India
Essential Question 3
Myth of the Middle Class..Do You Fit In?
- the balance in the classes will be off
- more people recognize themselves to be middle class
- this recognition partly depends on the part of the country
(Lok Survey: 68% in Karnataka, 29% in Madhya Pradesh) and the type of place (urban area: 56% rural area: 46%)
- several parts within the classes
Changes....for good or bad?
What Women Do
Remodeling
Democracy/Capitalism
"Can you take me off the call list?"
The photo on the right is a picture of a call center in India. A call center is the place win which telemarketers sit and answer phone calls internationally 24/7. However, since the job requires you be there at ridiculous hours to receive the highest pay (which is very popular in India), a typical Indian person working this job would have to sleep during the day and then work at the night. This becomes especially difficult when you have children or a family, as you must take care of them, clean the house, and make dinner.
Caste System: a system of social groups that rank people based on their occupation/family
Does India have what it takes to be a...superpower?
Second, India's political leaders and politicians show "little interest in grand strategy" (The Economist). In other words, much of the Indian population and its leaders care about their military strategy or how they will utilize the weapons they do have to protect themselves from uprising enemies, such as the current threat of the jihadist terrorists and the ongoing Maoist insurgency (The Economist).
Although India would provide rich culture and even more support in peacekeeping operations (mostly for the UN), India has several flaws in their system that they need to revisit and observe before they can stand on the same level as the U.S. and others with a superpower status. " ...'the hopes of those in the West who would build up India as a democratic counterweight to...superpower are unlikely to be realised anytime soon', " says Ramachundra Guha, the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the LSE.
Globalization's impact on India's culture
India has been affected by global influences, particularly from the U.S. This is because the U.S. has outsourced several of their companies to India. By outsourcing, the U.S. can pay write paychecks with less money to the workers than in the U.S., provide worse working conditions, and still receive the same flow of money as the U.S. Because the U.S. in particular has outsourced many companies, outsourcing has generated much more employment for the population/citizens. Since many people have jobs available for them, they are starting to question their house-bound situations. Women especially are ditching their housewive lives to work in India’s economy and make a living for themselves and provide another flow of income for the family. Since it has always been culturally typical for the wife to stay at home while the husband goes to work, this is certainly a change that will become more apparent in the future of India.
India's culture has also been globalized, more evidently, through marriage. It has always been that marriage was a "bonding of the souls which will be linked even after the death" (Career Ride). However, recently it seems as if it is not about bonding, but about making a commitment to live under the same roof and do everything together without "...compromising their self-interests." This ego attribute is becoming apparent in younger generations, the result of globalization.
Source: Economic Times
Looking for something?
- Find the Caste System model here.
- Find how India is slowly modernizing more every day here.
- Learn more about the middle class here and here.
- Taj Mahal photo can be found here.
- More info on Taj Mahal, its building process, reason for building, etc. found here.
- Telemarketer photo can be found here.
- Picture of Indian family eating can be found here.
- India and the US photo can be found here.
- Info on India's wannabe-superpower status can be found here and here.
- Indian democracy comic can be found here.
- Referred to as Career Ride.