Social Movements against Corruption and Sexual Violence in India

Abstract

This paper investigates the highly mediatised mobilisation of the urban middle class in Delhi, India, against two social events, the anti-corruption movement in 2011 and the movement against sexual violence in 2013. It uses the perspective of resource mobilisation theory and, more specifically, the resource typology for social movements for a systematic and comparative analysis of middle-class mobilisation. The inclusion of a category of institutional resources is proposed, because of the important role played by judicial institutions to frame demands for change in both instances. Findings from this investigation reveal that the urban middle class in Delhi has approached these two movements using similar cultural, human and institutional resources, but it has significantly diverged in its usage of social-organisational resources. This study contributes to the ongoing discussions about the potential new role of the diverse urban middle class in Indian politics beyond electoral processes.