India's Middle Class

This book examines the complexities of lifestyles of the upwardly mobile middle classes in India in the context of economic liberalisation in the new millennium by analysing new social formations and aspirations modes of consumption and ways of being in contemporary urban India. Rich in ethnographic material the work is based on empirical case-studies research material and illustrations. Offering a model of how urban cosmopolitan India might be studied and understood in a transnational and transcultural context the book takes the reader through three panoramic landscapes: new âworld-classâ real estate advertising a unique religious leisure site â the Akshardham Cultural Complex and the world of themed weddings and beauty/wellness all responses to Indiaâs new middle classesâ tryst with cosmopolitanism. The work will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers in sociology South Asian studies media studies anthropology and urban studies as also those interested in religion performance and rituals diaspora globalisation and transnational migration. . Language: English