1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910480456003321

Autore

Pattenden Jonathan

Titolo

Labour, state and society in rural India : A class-relational approach / / Jonathan Pattenden

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Baltimore, Maryland : , : Project Muse, , 2017

Baltimore, Md. : , : Project MUSE, , 2017

©2017

ISBN

1-78499-640-8

1-5261-0958-1

0-7190-9889-0

1-78499-702-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (216 p.)

Disciplina

339.4/609548091734

Soggetti

Social sciences and state - India

Social classes - India

Poverty - India

Rural poor - India

Electronic books.

India, South

India Rural conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages 166-190) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : poverty and the poor -- A class-relational approach -- Labour, state and civil society in rural India -- Changing dynamics of exploitation in rural South India -- Dynamics of domination in rural South India : class relations at the state-society interface -- Social policy and class relations : the case of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme -- The neoliberalisation of civil society : community-based organisations, contractor NGOs and class relations -- Organisations of labouring class women -- Conclusion : poverty and class.

Sommario/riassunto

Behind India's high recent growth rates lies a story of societal conflict that is scarcely talked about. Across production sites, state institutions



and civil society organisations, the dominant and less well-off sections of society are engaged in a protracted conflict that determines the material conditions of one quarter of the world's 'poor'. Increasingly mobile, and often engaged in multiple occupations in multiple locations, India's 'classes of labour' are highly segmented, but far from passive in the face of ongoing processes of exploitation and domination. Drawing on detailed fieldwork in rural South India over more than a decade, the book uses a 'class-relational' approach that focuses on 'the poor's' iniquitous relations with others, and views class in terms of contested social relations rather than structural locations marked by particular characteristics. The book explores continuity and change amongst forms of accumulation, exploitation and domination in three interrelated arenas of class relations: labour relations, the state and civil society. Marginal gains for labour derived from structural change are contested by capital, local state institutions and state poverty reduction programmes tend to be controlled by the dominant class, and civil society organisations tend to reproduce rather than challenge the status quo. On the other hand, elements of state policy have the capacity to improve the material conditions of 'the poor' where such ends are actively pursued by labouring class organisations. It is argued that social policy currently provides the most fertile terrain for redistributing power and resources to the labouring class, and may clear the way for more fundamental transformations.