Q: Discuss the salient features of 'new middle class' in India.

Model Answer:

New Middle Class in India

The “new middle class” in India refers to social groups that have emerged mainly since the 1980s–1990s with liberalisation, globalisation and the expansion of the service economy. It is significant because it shapes consumption patterns, media culture, electoral politics and ideas of modernity and citizenship in contemporary India.

Historically, the older middle class was state-centric, salaried, influenced by Nehruvian socialism and nationalist ideals (Srinivas, Yogendra Singh). The new middle class, by contrast, is more market-oriented, globally connected and consumer-driven, formed around private sector growth and information technology.

Salient features:

– Occupational and economic base
Composed largely of white-collar professionals in IT, finance, corporate services, education, health and media. Many members are first-generation entrants from lower middle strata, but with unstable contracts and loan-dependent lifestyles.

– Consumption-oriented lifestyle
As Leela Fernandes shows, this class defines itself through branded goods, malls, tourism and housing in gated communities. Citizenship is increasingly constructed around the right to consume rather than welfare claims.

– Cultural capital and English education
Drawing on Bourdieu, the new middle class is marked by English-medium education, digital skills and global cultural tastes, giving it symbolic power over regional-language groups.

– Urban, spatially segregated existence
Concentrated in metros and tier-2 cities like Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Pune, it produces “enclaved” spaces—IT parks, gated colonies—that separate it from working-class and informal settlements.

– Changing family and gender relations
There is a rise of nuclear families, dual-earner couples and somewhat more liberal gender norms; yet patriarchy persists through glass ceilings, unpaid care work and surveillance of women’s sexuality.

– Caste and community composition
Dominated by upper castes, but post-Mandal, educated OBCs and Dalits have entered, creating what Satish Deshpande calls “castelessness from above” that masks continuing caste privilege.

– Political orientations
Often supportive of economic liberalisation, anti-corruption and “good governance” agendas (e.g., Anna Hazare movement), but also susceptible to majoritarian and hyper-nationalist mobilisations amplified by social media.

– Ideological role
Following Béteille, this class shapes public discourse disproportionately—through media, NGOs, think-tanks—normalising neoliberal ideas of meritocracy, individualism and reduced state responsibility.

In sum, India’s new middle class is an ambivalent force—modernising and aspirational yet exclusionary—requiring policies that harness its energies while curbing inequality and cultural intolerance.