40%.

Theoretical framework

Broadly speaking the topic can find a place in the political economy framework, as it links the society with the state and the economy where the middle class the paper is mainly concerned with is representing the societal part of the theory, second the state that’s issuing the Economic reforms and finally Income inequality which falls under the economic part of the theory.

But we will rather go for something more specific that can theoretically frame our topic, first, we can resort to a class analytic theory which assumes that Growth in income inequality is ruled by (1) changes in between-class income variations, (2) integrative changes within the relative size of social classes, and (3) changes in residual, or within-class, financial gain dispersion. This study investigates each of those trends successively and provides a proper decomposition that evaluates their relative impact on growth in income difference at the population level. But this theory is reversing the relationship we have found through spotting light on other cases like in Brazil and South Korea were income inequality is the one that is considered the main factor responsible for the changes in the middle-class estimations.

Moving to the classical school of the theoretical attempts of clarifying the relationship between Eco reforms and Income Inequality, it’s claiming that reforms are likely to stimulate increasing Inequality due to: (1) the reintroduction of property income, (2) and the reintroduction of incentive payments, (3) beside the widening of wage differentials.

A helpful approach to investigate income inequality is to treat income composed of two parts, specifically wage and property income. thus the variation of personal income relies on the following factors: (1) The relative shares of wage and property income, (2) and the wage and property income differentials, (3) and also the correlation of the distribution of these two kinds of income between people.

the Brookings Institution in May 2015, as a part of its Social Mobility Memos blog series, came up with a negative correlation between Inequality and upward social mobility. Also, OECD claimed the same: “The main mechanism through which inequality affects growth is by undermining education opportunities for children from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, lowering social mobility and hampering skills development.”Also, the negative correlation between inequality and mobility can simply reflect changes about the composition of the population, as claimed by Corak (2013).

Merging what the classical school had claimed with the correlation agreed upon from Brookings institution and OECD, we will come up with the following:

Economic reform increases income inequality, and income inequality when increasing decreases the chance of upward social mobility, and if not making the middle-class shrink at least will hinder it from growing.

Methodology:

This project will be using the archival research methodology, according to Georgia state university Archival research: is research involving primary sources being held in archives, and in special collections libraries, or even another repository. Archival sources can be manuscripts, documents, records and that’s including electronic records, objects, sound, audiovisual materials, or other materials. And archives is being defined as organizations that collect the records of individuals, families, or other organizations. And repository is ‘a place where things can be stored and maintained, [including] any type of organization that holds documents, including business, institutional, and government archives, manuscript collections, libraries, museums, and historical societies, and in any form, including manuscripts, photographs, moving image and sound materials, and their electronic equivalents.’

The primary resources I’m using in this project are the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) , data obtained from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the formal website of the Egyptian ministry of supply and internal trade, the IMF formal website.

Chapter two

The debate about the impact of floating the Egyptian pound:

The liberation of the Egyptian pound exchange rate in 3rd November 2016 had been one of the most controversial procedures among the economic reform program the Egyptian government started to implement to rescue its economy, furthermore, it created 2 blocks, One supporting and see this step as a necessary hard surgery to save the Economic body and the other argues that it will rather cause more problems than it solves, in this section, we will present both arguments and see whether such an economic decision benefit or squeeze the middle class.

Against floating of the currency argument:

The flotation of the pound stimulated a wave of high inflation, unmatched with the past seventy years. In July 2017, inflation reached its peak at 35.8 % before bit by bit falling to 11.5 % in May 2017. nonetheless, inflation began to rise once more in June once the government reduced subsidies on fuel, and then by electricity. The rate of inflation hit 15.4 % in September 2017, whereas the International Monetary Fund projects that the rate for 2018 can reach 20.9 %.

In the lead-up to the flotation, economic experts have warned of the negative consequences the move would possibly have on consumer costs and standards of living, significantly since Egypt is severely dependent on imports for basic commodities. A devaluation in currency is sometimes tied to a raised demand for exports, that become relatively cheaper abroad. nonetheless, as Samir Radwan, an economic expert and also the former minister of finance, noted within the months preceding the flotation, this wasn’t essentially true in the Egyptian case.

