How does class work in Asian cultures like India, China, Japan, Korea, etc.?
Technological growth and automation seems to have played (and is increasingly so?) a much larger factor than anything else in the past century. I assume I'm probably biased here though.
Those are all wildly different cultures. India is very hierarchical and has a caste system with considerable overlap to social classes. In Japan, something like 80% of the country consider themselves to be middle class, but there's an increasing divide between full-time salarymen (genuinely middle class) and contract workers (unstable at best, frequent outright poor).
The class system in India is presently under historic overhaul, but here is how it has been for the last 50 years or so.
Class is geographically concentrated and inherited. It isn't as simple as caste. This is primarily because the top class of India is not very Hindu. Inherited classmen are descendents of local kings, cultural empire builders (kapoor family), descendents of top civil servants in the British Empire and descendents of oxford-cambridge educated freedom fighters. Children of industrialists are let in, but it might take a generation or two. These communities are concentrated in the Mumbai and Delhi region. Ties to the Gandhi-Nehru family also helps.
As a normie, there are only a few ways to enter this class. Early schooling at international schools(Ambani), residential schools (Doon) and select Army schools is the easiest way. If you grow up in the right neighborhood in Mumbai or Delhi, you will find yourself sharing space with them. Eventually you'll make friends and be let in. Select professions such Western Liberal Arts academia, Economics, Architecture or Journalism/think-thanks are ways to get some access. But, it is important that the accolades be from western institutes. Sometimes, running an NGO with the right aesthetic gets you there.
The historic overhaul is happening because of 3 reasons. First, the elite have lost political power and their free patronage. Unlike the US, where until recently, the upper class pretty evenly split between 2 political parties. In India, the upper class exclusively operated under the blessings of the Congress party. The rise of the BJP has been disastrous for them, especially journalists and political insiders. Second, as the country sheds its socialist skin, credentials in the armed forces and civil service simply do not matter as much. The introduction of hard examinations to enter any of these institutions blocks off the lazy elites, which in-turn makes the institutions lose some of their 'elite' status. (this is why Harvard still keeps legacy admissions. The bar HAS TO BE low for the real elites to maintain eliteness of your institution) Lastly, new money is snatching away cultural power. STEM grads are taking over Netflix & Youtube. The new Billionaires are all Tech folks. There even have a new mecca in Bangalore.
However, the upper class still influences the messaging in elite American outlets, admission procedures at Ivies, western think tanks and Bollywood. The smart ones have been front of line to welcome the likes of Netflix or have used their massive wealth to buy into the tech revolution by turning into investors instead. Those who have stuck to old ways are dying a slow death.
IMO, India's next upper class is going to be incredibly technocratic. Top IITs (Engg.), AIIMS (Med.), IIMs (B.schools) are treated with a never seen before level of reverence. But this is my personal conjecture. We will see if it works out.
> IMO, India's next upper class is going to be incredibly technocratic.
It's interesting you say that. I think for the most part, this is actually a global phenomenon.
What are your thoughts on the extant caste system? How similar is it to the racial legacy that America deals with?
I'm surprised you found the post, but I'm glad you did. It took a bit of effort to get the whole thing down in 1 page.
For context, I admittedly come across as jaded towards some sub-sections of american liberal folk in that comment. That part takes away from what I consider an otherwise neutral comment. It's just that the combination of "genuine worry + half knowledge + talking down to you" reminds me of school hall monitors, which triggers my defensiveness.
One of my favorite comments about India is : "The only thing every Indian can agree on is that no one fully understands India.". So, I'll add that caveat as an Indian myself.
Technological growth and automation seems to have played (and is increasingly so?) a much larger factor than anything else in the past century. I assume I'm probably biased here though.