Ground down by growth: Tribe, caste, class and inequality in twenty‐first‐century India. By Alpa SHAH, Jens LERCHE, Richard AXELBY, Dalel BENBABAALI, Brendan DONEGAN, Jayaseelan RAJ and Vikramaditya THAKUR

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12080
AuthorUma Rani,Rishabh Kumar Dhir
Published date01 December 2017
Date01 December 2017
Copyright © International Labour Organization 2017
Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2017
International Labour Review, Vol. 156 (2017), No. 3–4
BOOK REVIEWS
Ground down by growth: Tribe, caste, class and inequality in twenty-rst-century
India. By Alpa SHAH, Jens LERCHE, Richard AXELBY, Dalel BENBABAALI,
Brendan DONEGAN, Jayaseelan RAJ and Vikramaditya THAKUR.
New Delhi, Pluto Press, 2018. xx + 281 pp. ISBN 978-0-07453-3768-5.
This book explores the “modernizing power” of capitalism in a globalized context
in an attempt to understand why, despite India’s astonishing economic growth, its dalits
(untouchables) and adivasis (tribal ethnic minorities) have not beneted and continue to
live at the bottom of its social and economic hierarchy. The book is a collection of anthro-
pological and ethnographic case studies investigating the social realities of these popu-
lation groups across different parts of the country and their integration into the global
economy. The case studies cover tea plantation workers in Kerala, workers in the highly
toxic chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu,
adivasi workers in the paper mills of Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh, Bhil tribals in
the Satpura Hills of Gujarat and Maharashtra, who have been displaced by the Sardar
Sarovar dam, and nomadic agropastoralists in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
Chapter 1 provides the book’s analytical framework based on intersectionality
of caste, tribe, class, gender and regional identity, while also drawing attention to the
fact that identity-based social oppression is constitutive of people’s relationship to their
means of production and reproduction. It shows how this leads to greater impoverish-
ment among dalit and “tribal” groups – with particular implications for women – in a
process of economic growth that is not beneting the people living on its margins. The
case studies using this framework show that capitalist modernity does not diminish older
forms of identity-based relations, such that dalits and adivasis may move out of their low
status. Rather, capitalism enlists and intensies existing relations of domination based on
inherited and indelible social identities. Capital accumulation appropriates rather than
negates these social differences and entrenches them. The authors of this chapter argue
that the entrenchment of social differentiation in the expansion of capitalism takes place
through interrelated processes, which include historically inherited inequalities of power,
extreme exploitation of casual migrant labour, and multiple drivers of oppression based
on the workings of caste, tribe, class, gender and regional identity.
In Chapter 2, K.P. Kannan provides a very detailed, disaggregated analysis of
macroeconomic variables and their relation to castes and tribes at the state level. This
chapter brings out three important ndings. First, dalits and adivasis comprise the largest
proportion of the poor, followed by Muslims and the so-called Other Backward Classes,
irrespective of how poverty is dened. Second, while Kerala generally appears to per-
form very well with regard to addressing poverty, there actually are no good performers
RIT 10 Book Review E.indd 549 12.02.18 14:18

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT