Book review: Narayana Sukumar and Paul D’Souza (eds.), The Journey of Caste in India: Voices from Margins

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Narayana Sukumar and Paul D’Souza (eds.), The Journey of Caste in India: Voices from Margins. New York and London: Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2023, 222 pp., ₹11439 (Hardcover). ISBN: 978-1-032-31977-3, ISBN: 978-1-003-31717-3.

The Chinese Educational Idioms That the Chinese Shall Live By

China Report, Ahead of Print.
With the conviction that formulaic expressions in a language are carriers of stable thought patterns of its culture, the paper conducts a thematic analysis of Chinese educational idioms with the goal of exploring the traditional Chinese educational values reflected in the Chinese language use. Altogether, about 100 Chinese idioms that pertain to teaching, learning and parenting are identified from a Chinese Chengyu (idioms) dictionary. Findings of this study challenge the common practice of borrowing Western pedagogical discourses to justify curriculum change initiatives in China, arguing that the traditional Chinese educational discourses should be retained in order to secure a strong cultural identity for young generations.
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Book review: Bhangya Bhulya, Subjugated Nomads: The Lambadas Under the Rule of the Nizams

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Bhangya Bhulya, Subjugated Nomads: The Lambadas Under the Rule of the Nizams. Orient BlackSwan, First Paperback Edition 2022, xxiii + 296 pp., ₹695. ISBN: 9789354420726.

Class differences in precarity and welfare priorities within Europe’s center-left coalitions

Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
Mainstream European left-wing parties have seen their traditional class base evolve in postindustrial economies. In response, these parties have adjusted their platforms to adopt policies that aim to secure positions for workers in a more volatile labor market through education and training. But how does the electoral appeal of this “social investment” paradigm compare to that of the older welfare paradigm that passively distributes benefits to the poor and inactive? Using cross-country data from two surveys, I find that the policy preferences of industrial workers respond differently to labor market precarity than do those of service sector workers, particularly sociocultural professionals. Further, industrial workers who prefer traditional welfare policies are less likely to vote for the center-left than professionals, even if those professionals hold similar policy priorities. These results help explain the center-left’s recent electoral trends while also highlighting current limitations on building cross-class political coalitions in postindustrial economies.