Notes: Working Class Structure, Growth, Class Mobilization | Sociology Mains Optional for UPSC 2024 PDF Download

 Page 1


C-3 
 
Industrialization and Urbanisation in India: 
• Evolution of modern industry in India. 
• Growth of urban settlements in India. 
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization. 
• Informal sector, child labour. 
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas. 
 
 
Working Class :  
 
Marxian terminology : " those who sell their labour " in class based societies - - proletariat 
 
WC is a complex , contradictory and constantly changing entity . i.e. the composition , the size , 
and the character of a WC changes over a period of time. 
 
TWO counter views : 
 
- WC is expanding as students, teachers , blue collar , white collar , salaried all 
comprise WC 
- WC is disappearing with the automation of industry and apparent displacement of 
blue collar jobs. 
 
Holmstorm:  
'people commonly refer to industrial workers and sometimes other kind of wage earners and 
self employed workers as WC'. 
 
 
Growth:  
• Worker's phase ( 1850 - 1880) : modern industry got established  
• Philanthropic phase (1890s - 1915s ) : heavy industries , expansion of WC , deterioration 
of agri , Shashipada Banerjee in Bengal started welfare activities in 1870s , a monthly 
magzine 'Bharat Shramjivi' started in 1874. L.M.Lokhande was active in Bombay and 
published 'Deenbandhu' 
• Trade union phase ( 1915s - 1947 ): formation of ILU in 1919 , AITUC in 1920..later at the 
time of independence 4 main trade unions : AITUC , INTUC , HMS , UTUC. 
Page 2


C-3 
 
Industrialization and Urbanisation in India: 
• Evolution of modern industry in India. 
• Growth of urban settlements in India. 
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization. 
• Informal sector, child labour. 
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas. 
 
 
Working Class :  
 
Marxian terminology : " those who sell their labour " in class based societies - - proletariat 
 
WC is a complex , contradictory and constantly changing entity . i.e. the composition , the size , 
and the character of a WC changes over a period of time. 
 
TWO counter views : 
 
- WC is expanding as students, teachers , blue collar , white collar , salaried all 
comprise WC 
- WC is disappearing with the automation of industry and apparent displacement of 
blue collar jobs. 
 
Holmstorm:  
'people commonly refer to industrial workers and sometimes other kind of wage earners and 
self employed workers as WC'. 
 
 
Growth:  
• Worker's phase ( 1850 - 1880) : modern industry got established  
• Philanthropic phase (1890s - 1915s ) : heavy industries , expansion of WC , deterioration 
of agri , Shashipada Banerjee in Bengal started welfare activities in 1870s , a monthly 
magzine 'Bharat Shramjivi' started in 1874. L.M.Lokhande was active in Bombay and 
published 'Deenbandhu' 
• Trade union phase ( 1915s - 1947 ): formation of ILU in 1919 , AITUC in 1920..later at the 
time of independence 4 main trade unions : AITUC , INTUC , HMS , UTUC. 
 
WC during pre independence time : 
• Geographically localised 
• highly exploited 
• mostly unskilled without any formal edu 
• at bottom of the pyramid 
 
 
Mobilization: 
 
In pre LPG era : 
• Role of welfare state 
• Trade unions 
• NGO 
 
In post LPG era: 
• Recognition of problems in unorganised sector 
• Social security measures 
• Microfinance initiatives 
• Right to education 
 
 
Nature and Structure of WC today : 
 
On the basis of wage, there are four types of workers: 
 
• First, those workers who are permanent employees of the large factory sector and 
get family wage. (By ‘family wage’ it is meant that the wage of the worker should 
be sufficient to maintain not only the individual but also the worker’s family .They are 
mostly employed in the public sector enterprises and modern sectors of 
petrochemicals,pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering.  
 
• Second, there is a large and preponderant section of the working class that does not 
get a family wage. This includes workers in the older industries like cotton and jute 
textiles, sugar and paper. Even the permanent workers in the tea plantation come 
in the same category because the owners refuse to accept the norm of family wage 
for an individual worker.  
Page 3


C-3 
 
Industrialization and Urbanisation in India: 
• Evolution of modern industry in India. 
• Growth of urban settlements in India. 
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization. 
• Informal sector, child labour. 
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas. 
 
 
Working Class :  
 
Marxian terminology : " those who sell their labour " in class based societies - - proletariat 
 
WC is a complex , contradictory and constantly changing entity . i.e. the composition , the size , 
and the character of a WC changes over a period of time. 
 
TWO counter views : 
 
- WC is expanding as students, teachers , blue collar , white collar , salaried all 
comprise WC 
- WC is disappearing with the automation of industry and apparent displacement of 
blue collar jobs. 
 
