WEBVTT

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Prof: Well,
this is what a well-worn copy

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of White Tiger looks
like.

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The style of it is pretty
striking.

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Anybody want to take a shot at
other novels that it remind you

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of?

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Yeah.

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Student:
>

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Prof: Not the cover.

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Student:  It reminds me
of Salman Rushdie's

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Midnight's Children.

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Prof: Okay,
that's one interesting

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suggestion.

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Sophie Quinton, where are you?

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What do you think?

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Student:  What do I
think of the book,

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or is this related to the warm
call email you sent me the other

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day?

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Prof: The warm call.

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Student:  Well in the
back of White Tiger

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there's sort of reading group
discussion with the author,

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and one of the thing's the
author says that is kind of

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interesting is that his
inspiration for Balram was--

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he's sort of a composite
character that came out of the

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author's experience just hanging
out in slums and train stations,

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and in servants quarters,
and listening to what,

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basically, the underclass of
India are saying,

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and how they are thinking,
and it's sort of--

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it's interesting that Balram,
who's such an angry character,

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is the embodiment of something
very real that Adiga,

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I guess, felt talking to people
on the streets.

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Prof: Okay that's good.

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In the--he also mentions three
American novelists in the back,

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did you notice that?

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Student:  No, I did not.

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Prof: Okay.

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Well it's interesting,
the--I'll quote him--

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the influences on White
Tiger are three black

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American writers of the post
World War II era:

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Ralph Ellison,
James Baldwin,

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and Richard Wright.

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It has many ways to look at it,
it is written in a very

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straightforward style that
is--each paragraph is pretty

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straightforward.

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The subtext about how it's
being told is a little more

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complicated,
and one of the other things he

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says in the back which--
and this goes to the point

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Sophie made,
is that while none of the

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characters or incidents are
copied out of journalism,

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which is the author's business,
all of them are meant to be

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representative of something real
in Indian life,

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so that the book is literally
fiction,

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but has a purpose like many of
the best works of fiction,

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has a purpose of describing
something that is very real.

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Are there ways in which fiction
can do a better job than social

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science of telling the truth
about a country?

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Anybody got a thought about
that?

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Yes?

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Student:  Well it's an
art form,

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and something like social
science can't really say well

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this makes me feel this,
or this is like the nuance of

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that,
and that's where art plays in.

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I mean--also,
I mean, it's mass media too in

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a lot of ways,
so you can reach a lot more

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people through this and have it
easily understood.

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Prof: Okay,
its mass media,

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but it actually does something
that most non-fiction written by

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academics can't do;
economists, political

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scientists, people like that,
by and large a little wooden

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and rigid, little category
bound, a little obsessed with

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methodology.

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And this book covers a huge
swath of very complicated

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aspects of a society which,
as far as I can tell,

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is top half dozen in the way of
complexity in the world.

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I mean the structure of--the
historical structure of India

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and the incredible rate of
economic and sociological change

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have very few equals elsewhere.

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Evia, have I got that name
right?

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Again and again the concept of
the darkness comes up in the

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book;
help us to try to understand

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that.

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Student:  Yes I think
it's sort of literally and

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figuratively the darkness of
India,

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the parts of India that have
sort of left behind in the all

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the development and
globalization,

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where there's no electricity
so, like,

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literally it's dark when the
sun goes down,

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and where there's also a lack
of like basic necessities,

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like sanitation.

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And, like, proper food,
and I think also the darkness

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of sort of corruption and
bribery,

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and like, theoretically there
being resources,

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but those getting funneled into
the hands of,

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like for example,
the great socialist whose

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campaign to sort of lift the
darkness out of the darkness,

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but ended up just getting sort
of sucked into the bribery of

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people in the upper castes in
the town and continuing to take

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advantage of the lower caste,
like of the

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>

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Prof: From the point of
view of village India,

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deep in the darkness,
is it clear one way or the

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other whether the economic--
miracle may be too strong a

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word, but the incredible
progress in overall development

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that's been made since about
1990,

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is a good thing or a bad thing?

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Student:  I think--like
I think it kind of goes both

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ways,
and I think he talks about it

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in that--
I guess he sort of talks about

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it as the difference between the
north and the south or what like

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the two cities he was in.

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When development gets kind of
entrenched in corruption and

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then it ends up being a bad
thing, and ends up taking

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advantage of people at the
bottom.

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But I think,
to me, it seemed a little

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optimistic that it can be a good
thing in places where it's been

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done properly.

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Prof: Okay,
you have it in the back of your

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mind an idea or two about what
doing capitalism properly means?

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Student:  Well not
really.

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I guess--
Prof: I'll bet you do.

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Student:  You know not
corruption, not bribing

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policemen to--
Prof: Okay,

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not corruption,
not bribery.

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Student:  I mean
there--I don't know if

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it's--there are I guess a lot of
things but I think that's what

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he tells us.

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Prof: Now let's go on
and we'll find some of them.

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Sudir--there's a passage in--I
think it's the first night in

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the book about--I think it's
four animals,

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am I right?

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Student:  Yeah.

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Prof: Who represent
people--can you help us with it?

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Student:  Sure I
think--the first point is that

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Adiga's making a statement of
how--

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and quite unabashedly,
landowners as animals,

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who in this case quite
literally feed off

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>

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physical and human resources.

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The other obvious point is that
the animal's Adiga chooses to

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represent the landlords aren't
particularly glamorous.

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I think he has a view of
landowners as tacky,

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crass, lazy,
and it's clear that one of the

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few reasons or main reasons that
they hold a position of power in

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society is they've probably
descended from families of

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landowners who have a long kind
of history of exploiting and

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extorting from the poor.

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Prof: Okay.

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Now here's an interesting
parallel.

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If you think about the--about
Clark's Farewell To Alms,

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one of the big lessons there is
that land is the primary basis

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of economic return in pre-modern
societies,

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and loses its relative standing
with development.

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If Adiga is right are the
stork, the raven,

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the wild boar and who else?

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Student:  Buffalo.

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Prof: And the
buffalo--are they basically

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fossils of a previous era
grasping for the last straws of

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a powerbase that will go away,
or given the nature of rural

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India will they persist in that
position generation after

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generation,
do you think?

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Student:  You know it's
hard for me to kind of identify

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the trajectory of India's
development persisted--

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I don't know how much of--I
guess I mean rural India is a

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large--
makes a large chunk of the

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country and the economy,
for what it's worth,

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so I think there are probably,
in the foreseeable future,

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there's probably a very good
chance that characters like

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these four will still retain a
good deal of influence in those

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spheres.

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I mean obviously corporations
are making their way into

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these--
into rural areas and setting up

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innovation camps and large
offices,

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but to the extent that India
is--the rural base is strong,

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I think these people will
thrive.

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Prof: Okay,
and if capitalism seeks

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economies of scale as its want
to do,

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small landholding will be
eventually undermined by

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large-scale landholding,
and agricultural development on

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a vast scale.

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That would be the textbook
hypothesis.

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If you look at what's happening
in Brazil,

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for example,
development on the scale of

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farms twenty-five or thirty-five
miles square,

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twenty-five by twenty-five say,
is commonplace.

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Maybe India's different,
and the reason it may be

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different is that the
indigenous--

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the density of indigenous rural
population is much higher,

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and the process by which land
would be aggregated may happen

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quite a lot slower.

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Maximillian?

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Where did the title of the book
come from and how do you

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understand it?

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Student:  He calls it
The White Tiger

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because Balram stands out of all
the other servants like a white

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tiger stands out of--
white tiger stands out of

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their--I don't know other
animals who are not albinos

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because they're so rare.

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There's one incident leading up
to Balram coming to white tiger

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that is,
I guess, where they are on the

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way with the two sons of his
masters to bribe the minister

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and Balram reaches out to a
beggar intuitively to help him

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and he gives him some money,
and the sons of his master get

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really angry with him giving him
the money,

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and they start to complain
about how many taxes they have

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to pay you and that they are
already helping the poor.

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Yeah, that's how he realizes
that the entrenched inequalities

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in Indian society will perhaps
persist despite India's new

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prosperity.

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Prof: Okay good.

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Do you remember the part about
the schoolhouse early on where

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there's a surprise inspection,
does anybody remember this?

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Am I drawing a blank here?

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Over there--
Student:  Yeah in the

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beginning I believe there's a
surprise inspection and he's--

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the inspector comes in an asks
the students a bunch of

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different questions,
and really nobody's able to

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give any good answer except for
Balram,

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and he then asks him,
I guess, what's the--

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he asks him a certain question.

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I forget exactly what the
question is but the answer was

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that it's a White Tiger,
that's the most unique.

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Prof: Okay so he gets
named White Tiger for being

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uniquely talented in a situation
where talent is not being

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developed.

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How does the schoolroom
operate, do you remember that?

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Student:  Well it's
interesting that Balram didn't

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actually blame the teacher,
because I guess the teacher

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like would steal the uniforms
and all the resources that came,

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but I think the one point
Balram even says,

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like, well, I mean,
no one really blames him

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because his payment also gets
taken by someone else.

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So the teacher--there's just
like a chain of corruption that

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ends and the teacher basically
stealing the resources that were

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meant for the kids and just
sleeping all day or--

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and while the kids do whatever.

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Prof: Okay
they're--quite often there's a

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mention of the fact that the
teacher was snoring while the

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students were supposed to be
learning somehow from one

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another.

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You're right in that.

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I think the narrator says
something like,

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"Those who live in a dung
heap can't be expected to smell

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well."

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Student:  Right.

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Prof: So there's a kind
of environmental

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explanation--social
environmental explanation.

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What do we think?

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Is this a man bites dog story,
or is corruption a fairly major

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issue in Indian society?

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Who's got an opinion?

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Student:  I think it's a
fairly major issue because even

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when you make the transition
into the lightness in the book,

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you still get severe corruption
of course with--

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you know the--Balram's boss
going to give the big bags of

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money to the government.

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So I think it's corruption that
pervades every level,

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and kind of the light is a
little bit of a deceptive name

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for what Balram was into because
even at the height of his

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success the only way he can
succeed is by killing someone

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and then by paying off the
policeman.

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Prof: Okay,
that's elegantly put but its

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evidence from fiction about
fiction.

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What--the judgment I'm looking
for is, is his claim that the

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book represents broadly truthful
patterns in the society or not?

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You buy it or not?

15:36.710 --> 15:39.180
Student:  Well I mean
having--

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I was in India myself several
times,

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and having many friends from
there,

15:42.340 --> 15:45.260
I've definitely heard
considerable stories of

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corruption.

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I mean I'm not in a position to
judge the society as a whole but

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it seems like it would have an
element of truth to it

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certainly.

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Prof: Okay,
has anybody glanced at one of

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the world rankings from,
say, Transparency International

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or other organizations which
evaluate levels of corruption?

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Okay the Socratic Method stops
here.

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India is near the top of the
world table in corruption as an

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issue perceived by people in
business as problematic.

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Anybody with substantial
experience want to contradict or

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elaborate on this point?

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Yes.

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We need a microphone in the
middle.

16:42.620 --> 16:44.610
Student:  For large part
of people staying in India,

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especially doing business
there, corruption has almost

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become a way of life,
so they see it--they'd rather

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call the system flexible than
calling it corrupt.

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If you want to get a government
sanction,

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which would generally take
three months,

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you can get it done in three
days if you pay an additional

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amount and that's the premium--
that's the premium not

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corruption, so for a large part
of the society it's a flexible

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system rather than a corrupt
system.

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Prof: Okay,
and the good American economist

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would call it?

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Student:  The
efficiencies in the market that

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is exploiting them.

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Prof: Inefficiencies due
to rent-seeking,

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right?

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Student:  Exactly.

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Prof: Rent seeking,
I love the concept.

17:30.828 --> 17:33.678
Danielle , right on the--are
you here Danielle?

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Hi, Dr.***Rampundi is it, Pambi?

17:39.598 --> 17:40.228
Student:  Something like
that.

17:40.230 --> 17:42.110
Prof: Something like
that.

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Tell us about that incident in
the book and give us something

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about what you think it means.

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Student:  Okay so on
page forty-one in the book

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there's--
when they're all sitting

17:52.763 --> 17:56.093
in--and the White Tiger has
taken his father to the hospital

17:56.094 --> 17:59.034
and they're sitting in the
waiting room waiting for a

17:59.029 --> 18:03.089
doctor who won't come,
and an old Muslim man starts

18:03.087 --> 18:07.247
telling a story about this
fictitious doctor,

18:07.250 --> 18:11.640
Dr. Rampandi and he talks
about how the socialists sells

18:11.644 --> 18:15.164
off plots of like districts to
doctors,

18:15.160 --> 18:16.870
and the doctors buy these
districts,

18:16.868 --> 18:20.668
almost like a feudal system,
and then the doctors in those

18:20.670 --> 18:23.320
districts will--
he'll take part of the salaries

18:23.317 --> 18:26.307
from these doctors and then tell
them oh well now you can just go

18:26.309 --> 18:28.179
off and work for a private
hospital,

18:28.180 --> 18:29.930
you don't have to worry about
these people,

18:29.930 --> 18:32.470
I'll write it down in my ledger
that you've been there.

18:32.470 --> 18:35.610
Basically the government is on
a totally different strata,

18:35.608 --> 18:39.078
and all the money or benefits
just get written down or written

18:39.075 --> 18:41.415
away,
and these people are left dying

18:41.417 --> 18:43.867
or with wounded legs,
like the Muslim man,

18:43.865 --> 18:46.005
and he's just sort of laughing
about it.

18:46.009 --> 18:48.689
There's this sense like--with
the Muslim man and all the

18:48.694 --> 18:51.434
people in the waiting room
they're sort of laughing about

18:51.429 --> 18:53.919
their problems or bragging about
them because--

18:53.920 --> 18:57.280
I mean his father dies in the
end, Balram's father dies in the

18:57.284 --> 18:59.384
end because his doctor never
comes,

18:59.380 --> 19:04.110
so the corruption and the
resources are just like strewn

19:04.108 --> 19:06.688
about and there's just that.

19:06.690 --> 19:10.120
Prof: Okay,
now that passage is actually

19:10.121 --> 19:13.031
quite polemical the way it's
written.

19:13.028 --> 19:16.708
It probably overstates,
right--there are probably a

19:16.711 --> 19:21.351
hell of lot of places where you
actually can see the doctor,

19:21.348 --> 19:24.228
and the doctor does pay
attention to people he's

19:24.234 --> 19:27.304
supposed to pay attention to,
but the general pattern

19:27.298 --> 19:32.268
described there--
what's wrong with corruption?

19:32.269 --> 19:36.869
Corruption--I mean,
it--there are serious people

19:36.865 --> 19:42.045
who think corruption is not
altogether a bad thing.

19:42.048 --> 19:44.648
For example,
there are people who write

19:44.654 --> 19:48.634
about American cities and say if
you have to choose between

19:48.628 --> 19:52.738
corruption and civil service
bureaucrats who do everything to

19:52.741 --> 19:57.521
the letter of the law,
take corruption.

19:57.519 --> 20:02.359
An example is--historical
example was the Fulton Fish

20:02.361 --> 20:06.921
Market in New York,
which was run by the mafia for

20:06.923 --> 20:11.023
a long time, and ran pretty
efficiently.

20:11.019 --> 20:17.229
There was some rent seeking and
some buyons but it worked,

20:17.230 --> 20:21.650
and then Rudy Giuliani took it
over and put in clean

20:21.652 --> 20:26.052
bureaucrats to run it,
and people thought well it may

20:26.053 --> 20:28.663
not actually run as well this
way.

20:28.660 --> 20:30.890
Now but there is--there's
counterpoint to that.

20:30.890 --> 20:34.540
There's some big themes about
why corruption is,

20:34.538 --> 20:38.688
from the point of view of
growth and development and human

20:38.689 --> 20:41.439
welfare,
probably not on average a great

20:41.439 --> 20:41.879
thing.

20:41.880 --> 20:43.610
Did you have a comment?

20:43.608 --> 20:46.278
Student:  Well yeah we
can almost go back to Adam Smith

20:46.280 --> 20:49.110
in this regard,
but not what he's most famous

20:49.112 --> 20:52.482
for, but he's--
he kind of gives us self

20:52.476 --> 20:55.826
interest, but it's not this
naked,

20:55.829 --> 20:57.569
isolated form of self interest.

20:57.568 --> 21:01.378
He said capitalism only
functions upon a foundation of

21:01.383 --> 21:04.943
ethical participants,
and if not, it's brutally,

21:04.935 --> 21:09.285
grossly inefficient because you
can't get the right information

21:09.292 --> 21:11.052
around the right time.

21:11.049 --> 21:12.519
Prof: Terrific, right?

