ABSTRACT

While much has been written on the growth of information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services in India, little is known about the people who work in these industries, about the nature of the work itself, and about its wider social and cultural ramifications. The papers in this collection combine empirical research with theoretical insight to fill this gap and explore questions about the trajectory of globalization in India. The themes covered include: (a) sourcing and social structuring of the new global workforce; (b) the work process, work culture, regimes of control and resistance in IT-enabled industries; (c) work, culture and identity; (d) nations, borders and cross-border flows.

chapter |41 pages

Outposts of the Global Information Economy

Work and Workers in India's Outsourcing Industry

chapter |26 pages

Producing the Knowledge Professional

Gendered Geographies of Alienation in India's New High-tech Workplace

chapter |26 pages

The Scientific Imperative to be Positive

Self-reliance and Success in the Modern Workplace

chapter |28 pages

Software Work in India

A Labour Process View

chapter |21 pages

Empowerment and Constraint

Women, Work and the Family in Chennai's Software Industry

chapter |24 pages

‘Serviced from India'

The Making of India's Global Youth Workforce

chapter |28 pages

Work Organisation, Control and ‘Empowerment'

Managing the Contradictions of Call Centre Work