Antinomies of political society implications of uncivil development

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to delve on the consequences of the antinomies of flattened notions of subaltern politics. On the basis of a field study in a pollution affected village in Andhra Pradesh, it demonstrates how sustained demands for the closure of polluting industries based on collective mobilisation and action are met by repression by an uncivil state in nexus with the mafia and economic elites. This in turn pushes collectives to break up and be replaced by interest-based demands either at the level of smaller groups (formed around available social stratifications) or even the individual. This makes it increasingly difficult over a period of time to sustain collective political action that could demand and gain long-term structural changes.