Holmstorm:  
'people commonly refer to industrial workers and sometimes other kind of wage earners and 
self employed workers as WC'. 
 
 
Growth:  
• Worker's phase ( 1850 - 1880) : modern industry got established  
• Philanthropic phase (1890s - 1915s ) : heavy industries , expansion of WC , deterioration 
of agri , Shashipada Banerjee in Bengal started welfare activities in 1870s , a monthly 
magzine 'Bharat Shramjivi' started in 1874. L.M.Lokhande was active in Bombay and 
published 'Deenbandhu' 
• Trade union phase ( 1915s - 1947 ): formation of ILU in 1919 , AITUC in 1920..later at the 
time of independence 4 main trade unions : AITUC , INTUC , HMS , UTUC. 
 
WC during pre independence time : 
• Geographically localised 
• highly exploited 
• mostly unskilled without any formal edu 
• at bottom of the pyramid 
 
 
Mobilization: 
 
In pre LPG era : 
• Role of welfare state 
• Trade unions 
• NGO 
 
In post LPG era: 
• Recognition of problems in unorganised sector 
• Social security measures 
• Microfinance initiatives 
• Right to education 
 
 
Nature and Structure of WC today : 
 
On the basis of wage, there are four types of workers: 
 
• First, those workers who are permanent employees of the large factory sector and 
get family wage. (By ‘family wage’ it is meant that the wage of the worker should 
be sufficient to maintain not only the individual but also the worker’s family .They are 
mostly employed in the public sector enterprises and modern sectors of 
petrochemicals,pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering.  
 
• Second, there is a large and preponderant section of the working class that does not 
get a family wage. This includes workers in the older industries like cotton and jute 
textiles, sugar and paper. Even the permanent workers in the tea plantation come 
in the same category because the owners refuse to accept the norm of family wage 
for an individual worker.  
• Third, there is a section of the working class at the bottom of the wage scale — the 
mass of contract and sometimes casual labourers in industry, including construction, 
brick making and other casual workers. 
 
• Fourth, below all these lie a reserve army of labour, who work in petty commodities 
production in petty trading, ranging from hawking to rag-picking. They are generally 
engaged in the informal sector and carry on for the want of sufficient survival wage. 
 
Not only is there wage differential among the working class, there is also variation in the 
terms of working conditions. 
Better paid labour has also much greater job security. However the workers on the lower 
end of the wage scale have not only job security but also considerable extra-
economic coercion and personal bondage which leads to lack of civil rights.  
 
Similarly, working conditions for the low paid workers are uniformly worse than for high 
paid workers. So, in the same plant or site there is a clear difference in the safety measures 
for the two groups of workers. The situation worsens further with regard to women 
workers. For example, women are not allowed to work in the steel plants for safety reasons, 
but are not prohibited to be employed on the same site as contract labour. 
 
  
Page 4


C-3 
 
Industrialization and Urbanisation in India: 
• Evolution of modern industry in India. 
• Growth of urban settlements in India. 
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization. 
• Informal sector, child labour. 
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas. 
 
 
Working Class :  
 
Marxian terminology : " those who sell their labour " in class based societies - - proletariat 
 
WC is a complex , contradictory and constantly changing entity . i.e. the composition , the size , 
and the character of a WC changes over a period of time. 
 
TWO counter views : 
 
- WC is expanding as students, teachers , blue collar , white collar , salaried all 
comprise WC 
- WC is disappearing with the automation of industry and apparent displacement of 
blue collar jobs. 
 
Holmstorm:  
'people commonly refer to industrial workers and sometimes other kind of wage earners and 
self employed workers as WC'. 
 
 
Growth:  
• Worker's phase ( 1850 - 1880) : modern industry got established  
• Philanthropic phase (1890s - 1915s ) : heavy industries , expansion of WC , deterioration 
of agri , Shashipada Banerjee in Bengal started welfare activities in 1870s , a monthly 
magzine 'Bharat Shramjivi' started in 1874. L.M.Lokhande was active in Bombay and 
published 'Deenbandhu' 
• Trade union phase ( 1915s - 1947 ): formation of ILU in 1919 , AITUC in 1920..later at the 
time of independence 4 main trade unions : AITUC , INTUC , HMS , UTUC. 
 
WC during pre independence time : 
• Geographically localised 
• highly exploited 
• mostly unskilled without any formal edu 
• at bottom of the pyramid 
 
 
Mobilization: 
 
In pre LPG era : 
• Role of welfare state 
• Trade unions 
• NGO 
 
In post LPG era: 
• Recognition of problems in unorganised sector 
• Social security measures 
• Microfinance initiatives 
• Right to education 
 
 
Nature and Structure of WC today : 
 
On the basis of wage, there are four types of workers: 
 
• First, those workers who are permanent employees of the large factory sector and 
get family wage. (By ‘family wage’ it is meant that the wage of the worker should 
be sufficient to maintain not only the individual but also the worker’s family .They are 
mostly employed in the public sector enterprises and modern sectors of 
petrochemicals,pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering.  
 
