Dharavi Social Location

Social location/pg. 4: The group membership that people have because of their location in history and society.
Dharavi is the largest slum in Mumbai. It consists of roughly 18 million people in one square mile; eighty-five percent of which have a job. A large majority of the residents’ jobs are involved in sorting through the trash to re-turn it into something usable. They are called rag pickers. While there are different districts in Dharavi, everyone still cooperates together. It is a community. Most everyone knows what it is like to be poor, whether it is currently, or in the past. Though the video only shined a light on a small portion of what really goes on in Dharavi, I got the impression that very few people used their position …show more content…
Wages are very low. As an example, rag pickers only earn $5 a day. As Americans, the notion of surviving off of so little is inconceivable. Those in Dharavi know what it is like to live daily with next to nothing, yet they still manage to save from the little they earn. Some are able to use these savings as a way to send their children to school. Countless others though are unable to save even this little bit, and cannot afford to put their children through school. If none of these people had ever lived in Dharavi, I do not think they would understand the value of what most would call garbage, or be able to live so well in community with those around them. Most people from better developed countries look down on lifestyles like this, and look past how this too is a way of life. A lot of people would suggest these people could have a better lifestyle if they tried, but do not realize that many of them have tried and achieved success in such a place as this. Over several generations, one family of rag …show more content…
If you are not working and trying to make things better, you are of little use. No job is unimportant. There are rag pickers, tailors, bakers, potters, school teachers and rickshaw drivers just to name a few. Each of these people helps make the society what it is. These seemingly minor jobs play a large role in making the society what it is. Mumbai is indebted to Dharavi for the many things each individual person living here does. A lot of the products manufactured in Dharavi are sent to nearby areas prospering more greatly and even the world at large. They people that many would view as expendable, really help make the world work better as a whole. A seemingly inconsequential society keeps equilibrium to not just their own surroundings, but those near and far removed from them. If the rag pickers were unwilling to sort through the “garbage”, few people in Dharavi would have anything to make more things. A lot of the tailors fabric and buttons most likely come from the rag pickers. If the rag pickers did not make money, then they would be unable to send their children to school, which would make the schools lose money. If no one made money from work, no one would eat, and the baker would be out of a job. Dharavi works as a body. Each part, or in this case people, help to keep the body running smoothly. When one suffers, they all suffer. In the same way, when one prospers, they all prosper. The world over all works much like