The ‘aam aadmi’ obsession

As far back as I can remember I have always had an aversiontothe phrase ‘aam aadmi‘, the ‘common man’.Before anyone accuses me of elitismor snobbery, or labelsme anti-equality or anti-democracy or hautebourgeois or anything else, let me explain.

I dislike the phrase because it reduces all the great diversity inherent among and withinindividuals, sub-groups and largergroups – diversity ofouter concerns and challenges, diversity oftheir inner ranges ofconscious development – to one featureless...