Translating a Category
David Lelyveld
ASHRAF INTO MIDDLE CLASSES: MUSLIMS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY DELHI by Margrit Pernau Oxford University Press, 2013, 504 pp., 995
October 2013, volume 37, No 10

Middle class, middle classes, bourgeoisie—these terms entered English and other European languages in a range of meanings and connotations with the rise of industrial capitalism in the late 18th century. The sociological traditions of Marx and, later, Weber, attempted both to generalize and to lend some precision to the concept of class by relating it specifically to the ways people are sorted out in terms of economic relations and social control. But the concept of class also carries a good deal of cultural baggage as the basis of social solidarity and conflict, manifested in such matters as taste, manners, language, friendship, love and other forms of association. While conceding the relevance of economic relations, Margrit Pernau is more interested in the cultural and ideological dimensions of group formation. Her project attempts to identify ‘the Muslim middle class’ in nineteenth century Delhi, which means that she wants to ‘translate’ this category, middle class, from its European application to one that would be useful in the study of Indian history.

Continue reading this review