This may work in Switzerland, for instance, or in China, as a result of they have an outsized production & export capability, and once the rate drops, demand for their own exports will increase, Radwan declared in an interview with Al-Wafd newspaper in May 2016. We don’t have that, we import 60 % of our needs, and 40 % of the elements that enter our exports are foreign. This means that floating the pound will increase import bills and inflation, and therefore the victims are going to be the poor and people with the lowest incomes.’

In his book, when will Inflation end in Egypt (2017), Mohamed Gad, who’s a journalist and economic research worker, explains that wages have 2 values the primary may be a nominal value, that is that the numerical value we tend to use in our daily lives. as an example, one may say, My monthly earnings used to be LE500 before it had been increased to LE1,000. the other price is the real value, that is that the actual price after deducting inflation. individuals sometimes get frustrated once the real value of their wages deteriorates whether or not the nominal value is constantly increasing.

Eight years ago, employees vigorously petitioned for a minimum wage that will guarantee good living standards for families. In an effort to fulfill those demands, the state went for adopting an extra bonus incentive that will raise the wage of state employees to LE731, which was less than the worker’s demand of LE1,200.

Then in early 2014, the shifting government at the time set to move toward A level of equal pay by introducing a wage bonus, which might make sure that, altogether with other pay-rises, The minimum wage will effectively be LE1,200.and actually There hasn’t been any more increase since then. Yet when resolving in inflation, it’d take LE1,500 in 2014 to be equal to the same purchasing power as LE1,200 in 2011.

When put next to the current day, verity price of LE1,200 in 2011 rises to a whopping LE4,500.As a result, incomes that were till recently considered to be spare, cannot offer protection to the middle class, or even the higher classes, from the implications of inflation. The living condition of every socioeconomic class is bit by bit fall to those on the rung below.

The article focuses on the new middle classes and their consumption practices in the wake of the policies of consumption recently introduced by the Russian state (the embargo on food imports and the strategy of import substitution), and on the background of the economic crisis. The future of this group, largely acknowledged through globalized consumption practices, seems now uncertain. Nevertheless, they accept these changes with resilience; moreover, many managed to generate support or to acknowledge rationalities in the new policies of the state. Drawing on fieldwork data collected in 2015-2016, in Moscow and Smolensk, this paper explores changing consumption practices of the new middle classes, and the interplay between their social subjectivities, and state-belonging; it looks at their strategies of positioning within socio-economic hierarchies as well as vis-à-vis the Russian state. Acknowledging the multi-faceted dimensions of inequalities within which the new middle classes are situated, the article elicits the silence of the nation-state boundaries bringing into the picture the context of the embeddedness into the global hierarchies. It is argued that the reactions of the new middle classes have to be considered in the context of their relationships with the Russian state, and the ways their socio-economic positionalities are entangled with the state belonging within a particular historical context.

The Russian ‘new middle classes have recently found themselves in a situation that is at odds with their past; specifically, the dynamics they experienced in becoming the ‘middle class.’ Their lives have been exposed to changes in several respects. They have to adapt and accommodate to the new regulations of and on consumption put into place by the Russian state. The state introduced an embargo on food imports from a number of countries, in response to the sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine. The ban targeted a broad range of food products: meat and dairy products, fruits and vegetables, fish, and seafood. In parallel, it announced the strategy of import substitution as the new priority in the development of the national economy. Furthermore, the conditions of the new middle classes living and working have been affected (though in different ways) by the general economic downturn in the country, accompanied by high inflation, devaluation of the national currency, and a decrease in the real income.

All this poses a contrast to the developments of the recent fifteen years that were generally marked with economic growth, an increase in living standard for most Russians, and skyrocketing individual consumption, in which the imported goods played a central role having firmly entered everyday mass consumption. These improvements were believed both to underpin the formation of the middle classes in Russia and to shape to a significant extent the relationships between the middle classes and the Russian state.