• Second, there is a large and preponderant section of the working class that does not 
get a family wage. This includes workers in the older industries like cotton and jute 
textiles, sugar and paper. Even the permanent workers in the tea plantation come 
in the same category because the owners refuse to accept the norm of family wage 
for an individual worker.  
• Third, there is a section of the working class at the bottom of the wage scale — the 
mass of contract and sometimes casual labourers in industry, including construction, 
brick making and other casual workers. 
 
• Fourth, below all these lie a reserve army of labour, who work in petty commodities 
production in petty trading, ranging from hawking to rag-picking. They are generally 
engaged in the informal sector and carry on for the want of sufficient survival wage. 
 
Not only is there wage differential among the working class, there is also variation in the 
terms of working conditions. 
Better paid labour has also much greater job security. However the workers on the lower 
end of the wage scale have not only job security but also considerable extra-
economic coercion and personal bondage which leads to lack of civil rights.  
 
Similarly, working conditions for the low paid workers are uniformly worse than for high 
paid workers. So, in the same plant or site there is a clear difference in the safety measures 
for the two groups of workers. The situation worsens further with regard to women 
workers. For example, women are not allowed to work in the steel plants for safety reasons, 
but are not prohibited to be employed on the same site as contract labour. 
 
  
Social Background of Indian Working Class 
 
Indian working class came from diverse social backgrounds in which primordial identities 
such as caste, ethnicity, religion and language played very important roles. In recent years, 
the significance of these elements has been reduced but they do persist nonetheless.  
 
In this regard, the Ahmedabad study (1973), points out that where jobs are secured through 
introduction by other workers, the latter was a blood relation in 35 per cent of the cases, 
belonged to the same caste in another 44 percent and belonged to the same native place in 
another 12 per cent.  
 
Friends helped in 7 per cent of the cases. Several other studies have pointed out the role of 
kinship ties in getting employment (Gore 1970). Kinship ties not only play a significant role 
in securing employment, but also in the placement in the wage scale.  
 
Five studies of Pune, Kota, Bombay, Ahmedabad and Bangalore covering large number of 
industries found that 61 per cent of workers were upper caste Hindus (Sharma 1970). The 
dominant position of the workers from upper caste was also brought out in a study of 
Kerala. This study points out that in higher income jobs upper castes dominate whereas 
Dalits/adivasis have preponderance in low wage jobs.  
 
The middle castes are concentrated in middle to bottom ranges. Even in public sector, the 
representation of backward castes, schedule castes and tribes is not up to their proportion 
in the population. Moreover, it seems that caste based division of labour is followed in the 
class III and IV jobs in government and public sector enterprises. So the jobs of sweepers are 
reserved for dalits and adivasis.  
 
In coal mines, hard physical labour of loading and pushing the coaltubs is done by dalits and 
advasis. In steel plants the production work in the intense heat of coke oven and blast 
furnace is mainly done by advasis and dalits. This is because, as Deshpande (1979) points 
out, of ‘pre labour market characteristic’ such as education and land holding. So those who 
possessed more land and education ended up in a higher wage sector. 
 
Caste serves the function of ensuring the supply of cheap labour for different jobs with the 
fact of not paying more than what is necessary. In other words, the depressed conditions of 
adivasis and dalits helps in ensuring a supply of labour, who can be made to work at the 
mere subsistence level (Nathan 1987). Hence, caste on one hand plays a role in keeping the 
Page 5


C-3 
 
Industrialization and Urbanisation in India: 
• Evolution of modern industry in India. 
• Growth of urban settlements in India. 
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization. 
• Informal sector, child labour. 
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas. 
 
 
Working Class :  
 
Marxian terminology : " those who sell their labour " in class based societies - - proletariat 
 
WC is a complex , contradictory and constantly changing entity . i.e. the composition , the size , 
and the character of a WC changes over a period of time. 
 
TWO counter views : 
 
- WC is expanding as students, teachers , blue collar , white collar , salaried all 
comprise WC 
- WC is disappearing with the automation of industry and apparent displacement of 
blue collar jobs. 
 
Holmstorm:  
'people commonly refer to industrial workers and sometimes other kind of wage earners and 
self employed workers as WC'. 
 
 
Growth:  
• Worker's phase ( 1850 - 1880) : modern industry got established  
• Philanthropic phase (1890s - 1915s ) : heavy industries , expansion of WC , deterioration 
of agri , Shashipada Banerjee in Bengal started welfare activities in 1870s , a monthly 
magzine 'Bharat Shramjivi' started in 1874. L.M.Lokhande was active in Bombay and 
published 'Deenbandhu' 
• Trade union phase ( 1915s - 1947 ): formation of ILU in 1919 , AITUC in 1920..later at the 
time of independence 4 main trade unions : AITUC , INTUC , HMS , UTUC. 
 
