The Demographic Basis of the ‘Middle Class’ in Maharashtra, 1900-1950

The middle class is often seen as the backbone of the market economy as well as democracy. However, the concrete processes through which the middle class takes on shape are still rather ambiguous. This paper argues that a key to the emergence of the middle class lies in the historical process by which some groups underwent a demographic transformation: delayed age at marriage, lower fertility and higher degrees of human capital formation as compared to other social groups. This paper examines in particular how a quintessential middle class community, the chitpavan Brahmins of Maharashtra, underwent a transformation in the age at marriage for women, between 1900 and 1950 in Maharashtra, and links it to larger ideological concerns over and above the usual material forces that shape demographic behaviour. The paper points to the importance of ideology and culture in understanding long term processes of demographic change that are often neglected by formal and a historical accounts in neoclassical models of demographic behaviour.