This paper focuses on a section of the middle class – the so-called ‘new middle classes. I define the ‘new middle classes’ as professionals, managers, and highly qualified specialists working as employees or self-employed individuals. Most of them spent the main part of their professional lives under the condition of a ‘market’ economy. Along with the similarity of their structural positions in the socio-economic system, the new middle classes are believed to share certain patterns of lifestyles and living conditions (a relatively high standard of living and increasingly globalized consumption practices, active usage of Internet media). This commonality of the life situations provides a starting point to follow how the representatives of the new middle classes react to the current changes in the politics and policy of the state, and in their lives.

On the one hand, the new middle classes, as the major consumers of the imported goods, became seen as the primary ‘victims’ of the embargo. Globalized consumption practices and lifestyles were believed to be central for their self-identification, and for the way they distinguish themselves from the lower social classes. On the other hand, the new middle classes were assigned with often contradictory roles as political agents (as adherers of traditional values or the moving force of ‘modernization,’ supporters or opponents of the current regime). Still, these interpretations were rooted in the assumptions about their interests concerning their lifestyles and living standards. Therefore, the new policies of consumption along with the economic crises potentially challenge the foundation of the new middle class in Russia, the ways they live and see themselves.

The new middle classes have been responding to these changes in diverse ways. There was no organized resistance to or contestation of these measures; those who did not approve these measures did not become vocal or mobilized. At the same time, a considerable share of those belonging to the new middle classes supported or admitted the potential rationality of these measures. The way the new middle classes react to the current changes has to be considered in regard to their dynamics within a particular historical conjuncture.

In this paper, I explore how the new middle classes in Russia cope with these new regulations and conditions in relation to their positionalities. Starting with the discussion of the implications of consumption for the new middle classes, I problematize the focus on the interclass boundaries. Instead, the attention is shifted to more complex positionalities of the new middle classes, and the multiple dimensions of inequalities that inform them. Questioning the silence of the nation-state boundaries, I elicit the simultaneous embeddedness of the new middle classes in the context of a concrete “political-social economy”, and global inequalities. Further, these assumptions guide the analysis of the new middle classes’ relationships with the Russian state, following the dynamic of the country’s development after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The relationships between state belonging and socio-economic positions are conceptualized. In the final part, I suggest how the new middle classes’ experiences and reactions to the consumption policies of the state and changing economic conditions can be linked to their positionalities, situated within these complex, historically dynamic constellations. This paper draws on data collected as part of fieldwork carried out between 2015 and 2016 in two cities in Russia – Moscow, and Smolensk. Following these processes can offer new insights into how we conceptualize the dynamics of the middle classes across different historical and regional contexts, with a special focus on their self-positioning within the socio-economic hierarchies and vis-a-vis the state.

The new middle classes as consumers and the agents of societal change

The theme of consumption and class formation became central in regard to the new middle classes, first, for the early industrialized countries and later, even more prominently, for the emerging economies. Consumption is believed to be a central site of formation, reproduction, and self-identification of these groups, which emerged in a result of the shift in the occupational structure under the condition of globalization, namely, with an increase in the share of relatively well-paid qualified white-collar jobs in different world regions. In the process of claiming, constructing, and sustaining their relatively privileged (though often vulnerable) positions, the modern consumer lifestyles and consumption practices become intermingled with other practices and meanings originating from diverse local and historical contexts.

While acknowledging the flexibility of the socio-cultural boundaries, it was the construction of the interclass differences that received the major attention, and through which the new middle classes were conceptualized as socio-cultural entities. The capacity to construct and to guard these interclass boundaries through cultural and consumption practices were claimed to be central to the new middle classes’ ability to hoard the opportunities and to exclude the lower groups securing and legitimizing their relatively privileged positions.

