Ground Down by Growth

Book excerpt: Why has India's astonishing economic growth not reached the people at the bottom of its social and economic hierarchy? Traveling the length and breadth of the subcontinent, this book shows how India's "untouchables" and "tribals" fit into the global economy. India's Dalit and Adivasi communities make up a staggering one in twenty-five people across the globe and yet they remain among the most oppressed. Conceived in dialogue with economists, Ground Down by Growth reveals the lived impact of global capitalism on the people of these communities. Through anthropological studies of how the oppressions of caste, tribe, region, and gender impact the working poor and migrant labor in India, this startling new anthology illuminates the relationship between global capital and social inequality in the Indian context. Collectively, the chapters of this volume expose how capitalism entrenches social difference, transforming traditional forms of identity-based discrimination into new mechanisms of exploitation and oppression.