Examine the role of 'Middle class' in contemporary world.

(o) TK Oomen remarks that Middle class is the harbinger of new times and new modern values. (o) Ramachandra Guha positively posits that Middle class is enterprising and achievement oriented. (o) Amartya Sen comments that middle class can fight for the rights through new means and strengthens civil society.

But the role of middle class has been critically analysed also - (o) BB Misra argues that rise in middle class was due to British colonialism & hence retains its class character of domination. (o) Consumption for middle class is not only an act of economic rationality but a source of identity. (o) Pavan Varma argues that this self obsessed class does not care about socio-economic conditions of other people. (o) Rajani Kothari terms this as 'Amnesia to Poverty'. (o) Dipankar Gupta calls this 'Westoxicated Elite' Indian Middle Class whose modernity is not real.