However, some recent studies dealing with the class patterns of consumption conclude that class is “relatively insignificant” in determining the patterns of cultural consumption and that boundaries among the middle and lower classes become harder to draw. This is not to suggest that the patterns of consumption are distributed uniformly across the population, or that there are no differences among people in different social positions. Rather, the fixation on the interclass boundaries limits the analytical perspective and does not allow to comprehend the complexity of the ways in which the consumption practices contribute to the construction of social relations and experiences. Hence, consumption should not be reduced to the construction of inter-class differences. It also functions as a means through which people, situated in concrete social positions, construct meanings, and make sense of their lives and the social world around them.

Abstract:

One of the most distinguishing features of contemporary India is the emergence and rise of the new middle class/es (hereafter NMC). After the 1990s liberalization, the NMC became the focus of attention due to its socio-economic mobility, socio-cultural and political influence, and consumer potential. The confident and ambitious NMC has sprouted up across the country with about 300-400 million people and increasing rapidly. The purpose of the present article is to demonstrate that the emerging NMC is relatively an unexplored and comparatively new contextual urban reality and a group that is fluid and still emerging. Through an analysis of the NMC and its economic and socio-cultural distinctiveness, the article shows its emergence and ongoing transformation on the backdrop of the mid-1980s and the 1990s neo-liberalization. It further argues that how to further socio-political and cultural deliberations are required to adequately understand and engage with the NMC both India and abroad as a sizable majority of the NMC are transnational and globally represent Indian diasporas in the UAE, the USA, Europe, and a few other countries.

Keywords: Urbanization, Neoliberalization, New Middle class, urban family, professionals, middle-class predicament and development.

I. Introduction

Madhukar Sabnavis asserts that the big Indian middle class is anywhere between 300 to 400 million and growing. By all reasonable estimates, the Indian middle class is bigger than the entire population of many nations. The middle class especially the new middle class which is categorized on the basis of income, social status, education level, occupation, and consumerism has significantly emerged as a powerful, influential and dominant class in urban India and largely determines India’s economy, polity, culture, education and social relationships. There is no unanimity in understanding the NMC as it is contemporary, fluid, and still emerging. The contours of the NMC are increasingly perceived as a class-in-practice, which is marked by its economic mobility, politics, and the regular practices through which it reconstructs its affluent position. The recent urbanization, globalization, and postmodernism have significantly influenced the NMCs in transforming their culture, religious beliefs, and overall socio-economic and cultural dimensions.

The present paper is an attempt to understand the NMCs and their present sociological as well as religious reality in relation to socio-cultural implications. To provide clarity towards understanding the NMC various definitions, spiritual nature, upward mobility, and NMCs distinct characteristics have been assessed. Further, it also attempts to articulate its recent cultural and religious shifts.

I. 1 The Emergence of the NMC: History in Perspective

Middle-class has been an important historical and sociological category in modern India. The middle class in India originated at the intersection of colonialism, a democratic state, and (capitalist) economic development. The impetus for this came from British colonial rule. Over the two centuries of their rule, they introduced a modern industrial economy, secular education, and a new administrative framework. The British opened schools and colleges in different parts of India, particularly in the colonial cities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. By 1911, there were 186 colleges in different parts of India with 36,284 students. This number went up to 231 and 59,595 respectively by 1921, and by 1939, there were 385 colleges teaching 144,904 students. Apart from those employed in the administrative jobs of the British government, they included professionals like lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists, etc. Within the framework of a mixed economy, the private sector also played a small but crucial role in the economy. In the organized private sector, 1.7 million workers were added between 1960 and 1970. Compared to the public sector, the growth in employment during the next decade was sluggish, and only half a million workers were added. Through its control over the bureaucratic system, the middle-class often hijacked the state apparatus and policies for its own benefits. The higher bureaucracy also derived its power from the model of economic development India adopted after independence, where, following the soviet model of socialist economics, the Indian state was directly involved, albeit along with the private sector, in different sectors of the economy. Quite like its ancestor, the colonial middle class, this new emerging class also had its contradictory dispositions. The institutionalization of electoral democracy, economic development (industrial and rural), and, perhaps most importantly, affirmative action (reservations) policies for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the state-run educational institutions, jobs, and legislative bodies, broadened the social base of the middle class. These emerging segments of the middle class provided leadership and voice to the historically marginalized categories of Indian people. The third moment of the Indian middle class begins in the 1980s, with the decline of the Nehruvian state, social and political churning, the rise of the new social movements around questions of rights and identities, the rapidly changing global political economy, and the economic reforms accelerating the speed of economic growth. This period also witnesses a paradigm shift in the discourses on the Indian middle class. The “new” middle-class begins to be increasingly defined and discussed in terms of its consumer behavior, constituting the social base of the market-led capitalist economy. However, the lens of consumption as the defining feature of the middle-class tends to reduce it to a flat income-group category. The category of middle-class is broader than the income-group category. Thus, the middle-class also needs to be understood analytically, in terms of its role in relation to the state, market, and civil society; the role it continues to play in articulating the socio-economic and political interests of diverse communities. While this conceptual elaboration restricts the numerical strength of the middle class, it expands the analytical frame to understand the interaction of the middle class with the state, market, and civil society. Accordingly, we will first look at the middle-income groups and their relationship, position, and roles in the labor markets.