WC during pre independence time : 
• Geographically localised 
• highly exploited 
• mostly unskilled without any formal edu 
• at bottom of the pyramid 
 
 
Mobilization: 
 
In pre LPG era : 
• Role of welfare state 
• Trade unions 
• NGO 
 
In post LPG era: 
• Recognition of problems in unorganised sector 
• Social security measures 
• Microfinance initiatives 
• Right to education 
 
 
Nature and Structure of WC today : 
 
On the basis of wage, there are four types of workers: 
 
• First, those workers who are permanent employees of the large factory sector and 
get family wage. (By ‘family wage’ it is meant that the wage of the worker should 
be sufficient to maintain not only the individual but also the worker’s family .They are 
mostly employed in the public sector enterprises and modern sectors of 
petrochemicals,pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering.  
 
• Second, there is a large and preponderant section of the working class that does not 
get a family wage. This includes workers in the older industries like cotton and jute 
textiles, sugar and paper. Even the permanent workers in the tea plantation come 
in the same category because the owners refuse to accept the norm of family wage 
for an individual worker.  
• Third, there is a section of the working class at the bottom of the wage scale — the 
mass of contract and sometimes casual labourers in industry, including construction, 
brick making and other casual workers. 
 
• Fourth, below all these lie a reserve army of labour, who work in petty commodities 
production in petty trading, ranging from hawking to rag-picking. They are generally 
engaged in the informal sector and carry on for the want of sufficient survival wage. 
 
Not only is there wage differential among the working class, there is also variation in the 
terms of working conditions. 
Better paid labour has also much greater job security. However the workers on the lower 
end of the wage scale have not only job security but also considerable extra-
economic coercion and personal bondage which leads to lack of civil rights.  
 
Similarly, working conditions for the low paid workers are uniformly worse than for high 
paid workers. So, in the same plant or site there is a clear difference in the safety measures 
for the two groups of workers. The situation worsens further with regard to women 
workers. For example, women are not allowed to work in the steel plants for safety reasons, 
but are not prohibited to be employed on the same site as contract labour. 
 
  
Social Background of Indian Working Class 
 
Indian working class came from diverse social backgrounds in which primordial identities 
such as caste, ethnicity, religion and language played very important roles. In recent years, 
the significance of these elements has been reduced but they do persist nonetheless.  
 
In this regard, the Ahmedabad study (1973), points out that where jobs are secured through 
introduction by other workers, the latter was a blood relation in 35 per cent of the cases, 
belonged to the same caste in another 44 percent and belonged to the same native place in 
another 12 per cent.  
 
Friends helped in 7 per cent of the cases. Several other studies have pointed out the role of 
kinship ties in getting employment (Gore 1970). Kinship ties not only play a significant role 
in securing employment, but also in the placement in the wage scale.  
 
Five studies of Pune, Kota, Bombay, Ahmedabad and Bangalore covering large number of 
industries found that 61 per cent of workers were upper caste Hindus (Sharma 1970). The 
dominant position of the workers from upper caste was also brought out in a study of 
Kerala. This study points out that in higher income jobs upper castes dominate whereas 
Dalits/adivasis have preponderance in low wage jobs.  
 
The middle castes are concentrated in middle to bottom ranges. Even in public sector, the 
representation of backward castes, schedule castes and tribes is not up to their proportion 
in the population. Moreover, it seems that caste based division of labour is followed in the 
class III and IV jobs in government and public sector enterprises. So the jobs of sweepers are 
reserved for dalits and adivasis.  
 
In coal mines, hard physical labour of loading and pushing the coaltubs is done by dalits and 
advasis. In steel plants the production work in the intense heat of coke oven and blast 
furnace is mainly done by advasis and dalits. This is because, as Deshpande (1979) points 
out, of ‘pre labour market characteristic’ such as education and land holding. So those who 
possessed more land and education ended up in a higher wage sector. 
 
Caste serves the function of ensuring the supply of cheap labour for different jobs with the 
fact of not paying more than what is necessary. In other words, the depressed conditions of 
adivasis and dalits helps in ensuring a supply of labour, who can be made to work at the 
mere subsistence level (Nathan 1987). Hence, caste on one hand plays a role in keeping the 
lower sections of the society in the lower strata of the working class, on the other hand, the 
upper caste get a privilege in the labour market. Further, caste is not only a matter of 
marriage and to an extent residence, but more so a continuing pool of social relation for the 
supply of various kinds of labour for the capitalist mode of production.