21:12.519 --> 21:16.139
This is a huge point in
understanding Smith.

21:16.140 --> 21:19.050
Smith is a moralist,
Smith in his own time his

21:19.047 --> 21:22.407
famous book wasn't this it was
The Theory Of Moral

21:22.406 --> 21:26.276
Sentiments,
and Smith is saying,

21:26.278 --> 21:32.598
"Articulate self interest
frankly pursued,

21:32.598 --> 21:38.688
within a framework of honest
communication,

21:38.690 --> 21:42.090
and with a government in the
background that enforces

21:42.094 --> 21:46.804
contract and prohibits fraud,
within that framework self

21:46.799 --> 21:51.619
interest creates an upward draft
on an economy.

21:51.618 --> 21:55.068
But if you take away that
framework,

21:55.068 --> 21:59.468
the ethical aspects of people's
beliefs and the proper

21:59.468 --> 22:04.608
functioning of the government in
enforcing contract and related

22:04.614 --> 22:08.714
things,
you take all that away,

22:08.708 --> 22:16.788
thus the invisible hand story
works if anything in reverse.

22:16.788 --> 22:25.898
We're inclined to just assume
that to just march too quickly

22:25.902 --> 22:32.392
by the issue of that
foundational issue.

22:32.390 --> 22:34.870
The--have I asked you this?

22:34.868 --> 22:40.638
How many of you have done Ben
Pollack's course on Game Theory?

22:40.640 --> 22:45.880
That's really--I recommend it
to all of you,

22:45.875 --> 22:49.645
but think about this problem.

22:49.650 --> 22:55.610
Suppose you are operating in a
system where everybody else is

22:55.612 --> 22:59.292
willing to lie in order to
profit,

22:59.288 --> 23:04.668
and each one of those other
people assume that about all the

23:04.669 --> 23:07.859
people she or he is dealing
with.

23:07.858 --> 23:13.358
How do you form a strategy to
make a business run?

23:13.358 --> 23:16.988
The answer is that it is
virtually impossible,

23:16.993 --> 23:21.363
because you cannot anticipate
the way people respond to

23:21.355 --> 23:23.855
straightforward incentives.

23:23.858 --> 23:30.188
It's a big deal and getting out
of that dilemma right--

23:30.190 --> 23:35.950
another way to put it is
there's a famous philosophical

23:35.954 --> 23:39.434
example,
one version of which is a

23:39.425 --> 23:44.755
sentence written inside a box
which says this sentence is a

23:44.755 --> 23:49.365
lie,
or the sentence in this box is

23:49.365 --> 23:50.265
a lie.

23:50.269 --> 23:51.559
How do you interpret that?

23:51.559 --> 23:52.379
True or false?

23:52.380 --> 23:54.800
False if true,
true if false,

23:54.797 --> 23:57.817
you can't get anywhere with
that;

23:57.819 --> 24:03.089
very hard to live that way.

24:03.089 --> 24:07.599
Vivek?

24:07.598 --> 24:12.858
Caste is a really complex
cultural structure which I've

24:12.859 --> 24:18.319
read a little about and talked
to Indians a little about,

24:18.315 --> 24:21.525
and it's obviously important.

24:21.528 --> 24:26.418
Help the uninitiated here a
little bit.

24:26.420 --> 24:28.220
Student:  Sure.

24:28.220 --> 24:31.140
I did some research last night
but I think I got my most

24:31.141 --> 24:34.221
profound revelation when I
talked to one of my best friends

24:34.222 --> 24:35.022
from India.

24:35.019 --> 24:37.299
He gave me an incredible
perspective on caste and most

24:37.298 --> 24:39.018
people don't actually know about
that;

24:39.019 --> 24:42.199
I didn't know about it and I'm
going to go a little bit into

24:42.204 --> 24:44.804
the history of caste,
because it's--it's honestly

24:44.796 --> 24:45.656
fascinating.

24:45.660 --> 24:49.800
Caste actually started out as a
really advanced complex system

24:49.798 --> 24:52.648
that we see in today's
capitalist world.

24:52.650 --> 24:54.780
It started as division of labor.

24:54.779 --> 24:57.369
It started off as promoting
specialization.

24:57.368 --> 25:01.308
Caste--a caste wasn't a bad
thing when it first started.

25:01.308 --> 25:04.098
It just means that people were
specialized in certain trades.

25:04.098 --> 25:06.958
For example,
we have blacksmiths and we had

25:06.957 --> 25:11.107
traders, and we had people on
different sectors of the economy

25:11.106 --> 25:11.716
here.

25:11.720 --> 25:15.700
Similarly we had castes in
India, and they weren't,

25:15.701 --> 25:19.681
sadly, constraining,
they were just indicating what

25:19.684 --> 25:23.114
you are best at,
its division of labor.

25:23.108 --> 25:27.268
Caste actually started
degrading, unfortunately,

25:27.268 --> 25:31.778
and it's actually gone through
some de-evolution.

25:31.778 --> 25:33.278
This was catalyzed when the
British came.

25:33.279 --> 25:37.169
When the British came they
didn't grasp caste as--

25:37.170 --> 25:38.810
and the advanced system of
division of labor and

25:38.810 --> 25:42.220
specialization,
they grasped caste as a more

25:42.220 --> 25:44.970
feudal system,
and so they started

25:44.972 --> 25:48.462
perpetuating this thought that
once you're born in a caste

25:48.463 --> 25:51.563
you're stuck in a caste forever,
and that's what started

25:51.560 --> 25:53.460
bringing the negative
connotations toward caste.

25:53.460 --> 26:00.840
That's what started making
caste constraining and that--

26:00.838 --> 26:03.298
I guess the best way to put
this is that the--

26:03.298 --> 26:05.848
after the British came,
it basically started destroying

26:05.849 --> 26:06.369
the cult.

26:06.368 --> 26:08.768
People started being born in
castes and they started

26:08.766 --> 26:11.346
think--believing they were
relegated to these castes.

26:11.348 --> 26:14.608
If you look at the book,
Balram ended a passage of the

26:14.612 --> 26:18.492
quote that there are only two
destinies: eat or get eaten up.

26:18.490 --> 26:22.340
And that just shows the caste
evolved from being an advanced

26:22.340 --> 26:25.990
concept of division of labor,
or specialization to something

26:25.990 --> 26:27.500
that you're constrained too.

26:27.500 --> 26:30.860
I think that today the only
thing that separates caste from

26:30.864 --> 26:33.594
an advanced capitalist structure
is mobility.

26:33.588 --> 26:35.288
In the caste,
there's not mobility because

26:35.286 --> 26:37.806
you're born into a system and
you're stuck with it forever.

26:37.808 --> 26:39.508
And in the American system for
example,

26:39.509 --> 26:41.949
you at least have the hope and
the ability to move from caste--

26:41.950 --> 26:44.990
from trade to trade,
from caste to caste,

26:44.990 --> 26:46.770
and I think that's a trend
that's going to be reversed.

26:46.769 --> 26:50.949
Prof: Well--and at the
foundation of India as a

26:50.952 --> 26:54.822
democracy in 1947 there was a
huge emphasis on the

26:54.818 --> 27:00.418
dalit, the untouchables,
and on making sure that they

27:00.423 --> 27:04.673
had opportunities similar to
other people.

27:04.670 --> 27:06.690
Anybody know anything about
that effort?

27:06.690 --> 27:10.850
Yes.

27:10.848 --> 27:13.688
Student:  There--The
Mundill Commission started this

27:13.688 --> 27:16.098
program where--
kind of like affirmative action

27:16.102 --> 27:17.962
here,
but much more restrictive in

27:17.962 --> 27:20.222
the sense that they are
numerical quotas.

27:20.220 --> 27:22.760
So there are quotas for three
types of people:

27:22.760 --> 27:24.550
OBC's,
other backward classes,

27:24.550 --> 27:26.780
which is not necessarily as
much cast,

27:26.778 --> 27:29.178
or jati, but more
about economics.

27:29.180 --> 27:30.930
So a brahmin,
which is the highest caste can

27:30.934 --> 27:33.724
also be part of this caste--
I mean part of this relic

27:33.723 --> 27:35.953
designation,
if they do not earn as much as

27:35.946 --> 27:38.526
they are supposed to,
like ten rupees a month or

27:38.528 --> 27:39.778
something like that.

27:39.779 --> 27:41.779
Then you have Adivasis,
which is a scheduled tribe

27:41.779 --> 27:44.229
system, and then you also have a
scheduled caste system which

27:44.230 --> 27:45.700
goes back to the original caste.

27:45.700 --> 27:48.040
Now what's really interesting
about the caste system as--

27:48.038 --> 27:51.228
it was just mentioned that
there is no mobility,

27:51.230 --> 27:53.650
but in essence,
there's still differences going

27:53.653 --> 27:56.403
on in India right now,
so people do move around--can

27:56.398 --> 27:57.038
move around.

27:57.038 --> 27:59.408
For example,
they can go in and out of the

27:59.410 --> 28:01.550
OBC category,
so that still exists.

28:01.548 --> 28:05.698
Then these designations happen
in government positions,

28:05.700 --> 28:09.370
so in IIT's which is--as you
know Hyundai was from IIT,

28:09.368 --> 28:11.958
and all these other
institutions that are government

28:11.957 --> 28:15.197
institutions like the proportion
of the population that is in any

28:15.204 --> 28:17.944
of these designations have to
have those seats in those

28:17.944 --> 28:18.914
institutions.

28:18.910 --> 28:26.240
Prof: Good,
admirably done.

28:26.240 --> 28:33.100
Jasmine, I asked Jasmine to
think about the passage which

28:33.102 --> 28:40.702
begins with chopping onions
unusually early in the morning,

28:40.700 --> 28:42.790
and then the discoveries which
followed that,

28:42.788 --> 28:46.268
and what it might tell us about
the role of religion.

28:46.269 --> 28:47.229
Student:  Yeah.

28:47.230 --> 28:51.860
On page ninety in The White
Tiger it talks about like a

28:51.855 --> 28:57.215
discovery of Balram,
about the number one driver Ram

28:57.219 --> 29:00.889
Prasad,
and basically he just--he found

29:00.888 --> 29:06.298
out that Ram Persad was a Muslim
because he was observing Ramadan

29:06.297 --> 29:08.407
and he was not eating.

29:08.410 --> 29:12.600
He was chopping up onions in
the dark because he has to fast

29:12.601 --> 29:15.751
during the day,
and so Balram was able to use

29:15.750 --> 29:18.010
this fact as an advantage to
him,

29:18.009 --> 29:23.249
and basically because the
landlord is a Hindu and there is

29:23.250 --> 29:28.950
kind of like a religious tension
between the Hindu majority and

29:28.952 --> 29:33.002
Muslim's in traditional parts of
India,

29:33.000 --> 29:38.870
so when he talked to another
servant about this and he was

29:38.874 --> 29:44.954
able to make his way to Delhi
because he was using this fact

29:44.954 --> 29:47.124
to his advantage.

29:47.118 --> 29:50.248
Prof: Okay,
so historically this cleavage

29:50.248 --> 29:54.238
between Muslim and Hindu has
been a huge actor in the history

29:54.240 --> 29:55.440
of South Asia?

