.. is that they are a fairly small part of the total population and thus have a social call to show their relative wealth compared to the "poor people" and thus there is a lot of spending on flash things and a lot less savings.
(Note that this is an outside view so may be distorted, but based on talking with quite many people from India over the years)
and it exists in every middle class. A bit of that, even a lot of that shouldn't drive them over the edge. If it does they're not middle class. They're working poor. "Middle Class" means stability.
If a 12 month downturn permanently reduces your socioeconomic class then your position was so precarious that you were never really middle class.
The thing I understand of the Indian situation, that most of their middle class is what you call working poor. Basically they spend their money instead of saving.
Traditionally in most countries middle class is a has been the most resistant to all change and the one that saves most money and similar things to try to secure a stability in their position.
That does not seem to apply so much in India, where the "appearance of middle class" is the important part for many people.
and it exists in every middle class. A bit of that, even a lot of that shouldn't drive them over the edge. If it does they're not middle class. They're working poor. "Middle Class" means stability.
If a 12 month downturn permanently reduces your socioeconomic class then your position was so precarious that you were never really middle class.
That's stretching it... e.g. many small business owners could safely have been said to be middle class earlier, but if they lost their business they no longer are. This could even apply to some rich people... if you were owning hotels or other tourism related businesses before the pandemic, you could be broke now, to use an extreme example. If losing one pay check would cause a disaster, I agree with you - but a one year pandemic that have had extra impact on certain sectors of the economy goes way beyond
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The problem with the middle class in India.. (Score:3)
.. is that they are a fairly small part of the total population and thus have a social call to show their relative wealth compared to the "poor people" and thus there is a lot of spending on flash things and a lot less savings.
(Note that this is an outside view so may be distorted, but based on talking with quite many people from India over the years)
That's just Keeping Up With the Joneses (Score:2)
If a 12 month downturn permanently reduces your socioeconomic class then your position was so precarious that you were never really middle class.
Re: (Score:2)
The thing I understand of the Indian situation, that most of their middle class is what you call working poor. Basically they spend their money instead of saving.
Traditionally in most countries middle class is a has been the most resistant to all change and the one that saves most money and similar things to try to secure a stability in their position.
That does not seem to apply so much in India, where the "appearance of middle class" is the important part for many people.
Re: (Score:0)
and it exists in every middle class. A bit of that, even a lot of that shouldn't drive them over the edge. If it does they're not middle class. They're working poor. "Middle Class" means stability. If a 12 month downturn permanently reduces your socioeconomic class then your position was so precarious that you were never really middle class.
That's stretching it... e.g. many small business owners could safely have been said to be middle class earlier, but if they lost their business they no longer are. This could even apply to some rich people... if you were owning hotels or other tourism related businesses before the pandemic, you could be broke now, to use an extreme example. If losing one pay check would cause a disaster, I agree with you - but a one year pandemic that have had extra impact on certain sectors of the economy goes way beyond