Middle Class Moralities

Drawing on remarkably frank, in-depth interviews with 160 successful men in the United States and France, Michèle Lamont provides a rare and revealing collective portrait of the upper-middle class—the managers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and experts at the center of power in society. Her book is a subtle, textured description of how these men define the values and attitudes they consider essential in separating themselves—and their class—from everyone else. Money, Morals, and Manners is an ambitious and sophisticated attempt to illuminate the nature of social class in modern society. For all those who downplay the importance of unequal social groups, it will be a revelation. "A powerful, cogent study that will provide an elevated basis for debates in the sociology of culture for years to come."—David Gartman, American Journal of Sociology "A major accomplishment! Combining cultural analysis and comparative approach with a splendid literary style, this book significantly broadens the understanding of stratification and inequality. . . . This book will provoke debate, inspire research, and serve as a model for many years to come."—R. Granfield, Choice "This is an exceptionally fine piece of work, a splendid example of the sociologist's craft."—Lewis Coser, Boston College

New middle-classes present themselves as the epitome of modernity and progress. Both in their role as social models and culture-brokers, they seem to promote a heightened consciousness of cultural difference and nationalism. Middle-Class Moralities examines how the new middle classes of India create identities, practices and politics of the everyday in a dialogue that involves other social categories and an imaginary West. Drawing upon ethnographic and interview material, this book studies family relations, leisure, food, housing and religious practices of these emerging and enterprising social classes. Defining the middle classes is a political and embodied process that people negotiate by making instrumental use of (or domesticating) the idea of the West. A closer and analytical look at the consumption-driven, status-obsessed middle classes reveals their deeper struggles that seek to engage such cultural concepts as dharma, purity, and auspiciousness. The fieldwork for this study was conducted mainly in the city of Hyderabad among its upwardly mobile people who have identified themselves as Hindus. The Indian situation, argues the author, is comparable to that of the urban middle classes elsewhere, especially those of the traditionally hierarchical Asian societies. The dilemmas of these classes in a fast-globalizing India have seldom been given the detailed attention offered in these pages.

Introduction: Day Zero in Cape Town -- Christianity and the middle class in South Africa -- Middle-class morality and Christianity in South Africa -- Spiritual and class insecurity in South Africa -- Middle-class moral insecurity in South Africa -- Race, class, and habitus in South African churches -- Anomie and vocation in South African Christian ministry -- Musicking, unity, and sincerity in South African churches -- Conclusion: Covid-19 in Cape Town.

Respectable Citizens - Shady Practices seeks to explore a previously neglected aspect of crime in modern society - namely those crimes that are committed by otherwise 'respectable' citizens in the market arena. The book delves into the 'grey zone' where illegal, unfair, unethical and 'shady' practices coalesce: from the retailers who see themselves as victims of customers who take unfair and often illegal advantage of generous offers, to the consumers sold 'useless' insurance and financial packages and 'defrauded' by 'small print' clauses.The authors outline the contours of the contemporary moral economy, driven and shaped by technological innovation as much as new economic policies, and ask, is a 'predatory society' emerging from the central sphere of consumption?

This book examines experiences and implications of 'against-the-grain' school choices, where white middle class families choose ordinary and 'low performing' secondary schools for their children. It offers a unique view of identity formation, taking in matters like family history, locality and whiteness.

As a collective effort, this volume locates the formation of the middle classes at the core of the histories of Latin America in the last two centuries. Featuring scholars from different places across the Americas, it is an interdisciplinary contribution to the world histories of the middle classes, histories of Latin America, and intersectional studies. It also engages a larger audience about the importance of the middle classes to understand modernity, democracy, neoliberalism, and decoloniality. By including research produced from a variety of Latin American, North American, and other audiences, the volume incorporates trends in social history, cultural studies and discursive theory. It situates analytical categories of race and gender at the core of class formation. This volume seeks to initiate a critical and global conversation concerning the ways in which the analysis of the middle classes provides crucial re-readings of how Latin America, as a region, has historically been understood.

This book is an extensive and thorough exploration of the ways in which the middle class in India select their spouse. Using the prism of matchmaking, this book critically unpacks the concept of the 'modern' and traces the importance of moralities and values in the making of middle class identities, by bringing to the fore intersections and dynamics of caste, class, gender, and neoliberalism. The author discusses a range of issues: romantic relationships among youth, use of online technology and of professional services like matrimonial agencies and detective agencies, encounters of love and heartbreak, impact of experiences of pain and humiliation on spouse-selection, and the involvement of family in matchmaking. Based on this comprehensive account, she elucidates how the categories of 'love' and 'arranged' marriages fall short of explaining, in its entirety and essence, the contemporary process of spouse-selection in urban India. Though the ethnographic research has been conducted in India, this book is of relevance to social scientists studying matchmaking practices, youth cultures, modernity and the middle class in other societies, particularly in parts of Asia. While being based on thorough scholarship, the book is written in accessible language to appeal to a larger audience.