I. 2 The NMC: Concept and Various Definitions

The NMCs are categorized in several different ways by different scholars and sociologists. Darendorf explaining this group notes that there is no word in modern language to describe this group, for they are a group that is no group, class that is no class, and stratum that is no stratum. They are located somewhere between at least two other classes, one above, and one below it. In other words, more generically, the middle class has attained a place between the upper and lower classes. Today, the middle class is defined and expressed in various terms. Bibek Debroy in Indian Express defines states: The middle class is an over-used expression and difficult to pin down since it is defined not just in terms of income. Using income, one way of defining a middle class is in terms of how much income is left over for discretionary expenditure, after paying for food and shelter. For a few others, the middle class/es are those who have emerged because of such social mobility and status Attainment.

I. 3 The NMC Categories

According to B.B. Misra, the middle class has an occupational interest but is bound together by a typical style of living and behavior pattern and stands for democratic values which they express in their social and political conduct. Moreover, the NMCs are classified into different groups or categories by different sociologists. Bhagavan Prasad divides NMCs into four groups using occupation: 1. Salaried persons, including administrative employees, postal and other institutional and government officials; 2. Independent professions like medical practitioners, lawyers, armed forces officers, teachers, artists, actors, journalists, and other consultants; 3. The non – salaried such as those involved in entrepreneurial or business activities like a private business, directors in business firms; 4. Retired persons and widows from wealthy families. Income, social status, consumerism, and lifestyle are a few other key criteria used to categorize the NMCs in India. Furthermore, the NMC comprises of people from all spheres of social structure though the Hindu percentage is on the higher side compared to other social groups. According to Sudeshna Maitra, Muslims and Christians form a more substantial segment of the lower class (18% and 11% respectively) than the middle and upper classes (15% and 4% of the middle class and 10% and 4% of the upper class). The recent economic developments are significant for Christians too as a sizeable portion made substantial socio-economic progress during the last two-three decades.

II. The NMC characteristics

The NMCs are recognized on the basis of their earnings, majorly derived from the higher and middle castes. In the contemporary globalization era, dual-earning couples have increased among the NMC. Besides, an increasing percentage of women and youth representation in private and IT-related sectors is observed, who are increasingly global in their lifestyle and overall outlook. It is not surprising then that the NMCs are evolving themselves in modernity, socio-economic developments, and western/modern culture with a greater emphasis on education, consumerism, and new global work and business partnerships. Here are a few key characteristics of the NMCs:

II.1 Proficient in English

Today, India is perhaps the second most significant English-speaking country after the USA. According to Gurcharan Das, English is avidly embraced by the newly emerging middle classes; this new popular idiom of the market is rushing down the socio-economic ladder. Indeed, English is considered a sure path for upward mobility and success. The NMC, mainly, the IT and related sector professionals, are increasingly seen to aspire to international job opportunities and immigration to developed countries and have developed a global worldview while adopting some technological advancement and advanced language skills and expertise.

