The Debate on How Urban Middle-Class Identities Have Changed

The Caste system has aroused much controversy than any other feature of India’s society. Every day, Dalits are butchered, assaulted, abused, raped, lynched, shot or openly mutilated without considering any consequences of the offenders. The deaths of pregnant women who are not able to pay the bribes at government hospitals, some boys with eyes raised completely out for falling in love with a girl of a superior caste, and horrid stories of employees boiled to death because of spewing out arguments with the boss are continuously reported in mainstream newspapers. After years of democracy, the social structure stands to practice the caste system disregarding abolishment laws. Every international or national effort to abolish caste differentiation and segregation has been proven ineffective. The caste system of India is a deeply inculcated social problem requiring immense commitment domestically and internationally in understanding what has stopped the measures to get rid of this ancient system and what measures are needed to complete elimination of the system.

Every feature that can be recognized can also be contradicted by the pragmatic truth of caste divisions in Hindu society. Zinkin clearly writes that it is much easier to say what caste is not than what caste is . The scholar proceeds to record what caste is not- it is not class, for in every caste there are educated and uneducated, rich and poor, well-born and ordinarily born; it is not skin color, for an Untouchable is an Untouchable whether born fair or dark and it is not the Aryan or non-Aryan, for the Aryans never penetrated into the South or East of India and it is not profession, for even though some occupations are tremendously recognized with particular castes, mostly artisans, the main occupation, agriculture, is open to all up to Vaishya and Shudra castes . Panikkar, writing in 1933, summarized caste as a common system of life, a religion, rather than a varying Hindu social order, and its caste rigidity with which its rules are imposed would put to humiliation even the Great Inquisition

The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).

Chatham, was a swampy area unfit for human habitation in the 1860s, the early stages of Chicago as a city. Soon it followed the industrial trend of the rest of Chicago, providing settlement for those who worked in lakeside steel mills at the turn of the century. In the 1920s there was a marked increase in property values there was an influx of European immigrants. The population grew to over 36,000 and the neighborhood became established it as the middle class neighborhood it is recognized as today. Resident make-up changed throughout the years, the transition however from white to black was rapid, like it was in many other parts of the city. From an almost non-existent black population in 1950, the neighborhood was majority black by 1960 and by 1990, 99% of Chatham’s residents were black. The maintenance of a middle-class community has remained an important priority in Chatham throughout the years. In the 1990s Chatham showed signs of another community

The killer of the middle class in the USA! GLOBALIZATION!! The direction the billionaires have brought this nation and the middle class in the US are sick of getting taken advantage of, sick of no jobs and getting screwed in trade and at the border. Open borders agenda is a part of it allowing open travels to work and jobs to bring up developing countries economies at the expense of hard working Americans! North Atlantic Free Trade Association Clinton backed (NAFTA) - NAFTA sent the jobs of U.S. autoworkers to Mexico, a developing country, where wages are significantly lower than those in the U.S. A few years later, some of those same jobs were relocated to third-world countries in East Asia, where wages are even lower. In both cases, the auto

Firstly, the caste system reflects the inequality of Indian society. Although religion in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices, majority of Indian population follow Hinduism. Therefore, the dominance of Hinduism beliefs is common in India. There is a belief in caste system, as Brood said, “a system of hierarchical social organization”1. Hindu society is divided into four main classes; the priestly class, the warrior and administrator class, the producer class who is farmers and merchants and the servant class. The remaining group of people who is “outcastes” is called “untouchables” or dalit. Brodd recognizes “dalits continue to suffer terrible oppression, especially in rural communities in India”. I still could not imagine how terrible this bottom class suffers until reading Max Bearak article. All sufferings of Rohith Vemula, from the hardships of growing up poor, interactions with society in caste to scholarship revoke and suicide, happened tragically because he was born in a dalit family. This is the

Some may define the American middle class as a person that make 35,000 to 100,000 dollars a year. Over 88 percent of Americans say that they are middle class, but research shows otherwise. The role of the middle class is starting to disappear, due to less wages and a higher cost of living (Boushey & Hersh, 2012). The way of life for Americans are to work hard to gain there piece of the pie. The American dream is just that a dream, with the once highest middle class rate in the world. The American middle is now on the down slope and may no longer exist.

