Description
As in other places, in India dominant beliefs and ideals largely reflect the beliefs and experiences of the middle class. As such, social constructions like “respectable femininity and masculinity,” find their roots in professional, middle class perspectives and experiences. Likewise, these gender constructions help define and reinforce class. In the face of rapid globalization and increased educational opportunities for both women and men in India, it is important to consider students as actors in the construction of the new middle class as it interacts with definitions of respectable, or ideal, femininity and masculinity. Researchers have so far focused on those who directly feed or occupy middle class positions, as does Radhakrishnan’s work on IT professionals. I argue that it is no less important to look at the “aspiring” middle class – those who may or may not be able to reach global professional middle class positions, but whose aspirations and attitudes, their hopes and desires – even if they never actually reach them – give credibility to dominant middle class ideologies and hence a new definition of India as a nation. Thus far, studies of college students in India are largely concentrated on the urban middle class, leaving out a critical mass of non-urban college students who also contribute to the construction of gender and class, albeit perhaps differently than their urban counterparts. This paper examines the extent to which, and how, middle class college students in foothills of the Himalayas, conform to, and thus reinforce, beliefs about respectable femininity and masculinity and what this means for the making of the new middle class in India. This study draws from 197 questionnaires and 38 in-depth interviews administered to students who attend several well-regarded private and public universities in the Garhwali area of the northern Indian Himalayas to explore how gender and class ideologies express themselves, and are reproduced, in the aspirations and attitudes of students. Questions were asked with regard to students’ work aspirations, family expectations, and the relationship between gender ideologies and career and family aspirations. Although all interviews were conducted in English, I enlisted the help of Hindi-speaking research assistants in all locations in order to clarify and explain concepts and questions. Both male and female students in my study report aspirations and expectations that are, in important ways, aligned with the new kinds of respectable femininity and masculinity that are emerging in India. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the development of a new middle class in India. One important implication is that, by reinforcing dominant middle class ideologies, non-urban students in the Himalayan region play an important part in legitimizing middle-class interests, and hence what it means to be a modern Indian – even though they may never achieve middle-class status.
Gender, class and nation in the foothills of the Himalayas: Student aspirations and the construction of the new middle class
As in other places, in India dominant beliefs and ideals largely reflect the beliefs and experiences of the middle class. As such, social constructions like “respectable femininity and masculinity,” find their roots in professional, middle class perspectives and experiences. Likewise, these gender constructions help define and reinforce class. In the face of rapid globalization and increased educational opportunities for both women and men in India, it is important to consider students as actors in the construction of the new middle class as it interacts with definitions of respectable, or ideal, femininity and masculinity. Researchers have so far focused on those who directly feed or occupy middle class positions, as does Radhakrishnan’s work on IT professionals. I argue that it is no less important to look at the “aspiring” middle class – those who may or may not be able to reach global professional middle class positions, but whose aspirations and attitudes, their hopes and desires – even if they never actually reach them – give credibility to dominant middle class ideologies and hence a new definition of India as a nation. Thus far, studies of college students in India are largely concentrated on the urban middle class, leaving out a critical mass of non-urban college students who also contribute to the construction of gender and class, albeit perhaps differently than their urban counterparts. This paper examines the extent to which, and how, middle class college students in foothills of the Himalayas, conform to, and thus reinforce, beliefs about respectable femininity and masculinity and what this means for the making of the new middle class in India. This study draws from 197 questionnaires and 38 in-depth interviews administered to students who attend several well-regarded private and public universities in the Garhwali area of the northern Indian Himalayas to explore how gender and class ideologies express themselves, and are reproduced, in the aspirations and attitudes of students. Questions were asked with regard to students’ work aspirations, family expectations, and the relationship between gender ideologies and career and family aspirations. Although all interviews were conducted in English, I enlisted the help of Hindi-speaking research assistants in all locations in order to clarify and explain concepts and questions. Both male and female students in my study report aspirations and expectations that are, in important ways, aligned with the new kinds of respectable femininity and masculinity that are emerging in India. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the development of a new middle class in India. One important implication is that, by reinforcing dominant middle class ideologies, non-urban students in the Himalayan region play an important part in legitimizing middle-class interests, and hence what it means to be a modern Indian – even though they may never achieve middle-class status.