II.2 Increasingly Consumerists Lifestyle and Identity

The NMC is increasingly identified especially as a Consuming Class. Indicus Analytics Research of Wall Street Journal states the consumption power of NMCs in India: By market size, the largest new middle-class markets are in the main cities, with Delhi in the first place, followed by Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune. There are also other attractive markets that are on the second rung and whose middle class spends between Rs.5, 000 crores and Rs10, 000 crores a year. The NMCs are perhaps the most significant consumers of high-end goods such as cars, air conditioners, designer clothes, computers, mobiles, gadgets, and much more. Today consumption has become their lifestyle and identity.

II.3 Technology Savvy: ‘Knowledge Class’

The NMCs are also called ‘knowledge classes’ because of their specialized, advanced education and technological expertise, and much more. Their dependence on technological gadgets like mobile phones, the internet, laptops, iPods, tablets, etc. is exceptional and proves how this class is conversant, learned, and exposed to new and modern technology. The Indian IT industry has become the new great white hope of the Indian middle class. IT entrepreneurs and professionals are considered new middle-class heroes. Das even proposes that India can leapfrog the industrial age while embracing information technology that can drive India’s economic growth and transform the country.

II.4 Aspirational and Career Oriented

The NMCs perspective about overall life is increasingly money centered. What Robert Wuthnow has written about the American middle-class categorically applies to the NMCs in India. He states: The distinguishing feature of the middle class is its obsession with work and money. This is not to say that the poor and wealthy are uninterested in either; many of the poor are gainfully employed and desperately concerned with making ends meet, and many of the wealthy have earned their riches and work hard at protecting their investments. But the middle class is fundamentally defined by its pursuit of careers, the preparation of its children to participate in the labor market, and the close connection between its material well-being and its values. The NMCs, their upbringing, and enculturation have tuned them to the single-minded pursuit of material success and career growth for the acquisition of a comfortable lifestyle, more wealth, and prestige.

II.5 More Globalized than Localized

The NMC undoubtedly favors economic liberalization and globalization and considers it to develop the economy and individual prosperity. The NMCs maintain a professional lifestyle, are fast-paced, demand a modern and western standard of living, and have a keen global perspective. Most of the NMCs are exposed to global culture, modern worldviews, international education, consumer products, and market economy, thus are increasingly globalized. Besides, they are well connected with the world through media, electronics, and technology. Incidentally, the NMCs are emerging as a transnational and global phenomenon. Their immigration and aspiration to follow western and modern culture, fashion, and lifestyle are remarkable. However, in such cultural and socio-economic globalization, segments of the NMC seem to balance between global and local realities while keeping a tightrope balance between new and old, modern and traditional.

II. 6 The NMC Culture and Society

The NMC culture is an amalgamation and melting pot of cultures, mingling global and local cultural and political influences. Though the modern culture is evolving, below the surface it is flawed by caste, Indian traditions, and culture, especially in marriages, family relationships, work ethics, politics, and mainly government and public services. The NMCs social life is primarily determined by occupation and profession, economic status, and lifestyle. However, urbanization, globalization, and Western influences are fostering individualism, inter-caste marriages, live-in relationships, and much more. This has led to noticeable shifts in thinking patterns, family and spouse relationships, lifestyle, and cultural norms. Cities much like the rest of India maintain a tight-rope balance between modernity and age-old Indian customs and traditions. However, urban spaces are gradually losing its old culture and tradition bit by bit. Moreover, although the NMCs are economically self-sufficient and enjoy a good life with relatively stable income, health facilities, luxuries, and so forth, they have deeper personal, family, and work-related needs that usually go unnoticed. Stress levels are high in urban life, loneliness, competitiveness, relationship crisis, failures, spiritual and emotional struggles, health issues, and frustrations are some of the areas where the NMCs find themselves in need of love, support, and care. The increasing rates in divorce and suicide, family breakdown, youth-related issues, old age issues, child care, the high cost of living, and medical and work-related stress are some of the crucial issues that the majority of the NMCs face.

