Negotiating the Status Quo: Everyday Lived Realities of the Urban Middle Class in Pakistan

Abstract

The objective of my research is to understand how social change happens in urban Pakistan and how social order is (re)produced: Does the change happen to maintain the social equilibrium, as Goffman (1959) suggests, or does it contribute to a shift in the status quo? This research is grounded in the understanding that social class is a multidimensional construct, not merely an economic phenomenon, and is profoundly concerned with forms of social reproduction and cultural distinctions. Based on this premise, the research uses Bourdieu's theories of homology and practice as the guiding framework. This allows us to explore dynamics of change and societal transitions, providing insight into how individuals perceive their identities and positions within the broader social structure. The approach also enables an understanding of how individuals are often predisposed to act in ways that reinforce their social positions, thus contributing to the maintenance (or contestation) of social inequalities. The middle class is often seen as particularly associated with the accumulation and use of cultural capital to maintain their social status and reproduce social hierarchies. In urban Lahore, the old middle class distinguishes itself from what it labels the ‘new middle class’ through genealogical ties to what Bourdieu would have described as highbrow culture (Maqsood, 2017). Focusing on three cultural tastes—coffee, music, and literature—it explores the interplay of economic, social, and cultural capitals to understand how Lahore’s new middle class accesses, accumulates, and leverages these forms of capital in shaping identity, status, and social reproduction. The research examines the historical and ongoing evolution of the field concerning the production, circulation, appropriation, and exchange of the respective cultural tastes, and how this shapes the practices of the new middle class, highlighting malleability of habitus and how norms emerge or are challenged through repeated interactions. By tracing life experiences Lahore’s new middle class, it explores how varied social and economic exposures influence conduct and reveal potential secondary conditioning of habitus through social mobility and networks. Recognizing that lifestyle differentiation is one of the ways social boundaries are maintained through processes of social closure, the research analyses the coping strategies that either reinforce these existing boundaries or create new ones, focusing on how the new middle class in Lahore makes compromises, negotiates power dynamics, occasionally yielding to pressures in order to survive or ‘belong’. The primary aim of this research is to critically reflect on policy debates and the process of policy formulation in international development by examining the everyday lives of the new middle class in Lahore. A secondary aim is to make a theoretical contribution on how Bourdieu’s framework can be applied and adapted to non-Western contexts.

Date of Award	10 Sept 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Joe Devine (Supervisor) & Geof Wood (Supervisor)