29:55.440 --> 29:57.140
Student:  Yes.

29:57.140 --> 30:01.360
Basically I guess a lot of
Hindu's thought that Muslims was

30:01.355 --> 30:08.055
like an invader culture,
and also in like the 1947 when

30:08.060 --> 30:11.570
they had--
well basically India was

30:11.568 --> 30:15.318
subdivided into Pakistan,
like the Muslim

30:15.315 --> 30:19.875
subcontinent--Muslim country and
the,

30:19.880 --> 30:23.070
like, now modern India.

30:23.069 --> 30:25.289
Prof: Good.

30:25.288 --> 30:30.928
The other layer is captured in
the line in the book,

30:30.930 --> 30:34.530
"there is no hatred like
that of the number two servant

30:34.526 --> 30:36.656
for the number one
servant."

30:36.660 --> 30:42.320
That close conflict we
recognize--you see that

30:42.315 --> 30:49.475
everywhere around here,
you see it even on the faculty.

30:49.480 --> 30:51.530
Susie Park?

30:51.529 --> 30:54.859
That's the question.

30:54.858 --> 31:05.178
I was going to ask you about
servant hostility to servant and

31:05.182 --> 31:06.562
so on.

31:06.558 --> 31:11.118
Student:  Well I
guess--well basically it's kind

31:11.123 --> 31:15.013
of similar to servant hostility
to masters,

31:15.009 --> 31:17.159
I think, because,
like, when you look at,

31:17.160 --> 31:20.220
like, the person to person,
like you're not actually hating

31:20.220 --> 31:24.240
the person themselves,
but more like--because

31:24.238 --> 31:28.428
you're--like he has this,
kind of like,

31:28.434 --> 31:30.754
bitterness at the system
itself,

31:30.750 --> 31:33.370
but then, like,
in some parts of the book it

31:33.367 --> 31:36.117
said they don't dare,
like, blame the bigger

31:36.119 --> 31:38.289
government, like the nation
itself,

31:38.288 --> 31:42.068
but they're more about like
blaming like the local like

31:42.068 --> 31:47.188
smaller like level,
and like the landlords--so it's

31:47.193 --> 31:52.463
kind of like they are--
like the White Tiger was more

31:52.458 --> 31:57.518
into like hitting the number one
driver rather than like the

31:57.520 --> 31:58.980
system itself.

31:58.980 --> 32:03.730
Prof: Right and so the
idea is the displacement of

32:03.729 --> 32:08.559
hostility to the huge system
onto the little system within

32:08.563 --> 32:10.093
the household.

32:10.088 --> 32:19.598
Nafez the--there's--I think one
of the great lines in the book

32:19.603 --> 32:26.403
is the one about the coop;
the chicken coop is guarded

32:26.400 --> 32:27.570
from within.

32:27.569 --> 32:29.059
What's all that?

32:29.058 --> 32:31.328
Student:  I mean the way
I interpret it was it's more

32:31.329 --> 32:33.309
like a social construct,
where I mean if you just look

32:33.308 --> 32:35.918
at the back of the book it says,
Balram Halawi is a complicated

32:35.923 --> 32:37.243
man servant,
philosopher,

32:37.236 --> 32:39.306
entrepreneur,
etc., but when you're inside

32:39.306 --> 32:42.636
the coop you're only thinking of
how can I be a better servant.

32:42.640 --> 32:44.040
So it's a social construct
whereby,

32:44.038 --> 32:46.078
I mean, we can even relate it
to the hatred of servant one--

32:46.078 --> 32:48.928
servant two to servant one is
because the servant--

32:48.930 --> 32:50.250
you're not thinking of becoming
a master,

32:50.250 --> 32:53.050
what you're aspiring to is
servant one,

32:53.048 --> 32:56.128
and it just scares you to get
out of that social construct and

32:56.134 --> 32:59.324
the only way to get out of it is
to resolve to something extreme

32:59.321 --> 33:00.791
like killing your master.

33:00.788 --> 33:05.828
Prof: Okay so that often
the victims of a hugely

33:05.832 --> 33:11.442
oppressive situation are hostile
more to people who are their

33:11.435 --> 33:16.285
peers or near peers then to
people who are their vast

33:16.291 --> 33:20.451
superiors,
and that's a pretty good

33:20.451 --> 33:23.131
generalization actually.

33:23.130 --> 33:26.230
Sebastian?

33:26.230 --> 33:32.930
There we are.

33:32.930 --> 33:36.510
Tell us about the car accident.

33:36.509 --> 33:40.659
Student:  All right,
so in page 137 there's a--

33:40.660 --> 33:45.100
Pinky Madam decides that she
wants to drive,

33:45.098 --> 33:47.768
tells the driver to get out,
then she comes back,

33:47.769 --> 33:50.249
she's very drunk at this point,
comes back,

33:50.250 --> 33:53.860
gets in--tells the driver to
get back in the car and then

33:53.857 --> 33:55.917
drives off and hits something.

33:55.920 --> 34:00.700
At first we don't know what it
is, we quickly discover it's a

34:00.701 --> 34:05.151
child,
and everyone's kind of in shock

34:05.145 --> 34:07.755
and I think--
I don't know if you want me to

34:07.759 --> 34:09.059
say more of the details of the
accident,

34:09.059 --> 34:13.549
but the biggest implication is
that then Balram is asked to

34:13.550 --> 34:16.340
take the blame for this
accident,

34:16.340 --> 34:22.190
this master's wife committed.

34:22.190 --> 34:26.620
Instead of thinking of how he
cannot take the blame,

34:26.619 --> 34:29.159
he kind of starts automatically
assuming how am I going to

34:29.161 --> 34:31.551
survive in jail,
what am I going to do to

34:31.550 --> 34:32.130
survive?

34:32.130 --> 34:35.700
I think it goes back to that
thing that we were just talking

34:35.704 --> 34:38.744
about on the rooster coop,
where it's just absolute

34:38.735 --> 34:42.115
perpetual servitude;
it's kind of very much

34:42.115 --> 34:43.075
intrinsic.

34:43.079 --> 34:44.799
Prof: Okay, good.

34:44.800 --> 34:47.720
Now--and what this is
straightforward-

34:47.724 --> 34:50.814
-straightforward criminal
corruption.

34:50.809 --> 35:02.299
It's a criminal act that the
Kosh couple are committing and

35:02.304 --> 35:11.624
The White Tiger basically just
lives with it.

35:11.619 --> 35:18.089
Later in the book--Ann where
are you?

35:18.090 --> 35:25.370
Later in the book the concept
of rage gets to be center stage,

35:25.367 --> 35:29.837
I think on page 196 is it;
help us with that,

35:29.842 --> 35:31.542
what's going on with that?

35:31.539 --> 35:35.239
Student:  Well I think
to a certain extent he realizes

35:35.240 --> 35:38.820
that the only way for him to
escape kind of from the rooter

35:38.818 --> 35:41.038
coop is to do something extreme.

35:41.039 --> 35:44.359
One thing that he talks about
when he describes the whole

35:44.362 --> 35:47.862
rooster coop analogy is that
like he mentions family as part

35:47.864 --> 35:49.294
of that explanation.

35:49.289 --> 35:52.849
He says that family is like the
thing--

35:52.849 --> 35:56.649
that family is the thing that
keeps you in the coop and so I

35:56.650 --> 36:00.390
think like he needs a really
powerful emotion to counteract

36:00.389 --> 36:03.159
the family ties in order to
break free.

36:03.159 --> 36:08.269
Prof: Okay,
so he's in two different

36:08.266 --> 36:13.976
coercive networks,
one to do with his own family

36:13.981 --> 36:20.791
and another to do with the
family which employs him.

36:20.789 --> 36:23.589
Jake are you here?

36:23.590 --> 36:29.600
The most dramatic passage in
the book has to do with the

36:29.603 --> 36:33.543
ulterior uses of a whiskey
bottle.

36:33.539 --> 36:35.729
Student:  Right.

36:35.730 --> 36:43.210
Balram uses the bottle to kill
the son of his employer,

36:43.210 --> 36:46.960
and he does this to steal the
money that Ashok was going to

36:46.956 --> 36:49.666
use to bribe officials and he's
go off,

36:49.670 --> 36:51.830
takes it, and starts his own
life.

36:51.829 --> 36:54.809
Prof: Okay,
how do you interpret what he

36:54.806 --> 36:55.256
does?

36:55.260 --> 37:01.160
Student:  I saw it sort
of emblematic of the new India,

37:01.159 --> 37:08.569
sort of taking over and sort of
replacing the old India,

37:08.570 --> 37:12.030
that Ashok and his family are
sort of representative of

37:12.030 --> 37:14.530
because he's the son of a
landowner,

37:14.530 --> 37:17.260
he's wealthy,
and he's using his money to try

37:17.262 --> 37:20.682
to keep himself in power by
bribing these officials,

37:20.679 --> 37:24.129
and Ashok takes that money--or
Balram takes the money and he

37:24.128 --> 37:27.458
goes and uses it to sort of
start his own business and get

37:27.460 --> 37:28.980
himself up to the top.

37:28.980 --> 37:31.510
Prof: As he says an act
of entrepreneurship.

37:31.510 --> 37:33.790
Student:  Right.

37:33.789 --> 37:42.879
Prof: There was a huge
amount of parody in this.

37:42.880 --> 37:45.660
Do you think--how do you judge
him for this?

37:45.659 --> 37:50.659
Student:  I mean I would
say that it was--I wouldn't

37:50.661 --> 37:54.631
condone it, but I can sort of
understand it.

37:54.630 --> 37:58.910
Prof: Would you go so
far as to say justifiable

37:58.911 --> 37:59.801
homicide?

37:59.800 --> 38:04.530
Student:  Not
justifiable in the sense that

38:04.530 --> 38:06.520
he--
the man that he murdered

38:06.523 --> 38:09.333
deserved it,
but for him it was the only way

38:09.327 --> 38:12.837
to break out of the life that he
had been living and--

38:12.840 --> 38:16.990
to me it just sort of--it
really captured just how

38:16.992 --> 38:21.652
traumatic for a society--
a change like modernization can

38:21.652 --> 38:21.962
be.

38:21.960 --> 38:25.890
Everyone's scrambling to get
themselves ahead and in the

38:25.889 --> 38:28.889
process people get stepped on,
people--

38:28.889 --> 38:31.889
Prof: Okay so you see it
as a rational act?

38:31.889 --> 38:32.159
Student:  Yeah.

38:32.159 --> 38:33.839
Prof: Not an act of rage?

38:33.840 --> 38:37.230
Student:  Yeah I think
it was definitely a rational

38:37.231 --> 38:39.911
act, but I don't know if that
justifies it.

38:39.909 --> 38:43.299
Prof: Okay well I don't
think it justifies it.

38:43.300 --> 38:49.390
I'm not much on justifiable
homicide as a cultural trope,

38:49.389 --> 38:54.719
but it makes it easy to
understand, doesn't it?

38:54.719 --> 38:59.209
Amy Chu in the law school has a
book about--

38:59.210 --> 39:02.980
it begins with a story from her
own family in the Philippines,

39:02.980 --> 39:10.020
and in it her grandmother is
murdered by the family chauffer.