II. 7 The NMCs Worldviews

The NMC’s worldviews are different from other classes and are changing rapidly due to various factors. L.W. Bryce asserts that urbanization brings a cultural change in the ways of thinking, lifestyle, and point of view. The NMC has changed over the years though there are tension and some continuity of old traditions, beliefs, and lifestyle.

II. 8 The NMCs Shift towards Secularism and Pragmatism

The NMCs who are predominantly English educated, often in private and even international schools and colleges, are profoundly impacted by the western, scientific, secular, and enlightenment ideologies and worldviews. Consequently, this has had a far-reaching influence on the NMC’s political consciousness, religious beliefs, gender relationships, and other such perspectives. Moreover, segments of the NMC who are secular are primarily concerned with the matters of this world as they strive to bypass religion. Besides, it is a process that brings gradual changes in the thinking and practices of people which are seen among the NMCs who are more exposed to secular ideals and practices. In this respect, the NMC has undoubtedly become more secular although not all segments of it and not in equal measures. The NMCs who are influenced by western education and modernity are also exposed to liberal, secular and rational concepts and morals.

According to Robert B. Talisse, and Scott F. Aikin, the term pragmatism or pragmatic is usually used to denote: …a commitment to success in practical affairs, to getting things done. A pragmatist is hence bargainer, a negotiator, a doer, rather than a seeker of truth, a wonderer, or a thinker. Likewise, is the way of life for most of the NMCs and they tend to judge everything from that perspective. What appeals to intellect is only accepted as most of them tend to evaluate everything by relevance and applicability to their felt needs and aspirations.

II. 9 The NMCs Spirituality and Religious Diversity

Urban India represents a multitude of spiritualities and Indian sects along with other religions, cults, and religious groups. It is evident that religion has a prominent place and plays a vital role in many cities in India. However, Hinduism is dominant. It is generally perceived that in cities people are not religious, however, the NMCs though not very religious in strict terms, they do adhere to their religious faith and spirituality. It has been observed that in recent times, the NMCs prefer to be referred as spiritual rather than religious. In the quest to become spiritual they are in search of spirituality that will cater to their felt needs, provide solutions for their questions, and miraculous provision to their aspirations. Religion has significant appeal and reverence amongst Indians. Family life and its socio-cultural and religious practices influence and shape the child‘s development in cognizance of self-identity, god, and society and continue to have an influential role in the family setup. Today, a large number of religious, cultural, philosophical, and spiritual institutions and various ideologies are practiced by the NMCs along with their traditional Hindu faith and temple worship. The different sacred places like Sri Satya Sai Baba Ashram, the ISKCON temple, OSHO ashram, Yoga centers, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar‘s Art of Living, and many such centers have also become famous destinations not only among the NMCs but for people from all over the world. Raj Gandhi argues on the popularity of religion in cities contending, it is futile to argue that religion is disappearing from Indian cities. These and many other neo-Hindu movements are reviving traditional Hinduism as well as creating a renewed interest among Hindus both in India and several other countries.

II.10 NMCs and Anubhava Phenomenon

In the contemporary scenario, almost all religions seem to be promoting experiential religious aspects. In the case of Hinduism, while presenting a profound belief of such anubhava-experiential spirituality among Hindus,

Hoefer states: Traditional Hindu religiosity emphasizes three sources of authority in discovering the religious truth: Srti or ancient writings; Yukti or rational thought; and the most important Anubhava or experience. The purpose of using srti and yukti is only to get to one‘s own anubhav and only then, Hindus believe, do they know the writings and teachings are true…An Indian seeker will commonly want confirmation through visions, miracles, answered prayers, and healings. The NMCs being pragmatic and seekers of religious vitality and anubhava long for some Divine anubhava in their life, career, business, family, and so forth. To experience the reality and divine power of god even the NMCs perform various rituals, poojas, and bhakti, besides, following various gurus, pilgrimage, holy baths, and several such religious things. Thus, we may construe that the Hindu faith is being redefined and has not lost its influence among the NMCs. The popularity of neo-Hinduism and guru movement among the NMCs is noteworthy to indicate that the Hindu faith endures flourishing although the methods of worship and teachings have undergone several changes over time. However, their reasoning and rationality, secular and pragmatic nature, and openness is indicative.

