Class Conflict in South Asian Societies: a Marxist Examination of Monetary Power in the Runways by Fatima Bhutto

Abstract

In the thesis of the article, there has been an attempt to explain the class conflict of South Asian societies with the help of Marxist thinking on capital in the Runways. Using Marxist theory, class conflict and systemic class oppression in The Runways by Fatima Bhutto will be examined in relation to the South Asian order in which the capitalist spine of the system organizes power, ideological, and oppositional relations. The economic system of the novel sctructures social mobility and individual agency through primary Marxian class conflict, alienation, and commoditization of theense of worth economics of an them in which the rest of the nation is drawn into the system while Bhutto demonstrates stark class realities in Karachi. In the novel, characters either accept and internalize the frameworks which are designed to control and limit their agency, or challenge them. This examination shows the novel in a new light as it deeply criticizes The Runways, which unflinchingly exposes dehumanization in a neoliberal order, the absence of collective solidarity which is fragmented into individualistic aspirations. The Runways shows how the material conditions of politics of class deconstruction, withdrawal of potentials, and class dissent of the self which are primary to owning the defiant position – the internalized oppression of the domestic worker, the upper class and the elite in a marriage performative activism – which are central to the Marxist argument of ideological domination. The primary contribution is exploring the connection between economic structures and social discord of the novel, which calls for further investigation on the causality of a real-world class system. This is important because it highlights the contemporary relevance of class-sensitive critique. This research also extends the Marxist theory and class awareness approach to South Asian literature as a gap within the field is justifying the existence and importance of class analysis in these parts of the world and the increasing global class disparity.