Criminal Capital

‘Criminalisation of politics and corruption are by far the most discussed, but least understood, topics in India. Andrew Sanchez has achieved a remarkable analytical tour de force in this masterfully researched and sharply insightful study that convincingly alters the way in which we conceive of the role of crime and the meanings of corruption in India's contemporary capitalism and democracy.’ — Nandini Gooptu, Associate Professor of South Asian Studies, University of Oxford

‘Criminal Capital tells an Indian tale of global relevance — what happens when economic liberalisation encourages firms to focus on profit in an era of global competition. The result is workers with little hope of security, and unions, companies and politicians with little sense of obligation to anyone but themselves.’ — James Carrier, Research Associate, Oxford Brookes University

‘Class and labour are back in vogue. Andrew Sanchez’s rich local ethnography of Jamshedpur, the quintessential company town around the Tata corporation, India, is shot through with global comparison and universalising insight. He shows how an ever more casualised local working class explains its condition with ideas of systemic corruption, and why those ideas make sense. A fantastic contribution to Indian labour ethnography as well as to global comparative class analysis.’ — Don Kalb, Professor of Social Anthropology, Central European University