Narrow Fairways
Getting By & Falling Behind in the New India
Patrick Inglis
Reviews and Awards
"Inglis's book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the emergent Indian middle class. With great sensitivity, Inglis shows both how economic liberalization in recent decades has created aspirations of upward mobility, and how the actual spaces for that mobility are closely guarded by the Indian elites. The book demonstrates the possibility of combining analytical acuity with deep compassion. It is a significant achievement." -Vivek Chibber, New York University
"In this careful and heartfelt account of golf caddies and club members in India's Silicon Valley, Patrick Inglis gives us a rare inside look at the intimate politics of social mobility and class reproduction in millennial India. Inglis reminds us, with fresh insight, that aspiration and mobility are a matter of life and death. Among the rich and the poor, we see how neoliberal logics have eroded away basic human empathy in favor of a status quo that rewards the wealthy indiscriminately. A compelling, page-turning, important book." -Smitha Radhakrishnan, Associate Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College
"A beautifully written glimpse into the intimate and brutal practices of social inequality reproduction, played out inside-and in the back alleys of-India's most elite golf clubs." -Michael Goldman, University of Minnesota, and author of Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization