Parry response to Dialectical Anthropology forum on Classes of Labour

The paragraphs that follow respond to some of the criticisms and comments that the contributors to this forum have made on my book. Many of these revolve around the central issue of social class and around my analysis of the manual blue-collar workforce of the central Indian steel town of Bhilai as sharply divided between two ‘classes of labour’ with separate and sometimes antagonistic interests. Some earlier commentaries on this argument had been sceptical, and many of the observations made here invoke much the same issues. In the first part of this response, I attempt to summarize my central argument about the class structure, the main criticisms of it, and my earlier attempts to answer these. The second part responds directly to the observations and comments made by those who have so generously participated in the present discussion.