The author of this article seems to belong to the middle class as he does emphasize the struggles of the middle class and how all of their jobs are being sent overseas to other countries that have lower manufacturing cost. The author seems to be against the TPP, the evidence to prove this is a picture in the article in which there is a group of people protesting against the TPP which would mean how much this trade is affecting the number of manufacturing jobs there are left for the middle class. The author only gives one perspective on the problem as he is trying to persuade the reader to believe his point is correct. The author does not include facts that would contradict his article as he only wants the readers to believe that his point is

The community has a hard time changing because there is no cohesion between the individuals within the community. Things that middle-class communities take for granted such as working schools, useable playgrounds, decent housing, support from religious institutions, function civic organizations, and safe streets are all but nonexistent within these poor neighborhoods. If there are an existence of these things, their effectiveness is marginalized by persistent dysfunction within these neighborhoods. Under these circumstances, the gravitational pull of negative forces is so strong on already fragile families that only a small fraction of the children in these neighborhoods can escape and thrive. Most poor children lack the means to overcome these

Seventy percent of Indian people live on approximately less than a dollar and twenty-five cents a day. It is nearly impossible for Indians to get out of poverty and become successful individuals. All simply because their destiny is their last name in which limits them to a certain profession. The main factor is the ancient Indian caste system. It encourages injustice and poverty by dividing people according to their class. According to Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, individuality is defined as a person who helps those that are oppressed.

What are the four major castes? What implications does the caste system have for everyday life? How does the caste system relate to Hindu ideas of spiritual life? “The four major castes of Hindu society are; seers ( brahmins ), administrators ( kshatriyas ), artisans or farmers ( vaishyas ), and followers or servants ( shudras)”( Smith 56). Smith writes, religious leaders, teachers, artists, and philosophers are members of the first caste, brahmins, khatriyas, the second caste, first known as warriors are now managers. The tillers of the land, the makers of bricks, and the builders are part of the third caste, vaishyas. The fourth caste is made up of servants, those who will take care of the other castes’ needs (56)”. While I was working in India, summer of 2001 and there at the invitation of the richest family in India and staying at one of their compounds, some of my co-workers and I were playing snooker. A young boy walked into the room where we were playing. He stopped and talked to us for a few minutes before continuing to bed. Accompanied by a man of about twenty years old, the boy’s shudra, who had been the boy’s personal servant for ten or more years. The shudra’s purpose was to protect and serve his charge’s every need. Although there is inequality between castes, Smith denotes.“ within each caste, there is equality, opportunity, and social insurance ( 57)”. Although the text

            The internal divisions and complexes hierarchy of the Indian society served an important social function.  The system provided each individual with a clear identity and role and offered the benefits of group solidarity and support.  Certain interactions and behaviors were appropriate only between those of equal status. The system assured that the religious, political, and financial powers were all separated into four different social classes (Bulliet, et. 2011).

According to Indianchild.com the India caste system is a hierarchical society. In the Indian caste system, no matter where you live or what religion you are

A few disadvantages of India’s social system are that Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social organizations. According to the US Department of State-Background Notes website, even though the government has declared the caste system as illegal, it still has a presence in occupational and societal hierarchies (The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, 2010).

In our reading this week, Carol Upadhya writes about the emergence of a “‘new’ middle class in the ‘New India’” It emphasizes about how India’s old middle class has given way to the new middle class in the past 15 to 20 years. The new middle class has become the center of attraction in the consumer market in Indian cities due to the rising incomes. The landscapes of many metro cities in India have changed dramatically overnight with posh localities, malls and luxury cars thriving the markets and choking the existing roads. Though the origins of middle class can be traced to colonial period it stared dominating under the post-Independence Nehruvian regime. This old middle class was dependent on public –sector jobs but the new middle class is booming due to the fast growing private sector and globalised economy.