著者

NAULT Derrick

出版者

関西学院大学

雑誌

関西学院大学欧文紀要. 人文科学編 (ISSN:13428853)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.10, pp.51-72, 2006-02-28

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Indian call centers serving American clients are a recent phenomenon made possible by improvements in communications technologies and the global outsourcing of business services from the United States. This paper investigates the implications of this form of globalization on Indian call center workers and Indian culture. Using the concept of deterritorialization, the study reveals that call centers represent a highly globalized work space in which workers' sense of time, place, identity and voice are all challenged by pressures emanating from abroad. However, the picture that emerges of globalization via call centers is contradictory. Although call center training and working conditions are often disagreeable and may appear to Americanize or de-Indianize workers, call center employees generally do not internalize American linguistic and cultural norms and remain distinctly Indian in outlook. Displaying resilience and initiative, they also maximize the economic advantages of their job positions. The case of Indian call center workers, therefore, challenges notions of an all-powerful globalization that homogenizes, Americanizes and undermines cultures in the developing world.