39:10.018 --> 39:21.668
The police record where motive
is recorded as just one word:

39:21.666 --> 39:23.636
revenge.

39:23.639 --> 39:30.049
And the relationship between
people who are completely

39:30.054 --> 39:34.294
dependent servants of
arbitrary--

39:34.289 --> 39:39.499
families who behave arbitrarily
and cruelly,

39:39.500 --> 39:43.200
this is an ancient story,
and it's one that's easy to

39:43.204 --> 39:44.134
understand.

39:44.130 --> 39:50.110
Now let's get back to bigger
picture.

39:50.110 --> 39:53.200
Why is Balram so weak?

39:53.199 --> 39:57.299
Well there's--I had another--I
asked somebody about English

39:57.300 --> 39:59.140
language, who did I ask?

39:59.139 --> 40:01.429
Okay then I'll ask myself.

40:01.429 --> 40:06.479
English plays a huge part in
the class structure of a society

40:06.483 --> 40:07.583
like India.

40:07.579 --> 40:16.129
The--let's just list Balram's
weaknesses economically.

40:16.130 --> 40:23.250
One is English is not his first
language, his family and the

40:23.248 --> 40:26.868
debt to The Stork,
was it--

40:26.869 --> 40:29.509
Student:  And the debt
was the brother and sister

40:29.514 --> 40:29.904
dowry.

40:29.900 --> 40:30.670
Prof: Yeah.

40:30.670 --> 40:35.250
The debt which gets him jerked
out of school and which is a

40:35.253 --> 40:39.763
constant burden to the family,
that's another weakness.

40:39.760 --> 40:43.860
He drops out of school because
his uncle rips him out of school

40:43.858 --> 40:45.378
actually, forcefully.

40:45.380 --> 40:47.210
Other weaknesses?

40:47.210 --> 40:51.130
Caste, he is not from an
advantaged caste.

40:51.130 --> 40:55.940
Sweet makers,
I don't quite understand why

40:55.938 --> 41:02.268
that disadvantage but--what
about the world demographic

41:02.269 --> 41:04.029
transition?

41:04.030 --> 41:07.570
The world demographic
transition bearing down on this

41:07.574 --> 41:08.874
young man at all?

41:08.869 --> 41:15.559
Yes because the huge surge of
population in the darkness of

41:15.556 --> 41:22.236
India creates a devastatingly
plentiful supply of unskilled

41:22.242 --> 41:28.472
labor so that the market
equilibrium price of unskilled

41:28.467 --> 41:32.947
labor is very,
very low.

41:32.949 --> 41:38.529
The standards you have to use
in treating employees in

41:38.525 --> 41:44.835
unskilled or semi-skilled jobs
in order to keep them with you

41:44.835 --> 41:46.725
are near zero.

41:46.730 --> 41:50.670
Rickshaw puller,
rickshaw pullers have

41:50.672 --> 41:56.962
essentially no market power and
it has everything to do with

41:56.960 --> 41:58.560
demography.

41:58.559 --> 42:01.469
It also, of course,
has to do with educational

42:01.469 --> 42:05.529
opportunity,
command of the lingua of the

42:05.534 --> 42:08.514
country,
all those things,

42:08.512 --> 42:14.912
but when we talk about the
demographic transition it's this

42:14.905 --> 42:21.515
ultimately benign story about
going from short lives and many

42:21.516 --> 42:24.996
babies,
to long lives and fewer babies

42:25.003 --> 42:26.583
over a period of time.

42:26.579 --> 42:30.989
But there's a huge coercive
aspect to the way it works out

42:30.992 --> 42:36.182
during the transition for people
who don't have demographic luck.

42:36.179 --> 42:43.049
Luck of a--luck--big time luck,
historical luck is a pretty big

42:43.052 --> 42:43.942
thing.

42:43.940 --> 42:51.290
I'll give you another example,
New Haven had very few black

42:51.286 --> 42:57.816
citizens before World War II,
and at the time that World War

42:57.818 --> 43:02.698
II, when southern agriculture
was pushing labor off the land

43:02.695 --> 43:07.815
most of the black families who
ever came to New Haven came here

43:07.820 --> 43:14.140
in about a fifteen-year period,
and they came in search of

43:14.143 --> 43:17.033
industrial employment.

43:17.030 --> 43:22.020
Exactly a decade before that
industrial employment collapsed,

43:22.016 --> 43:23.926
and went guess where?

43:23.929 --> 43:25.659
South.

43:25.659 --> 43:30.589
The industrial employment went
south seeking lower energy costs

43:30.590 --> 43:33.930
and cheaper labor so that the
economic--

43:33.929 --> 43:36.409
it's of course a much more
complex story,

43:36.409 --> 43:38.499
but the timing couldn't have
been worse,

43:38.500 --> 43:42.320
and Balram's timing in
demographic history couldn't

43:42.315 --> 43:44.065
have been much worse.

43:44.070 --> 47:16.680
Now Wednesday's case about
Selco [Video 43:53-47:15].

47:16.679 --> 47:19.069
A couple of announcements in
closing.

47:19.070 --> 47:22.300
The case is in two parts,
A and B;

47:22.300 --> 47:25.740
both are posted on classes V2
for Wednesday's class.

47:25.739 --> 47:29.809
On Monday I will be here only
by video.

47:29.809 --> 47:36.169
I'm in Washington Monday and
I'm going to speak the lecture

47:36.166 --> 47:40.876
to a lens and play it in my own
absence,

47:40.880 --> 47:45.790
but otherwise everything will
be normal and the exams will

47:45.793 --> 47:47.953
come back on Wednesday.

47:47.949 --> 47:53.429
My impression is that the
grades are outrageously high.

47:53.429 --> 47:58.999