Phone Clones: Authenticity Work in the Transnational Service Economy - Couverture souple

Mirchandani, Kiran

 
9780801477676: Phone Clones: Authenticity Work in the Transnational Service Economy
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0801477670 ISBN 13 : 9780801477676
Editeur : ILR Press, 2012

Synopsis

Transnational customer service workers are an emerging touchstone of globalization given their location at the intersecting borders of identity, class, nation, and production. Unlike outsourced manufacturing jobs, call center work requires voice-to-voice conversation with distant customers; part of the product being exchanged in these interactions is a responsive, caring, connected self. In Phone Clones, Kiran Mirchandani explores the experiences of the men and women who work in Indian call centers through one hundred interviews with workers in Bangalore, Delhi, and Pune.

As capital crosses national borders, colonial histories and racial hierarchies become inextricably intertwined. As a result, call center workers in India need to imagine themselves in the eyes of their Western clients--to represent themselves both as foreign workers who do not threaten Western jobs and as being "just like" their customers in the West. In order to become these imagined ideal workers, they must be believable and authentic in their emulation of this ideal. In conversation with Western clients, Indian customer service agents proclaim their legitimacy, an effort Mirchandani calls "authenticity work," which involves establishing familiarity in light of expectations of difference. In their daily interactions with customers, managers and trainers, Indian call center workers reflect and reenact a complex interplay of colonial histories, gender practices, class relations, and national interests.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

À propos de l?auteur

Kiran Mirchandani is Associate Professor in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She is the coauthor of Criminalizing Race, Criminalizing Poverty and coeditor of The Future of Lifelong Learning and Work.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
ILR Press
Date d'édition
2012
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0801477670
ISBN 13 
9780801477676
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
192
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780801450648: Phone Clones: Authenticity Work in the Transnational Service Economy

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0801450640 ISBN 13 :  9780801450648
Editeur : ILR Press, 2012
Couverture rigide