POWER,PRIVILEGE,AND CLASS STRUGGLES:READING PAKISTANI SOCIETY THROUGH SOCIAL HIERARCHIES

Abstract

This paper explores the interplay of power, privilege, and class struggles in Pakistani society, analyzing how social hierarchies are reproduced and contested through literature, culture, and institutions. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital, Michel Foucault’s notions of power and surveillance, and postcolonial insights from Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha, the study examines how elites consolidate authority while marginalized voices remain silenced or misrepresented. Through close readings of Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke, Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, and Mohammed Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes, alongside sociological perspectives, the article demonstrates how Pakistani Anglophone literature reflects and critiques entrenched inequalities. By situating texts within historical, political, and cultural contexts, it highlights literature’s dual role: exposing privilege while envisioning counter-discourses of justice. Ultimately, this paper argues that literature is not a passive mirror but an active site of resistance, offering imaginative possibilities for more egalitarian futures.