Integrating Class and Caste: A Composite Analysis of Inequality and Urban Dynamics in India and China

Wamsi Vakulavarnam, an economist at UMass Amherst, introduces his work on inequality, primarily through the lens of class, challenging conventional theories by Simon Kuznets and Thomas Piketty. His forthcoming book, "Class and Inequality in India and China," argues that inequality regimes are driven by the specific nature of capitalist crises and the institutional configurations that emerge in response, rather than secular income-inequality relationships. This Marxian class analysis aims to provide a richer understanding of economic processes, deeper social dynamics, and the nature of the state in both China and India, offering insights into within-country inequality dynamics.

Vakulavarnam's second forthcoming book, "Vanishing Mosaics: Changing Landscapes of Indian Cities," co-authored with Sripad Muthinam, employs a novel socio-spatial dialectical approach. This research examines how multiple social axes—gender, religion, class, and caste—interact with city space to produce economic and social outcomes in India. For instance, the structure of city space significantly impacts women's labor force participation rates, as seen in the comparison between Mumbai and Hyderabad. The study also highlights the deepening ghettoization of Muslims and, conversely, the significant development benefits (e.g., reduced poverty, better education) found in more mixed neighborhoods.

A striking finding from this urban research is that Indian neighborhoods historically tended to be more mixed than Western city neighborhoods, although neoliberal economic reforms over the last three decades are accelerating segregation processes in Indian cities. This work not only illuminates the changing nature of urban landscapes but also has substantial policy advocacy implications. Beyond these specific projects, Vakulavarnam is developing a deeper theoretical framework to integrate class and caste analysis in India.

This theoretical endeavor addresses the historical divide and lack of unity between thinkers who privilege class (e.g., Marxists) and those who privilege caste (e.g., social theorists, activists), despite their shared concerns regarding backwardness, exploitation, and lack of dignity. The goal is to develop a composite way of thinking that fuses the economic, political, cultural, and natural dimensions of both class and caste, leading to a richer analysis of Indian capitalism and its social formation. This composite analytical approach is envisioned to have broader theoretical contributions, potentially informing similar integrations of axes like class and race or class and gender in American or European contexts.

both class and caste have economic uh dimensions both class and caste have political and cultural dimensions both class and caste have consequences around natural issues so how do we you know when we put these two together how do we get a richer analysis you know that is the project

this book is all about how to view inequality related issues in china and india through the lens of class and marxian understanding of class

it's the particular nature of capitalist crises that drive in equality regimes depending on the nature of the crisis uh a particular kind of inequality regime uh you know is unleashed

we adopt a a novel approach uh you know and this approach is uh you know broadly it can be called a socio-spatial dialectical approach where uh you know we take multiple social axes and we take spatial axes and then we see how they interact in producing economic or social outcomes

cities spaces are very gendered uh you know and and uh it actually has a significant impact on something as basic as you know labor force participation rates of women

if neighborhood city neighborhoods... if you have more mixed neighborhoods it has a very significant outcome which is there are better development outcomes in the for the people who live in these mixed neighborhoods

indian neighborhoods tend to be much more mixed and western city neighborhoods are much more segregated uh so but then you know over the last 30 years you know with with economic reforms the neoliberal economic reforms uh you know segregation processes are also deepering in indian cities

there's no unity you know there's a lack of trust between you know these two groups although they seem to be working on similar issues... they don't see eye to eye so this work you know trying to develop some kind of a you know a composite way of thinking about both class and cast together

how do we combine two axes right so that would be the theoretical contribution