III. Concluding remarks

The size of the NMC has significant implications as they play a vital role in India‘s economic growth and sustainability. Indeed, they constitute a sizeable portion of the global workforce, particularly in IT and related industries that have enhanced their identity, influence, and global-local exchange. In addition to the above, the NMC’s growth and their increasing consumption habits, economic mobility, substantial political attentiveness, national and international exchange, and socio-cultural influence have assigned them a significant place in Indian and global society. Hence, it is crucial to understand the NMC on the backdrop of globalization and its ongoing transformation. The government and other entities need to take note of this growth narrative and these changing dynamics. In the wake of contemporary liberalization and economic reforms, the NMC is highlighted as an upwardly mobile, consumerist and well do class who live comfortable and even lavish life. Such widespread understanding about the NMC is true and certainly applies to the upper tiers of the NMC. Although the pragmatic, consumerist, and self-centered identity of the NMC remains intact, their shift towards philanthropy, even though just beginning to grow, is a welcome change. Holistic development of the NMC would require a common vision, partnership, and a comprehensive approach while crossing religious and socio-cultural variances and boundaries. In the contemporary scenario, the NMC seems to be both, an active agent and yet at times apathetic to socio-political issues and challenges. In such a situation, it will be interesting to guide them and see in what manner they progress and participate in broader socio-political discourses and developments. The NMC are capable of educating and inspiring society about civic and democratic rights and accountability while bringing reformation to the nation at large. The results will depend on whether this NMC merely emerges as an economically upwardly mobile, consumerist, pragmatic social construction or as a self-conscious and sensitive democratic force, articulating and representing the interests of society, including the masses. Today, the NMC in India is in a critical state of transition. The NMC family has received specific benefits through such shifts; however, it has enormously altered the traditional and functional role of women, in family planning, while distressing the family dynamics and affecting children and the elderly at home. Although a section of it is upwardly mobile and comfortable, others are not. Overall, the NMC faces numerous issues and challenges. Moreover, when it comes to issues such as freedom of speech, individual rights, gender equality and privileges, right to education, women‘s equal representation in the workplace, corruption-free governance, philanthropy, and much more, the NMC upholds and stand for such values. These values and attitudes need to be actively proliferated in the social fabric of society even if one’s level of response may vary. The study suggests that the NMC is poised to become a crucial segment of the urban population in India. Globalization in India will continue to appeal to the consumerist, ‘glocal and upwardly mobile’ NMC. Its influence on the NMCs economic, cultural and religious domains will further challenge NMC’s global movements, national/state political and moral pursuit and ideals, and social dynamics. It is not surprising then that the NMC has captivated the local as well as the global imaginations of sociologists, academics, policymakers, and political analysts. Globalization has initiated a wide range of developments, and its overall transforming impact on the NMC‘s future religiosity and cultural aspects remain to be seen. However, it is certain that religion will strive to revitalize itself through modernizing and transforming itself while reinventing its historical roots and counteracting the globalizing forces. Consequently, with the growing middle-class populace and its economic, educational, and global connectedness, NMCs is embarking on political, cultural, and religious restructuring and economic progression. Globalization and the neo-liberalism policies while advancing the NMCs are increasingly shaping and influencing Indian society. We need to understand the change dynamics which are propelling the social change in India. Globalization in India will continue to appeal consumerist, ‘glocal and upwardly mobile’ NMCs. Its influence on India’s economy, culture, and the religious domain will further challenge Indian societies/nations global movements, national/state political and moral pursuit and ideals, and social dynamics.