Voters, Activists, and Politicians: Forms of Middle Class Political Participation in India

Abstract

The literature on political participation expects the middle class in the global south to be less engaged in electoral politics. As reflected by the surge of global mass protests in recent years, the middle class is known to exert its citizenship through activism in civil society. This article challenges this dominant perspective by exploring the variation in forms of middle class political participation – voting, activism in civil society, and mobilization in electoral politics. Based on qualitative fieldwork in India spanning almost eight years, I argue that the nature of middle class political engagement is mediated by two factors – one, the perceived electoral potential of the middle class, and two, its preexisting networks within the state. If the political establishment identifies the middle class as electorally significant, it is likely to engage with it through existing institutional channels, as voters. Electoral alienation of the middle class can generate two outcomes. Sections of the middle class that have informal networks within the higher reaches of the state are most likely to engage in activism in the civil society almost exclusively. In contrast, middle class groups that lack networks within the state in addition to being perceived as electorally insignificant seek to become part of the formal state through mobilization in electoral politics.