A magisterial class based analysis of the political situation in contemporary India

Raju J. Das holds a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, Columbus, and is currently a Professor at York University, Toronto. He is the author of Marxist Class Theory for a Sceptical World.

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations

Preface to Paperback Editions

  1 Introduction
 1 Why Class?
 2 Why Not Class – Why Not a Class-Based Analytical Framework?
 3 Components of a Class-Based Framework for Understanding Contemporary India
 4 The Chapter Outline

  2 Class in India
 1 Existing Criticisms against Class Analysis of India
 2 Existing Approaches to Class in India
 3 A Critique of Existing Approaches to Class in India
 4 Constructing a Class-Based Framework
 5 Conclusion

  3 The Capitalist Character of Class Society in Post-colonial India: Moving Beyond the Mode of Production Debate
 1 The Development of Capitalist Relations, and the Barriers to This: A Brief Discussion on the Indian Mode of Production Debate
 2 A Critique of Some Influential Ideas in the Indian Mode of Production Debate
 3 Examining India’s Capitalist Character on the Basis of Marx’s Distinction between Formal and Real Subsumptions of Labor
 4 Class Struggle and the (Slow and Uneven) Transition to Real Subsumption of Labor
 5 Class Struggle and the ‘Blocked’ Transition to Real Subsumption of Labor
 6 Possibilities of, and Limits to, Real Subsumption of Labor
 7 Jairus Banaji’s (and Others’) Mistaken Subsumption of Labor Perspective
 8 Conclusion

  4 Neoliberal Capitalism with Indian Characteristics
 1 Neoliberalism: Its General Traits
 2 Neoliberalism in India: The Context
 3 Neoliberalism with Indian Characteristics: Eight Theses
 4 Concluding Comments: What Is to Be Done?

  5 Capitalism and Technological Change: Reflections on the Technology-Poverty Relation
 1 The Literature on the Green Revolution and Poverty: The Thesis and the Anti-thesis
 2 The Literature on the Green Revolution and Poverty: A Critique of Neo-Malthusianism
 3 Technology, Population and Poverty: A Contingent Relation
 4 The Green Revolution and Poverty in India: An Empirical Analysis
 5 Conclusion

  6 Low-Wage Neoliberal Capitalism, Social-Cultural Difference, and Nature-Dependent Production
 1 Shrimp Aquaculture and the Missing Laborer
 2 A Labor-Based Approach to Nature-Dependent Commodity Production
 3 The Local, National and the Global Contexts
 4 Working for Less and in Poor Conditions: ‘Capital’ Negated
 5 Making Sense of Low-Wage Capitalism: From the General to the Locally Specific
 6 Conclusion

  7 Class Relations, Class Struggle, and the State in India
 1 Existing Views on the Indian State: A Critical Review
 2 The Indian State and Its Class Base
 3 A Coalition/Alliance of Proprietary Classes
 4 The Indian State, Lower Classes, and Lower-Class Struggle
 5 State Form, State Policy, and Class Struggle
 6 The Indian State and the Class Contradictions of Economic Development
 7 Conclusion

Bibliography
Index