Rise of the Plebeians?The Changing Face of Indian Legislative Assemblies.

Christophe JAFFRELOT, Sanjay KUMAR.

This book traces the changing social profile of the elected representatives of Indian states and, in turn, points to an uneven democratisation of the regional political class. In view of the crucial role that caste plays in state politics in India, the book examines how India’s caste-based social diversity gets translated into politics by tracking the individual trajectory of 16 states since the 1950s to the present times. It focuses on one dominant parameter — the caste background of the elected representatives in state legislatures, i.e., Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), even as it factors other instrumental indicators such as their occupation, gender, age, and education.

One of the first comprehensive studies of the sociological patterns of Indian political personnel at the state level, the work will be of interest to scholars of political science, modern political history, sociology, South Asian studies as well as the general reader.