Industry and Inequality: The Social Anthropology of Indian Labour

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This study focuses on the uneasy relationship between permanent 'organised sector' and temporary 'unorganised sector' workers in India. Does India indeed have a dual economy and society in which these two groups of workers, only one side enjoying the protection of the Factory Acts and Trades Unions, regard themselves and act as distinct classes with opposed interests? Drawing upon his own extensive fieldwork amongst Indian workers, employers and unionists, and on his familiarity with the anthropological and sociological literature, Dr Holmström strives to come to a better understanding of the thoughts and actions of the workers and the wider economic and political aspects of their situation. He uses a wide range of material, from the opinions and life stories of workers to accounts of recent union movements in the 'unorganized sector', and contributes critically to the- debate on 'dualism' and its underlying assumptions.