MIDDLE CLASS

SOCIETY

Social Structure, Issues & Public Policies

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MIDDLE CLASS
A class of people intermediate between the classes of higher and lower social rank, or
standing the social, economic, cultural class, having approximately average status,
income, education and tastes etc.
A class traditionally intermediate between the aristocratic class and the laboring class.
The Middle Class is the aggregate of social groups holding an intermediate position
between the ruled and rulers, as they used to say in the past.
Now there seem to be neither the ruled nor the rulers because the market's economy
and democracy obviously "equalized" the society in both developed and developing
countries.

The plain and common definition in general use is as follows:

"The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy"

The middle class was placed between labour and capital. This class consists of petty
bourgeoisie and the white collar workers".
The former are either self employed or involved in the distribution of commodities and
the latter are non manual office workers, supervisors and professionals.
In terms of occupation self-employed professionals such as Engineers, Pleaders, Doctors
and Brokers, Salesmen, Shop-keepers, government and non government Office workers,
Teachers, and Writers etc. constitute the middle class.
This middle class is primarily a product of capitalist development and the expansion of
functions of the state in the 19th and 20th century.
In India in the 19th century under the patron age of the British colonial rule the middle
classes began to emerge.
The term began to be used for the independent small traders, professionals and artisans
who stood in between bourgeoisie on one side and working class on the other.
These class grew in number with the development of towns and increasing urbanisation
that accompanied the development of Industrial production.
The Growth of wealth has been the fastest in India second only to China over 15 years
2000 – 15
Yet, more than 90% of the adult population falls in the bottom of the wealth pyramid less
than $10,000 including the uneven distribution of wealth in India.
It is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically
between the working class and upper class.

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The Indian middle class are 23.6 million people holds almost a quarter of the country's
wealth at $780 billion.
In India, the estimated value of wealth to be considered middle class must be more than
or equal to $13,662 Rs. 7,37,748.
The peculiar feature that distinguishes Indian middle classes and the Western middle
class is their origin.
In the west, the middle classes emerged as a result of economical and technological
change whereas in India on the contrary they emerged more in consequence of changes
in the system of law and public administration than in economic development and they
belonged to learned profession.

Size and Composition of Middle Class:

According to NCAER, India's middle class population was 267 million in 2016.
Further ahead, by 2025-26 the number of middle class households in India is likely to be
more than double from the 2015-16 levels to 113.8 mil- lion households or 547 million
individuals.
During the early years of Independence, according to one estimate the middle class
proportion to the total population was around 10%.

Features of Middle Class:

Education was considered as an asset and it is the common feature of the middle class in
different parts of India.
They played an important role in India's struggle for independence from the colonial rule.
During the initial years after independence they were united by a certain ideology, a
commitment to development and in nation building.
Knowledge of English is an important characteristic of this class.
The middle class is placed between labour and capital.
This class consists of petty bourgeoisie and the white collar workers.
In terms of income, the middle classes are generally middle income groups but income as
such is not the only defining criteria of this class.
These all are considered to be the features of middle class.

Status of Middle Classes during British Rule:

The colonial rulers had been able to bring a large proportion of Indian territory under
their rule.

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After the success of industrial revolution, industrial products from Britain began to flow
into India and the volume of trade between Britain and India expanded.
Britishers also introduced railways and other modern servicing sectors such as, the press
and postal departments.
Britishers required a large number of educated individuals to staff these administrative
institutions. This led to the emergence of middle class in India.

Establishment of Railways:

The Swadeshi movement started by the nationalist leadership gave a boost to native
industry.
A part from giving employment to labour force, this industry also gave rise to new
working class called white collared skilled workers of industrial sector were also apart of
newly emerging middle classes in India.
The colonial rulers constructed railways primarily for the transportation of raw materials
required for the British industries overseas.
Once the railways were established the British also invested in the local industry such as
plantations.
The growing economic activity gave boost to trade and Mercantile activity.
Some of local traders accumulated enough savings and began to invest into modern
industry.
Social reform movement in Muslims began with the Aligarh movement led by Syed
Ahmed Khan.
The main trust of the movement was to persuade Muslims to take up English education.
This was also significantly contributed to the rise of middle classes.

