This book investigates the persistent mechanisms of labor exploitation and rural poverty in West India, questioning how historical structures of subordination endure within a modernizing economy. Jan Breman, a distinguished sociologist with extensive experience in South Asian studies, utilizes his long-term ethnographic fieldwork conducted in south Gujarat between 2004 and 2006. He constructs a rigorous argument that the current economic boom in the region relies heavily on the continued marginalization and forced dependency of the rural poor, challenging the narrative of inclusive growth.

Reader & Expert Consensus: Scholars and development experts recognize this work as a critical contribution to the study of agrarian change and labor exploitation in India. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the author's uncompromising focus on the structural inequalities inherent in the regional economy.