This Palgrave Pivot revisits the topic of how British colonialism moulded work and life in India, and what kind of legacy colonialism left behind. Did British rule lead to India’s impoverishment, economic disruption and famine? Under British rule, evidence suggests there were beneficial improvements, with an eventual rise in life expectancy, and an increase in wealth for some sectors of the population and economy, notably for much business and industry. Yet many poor people suffered badly, with agricultural stagnation and an underfunded government who were too small to effect general improvements. Roy explains the paradoxical combination of wealth and poverty, looking at both the bright and dark sides of nineteenth century capitalism.Between 1850 and 1930, India was engaged in a globalization process not unlike the one it has seen since the 1990s. The difference between these two times is that much of the region was under British colonial rule during the first episode and formed of nation states during the second. Indians did not choose to be part of the nineteenth century globalization. The British rulers foisted an open economy upon them. Roy's narrative has a contemporary relevance for emerging economies, where again globalization has unleashed extraordinary levels of capitalistic energy while leaving many livelihoods poor, stagnant, and discontented. weiterlesen