This article examines how rapid urbanization affects ethnic identity politics among rural-urban migrants in India. Drawing on an ethnographic survey experiment with N=4,218 poor migrants, it challenges conventional predictions about whether class or ethnicity shapes their social divisions.

Context is Key:

The author explores if migration erases village-based ethnic differences or amplifies them when exposed to diverse urban environments.

New Findings:

Contrary to expectations, intra-class ethnic divisions aren't uniform across the city. They dissolve in specific contexts where employers and politicians trigger a shared identity among migrants by treating them as equals first (class) before anything else.

The Experiment Reveals:

Poor migrants ignore their ethnic differences when interacting with elites who focus on class unity. But these same divisions persist during peer-to-peer interactions, showing the limitations of common identities under certain conditions.

These bifurcated findings suggest that poor rural migrants in Indian cities are potentially available for both ethnically-targeted and class-based political mobilization efforts.