Status of Middle Classes during the Freedom Struggle

Middle class performed a vital and dynamic role in the society for taking it in the new
direction and accelerating the process of freedom struggle and national movement. It
was this middle class which was responsible for developing new hopes and concepts of
political conduct.
Middle class came to question the legitimacy of British rule in India.
They also began to raise political questions. Became active and involved in social reform
movements.
After its emergence middle class played an important role in India's freedom struggle.
This class came into existence in a meaningful way when British rule began to stabilise
itself.

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One reason for its emergence was destruction of old ruling class whereas another was
rise of such groups as businessmen, intellectuals and others.
The middle class participated at various stages of India's freedom movement major
events of their collective action were:
Quit India movement in 1942
Civil Disobedience movements in the early 1930's
The Anti-Simon agitation in the mid 1920's
The non cooperation campaign in the early 1920's
The Partition of Bengal in 1906.
At the end of 19th century the educated Hindu middle class of Bihar and UP launched a
series of agitations for the removal of Urdu and for it's replacement by Hindi in the
Devanagari script.

Growth of Middle Class after Independence:

In General, we observe various reasons for growth of middle class after independence.
In fact, middle class in India emerged because British rulers in India had no Adequate
economic and political systems and wanted to transplant their own systems and
principles of government as well economic organisation with such modifications which
suited mainly to their own interests and partially to local conditions.

Green Revolution:

The Green Revolution in India refers to a period when the productivity of global
agriculture increased drastically as a result of new advances.
Various development programmes introduced by the Indian government after
independence led to significant agricultural growth in the regions that experienced
Green revolution.
Success of the Green revolution increased productivity of land and made the owing
sections of the Indian country side substantially richer.
In fact, Economic development also led to change in the aspiration of the rural people.
Consumption patterns also began to change.
Life styles and crave for material goods.
Those who were financially stable started sending their children not only to English
medium schools but also to colleges and universities for higher studies.

Government Policies and Planned Development

In General the government policies emphasized on the planned development.

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Plans were drafted out for the development of Agricultural, Industrial and the tertiary
sec- tor of the economy.
There was an over all attempt to expand the economy in all directions.
To fulfill increasing demand for trained and skilled personnel, numerous institutions
engineering and medical colleges, technical and management institutions and
universities were opened in different parts of the country.
These institutions fulfilled the growing demand for trained personnel and provided
opportunities to new upwardly mobile groups to fulfil their aspirations for education and
social mobility.

The Expansion of Industrial and Service Sector

Growth in tertiary sector was more rapid. Increase in population, particularly the urban
population, led to growth in the servicing industry, hotels, insurance companies, banks,
hospitals, press and advertisement agencies all grew at an unprecedented rate, giving
employment to a large number of trained professionals.
The middle classes of all countries have been the key drivers of the global economy in the
last century.
During the past several decades, world economic growth has occurred mostly because of
increased consumption in the middle classes of the United States, Europe, and other
advanced Countries.
This class has been considered a thriving and vibrant catalyst for economic growth.
It provides a strong base that drives productive investment and is a critical factor in
encouraging other social developments that also stimulate growth and faster expansion
of elements that contribute to a healthy society.
In the post-Independence period, education, urbanization and industrialization have
encouraged the growth of middle class in India.
The emergence and expansion of new middle class has been a distinctive feature of
Indian society particularly after independence.
In post independence period, a number of social categories of personnel, associated with
the technological scientific and managerial developments have merged.
There is tremendous expansions of non manual sector in the socioeconomic life of
modern urban industrial society.
Scientists, Technocrats, Managers, Bureaucrats, White-collar employees and various
other professional and technical groups represent the non-manual sector of the urban
industrial society.
They are considered as the new middle class.
Middle class is almost decisive force in the economic, political and social transformation
of India since independence.

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The Expansion of middle class depends upon the commercial technical, supervisory and
managerial elements of economy.
It also implies the growth of public services and other professions.
The Middle class, in a way, is linked with the development of country's economy, politics,
education and technology.

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