ABSTRACT
In this chapter, and the next, we turn to the socio-cultural impacts of globalisation on the lives of the middle classes. This chapter explores the impact of English in a globalising India, and we examine closely the role of English language proficiency in defining and shaping middleclass culture and the opportunities that may arise. It is without doubt that, since the days of British colonial rule, English has been the language of domination, status and privilege in India. The hegemonic colonial project in India was to create and maintain a class of administrative officers, clerks and compliant civil servants to carry out the task of ruling the vast and expansive sub-continent. Essential to the creation of this ‘colonised subjectivity’ (Viswanathan, 1989) was the development and acquisition of a British-style education, conducted principally in English, and which allowed for an emerging middle class to form, develop and then socially advance. English thus became the language of the educated middle classes in India. It served to maintain an externally imposed hegemony while facilitating the perpetuation of a caste and class-based domination by the indigenous elite.
