"From Factor Producerist to Civic Consumerist: Contemporary trends in Indian politics and society" a talk by Prof. Dipankar Gupta at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 15th January 2014

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info :  Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'

Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture (in the ‘India in Transition’ series) on ‘From Factor Producerist to Civic Consumerist: Contemporary trends in Indian politics and society’ by Prof. Dipankar Gupta, Shiv Nadar University, Noida.

Abstract : Movements and political parties have always depended on social cleavages which were producer linked. In a majority of such cases, the differentiating features were the economic location of these classes and or their prestige quotient. As these two aspects are closely related, the categories and that emerged were “producerist” in character. Even when status considerations, such as castes, were the more obvious reasons for mobilization, the economic element was not far behind; either as a cause or as a cohort.  “Producerism” was geared for the benefit of producers; their interests counted the most and other factors had to be subservient to them. This was the high age of not just trade union protests but also of fiery demonstrations among other producers, like peasants and farmers. In this atmosphere, sociological categories that were in concordance with this temper gained ascendance and did a marvelous job. Consequently, the “producerist” logic ruled our minds.  A new development has taken place in recent years, though it is still not fully formed. In this phase it is not so much class against class, or caste against caste. Though these tensions are still there, but the social and political consciousness that is developing alongside is rapidly clouding the older distinctions. Oppositions and distances, that were so typical of “producerist” categories, are now being supplemented by ties that unite people as citizens. In this emerging scenario it is not producer versus producer, but citizens against government demanding the civic rights they are entitled to. We might, therefore, say that there has been a shift from factor producerism to civic consumerism in contemporary political mobilizations.

Speaker : Prof. Dipankar Gupta was Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, 1993-95, and from 1980-2009 at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi from where he took voluntary retirement. He is currently Distinguished Professor, Shiv Nadar University and Director, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory, Shiv Nadar University (from December 2012). Some of his recent publications include: Revolution from Above: India’s Future and the Citizen Elite, 2013, New Delhi, Justice before Reconciliation: Towards a New Normal in Post-Riot Mumbai and Ahmedabad, 2011, New Delhi and The Caged Phoenix: Can India Fly?, 2010, Stanford. In 2010, he was awarded Chevalier De L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Artes and Letters) by the French Government.

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