Episode 2: Michael Levien and Smriti Upadhyay on Land Dispossession in India

The Marxist Sociology Blog Podcast

Our first Marxist Sociology Blog Podcast episode got a good response, so we decided to go back for a second round!

In this episode, Michael Levien and Smriti Upadhyay discuss their research on land dispossession in India. They ask a simple, fundamental question: why do some people resist dispossession, while others acquiesce? Through a systematic analysis of more than 23,000 major capital projects across India between 2007 and 2015, Levien and Upadhyay identify key factors that determine whether a project is likely to generate resistance or not. Some of their results may surprise you!

Michael Levien is Associate Profesor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. Smriti Upadhyay recently received her Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University.

The paper we discussed in this interview was published online in Politics & Society on May 21, 2021. It is entitled "Toward a Political Sociology of Dispossession: Explaining Opposition to Capital Projects in India." You can find it here: https://doi.org/10.1177/00323292211016587