UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Dead Ringers: Globalization and the Paradoxes of Development and Identity a Dissertation
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Dead Ringers: Globalization and the Paradoxes of Development and Identity A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Shehzad Nadeem Committee in charge: Professor John Skrentny, Chair Professor Paul Frymer Professor Martha Lampland Professor Michael Schudson Professor Gershon Shafir Professor Harley Shaiken 2008 Copyright Shehzad Nadeem, 2008 All rights reserved. The dissertation of Shehzad Nadeem is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2008 iii Society is not a disease, it is a disaster. What a stupid miracle that one can live in it. E.M. Cioran iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page..............................................................................................................................iii Epigraph ....................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... v List of Tables................................................................................................................................ vi List of Acronyms.........................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................viii Vitae and Publications.................................................................................................................. ix Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ xi Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Globalization and Mimicry................................................................................... 15 Chapter Two: Macaulay’s (Cyber) Children............................................................................... 42 Chapter Three: The Uses and Abuses of Time............................................................................ 67 Chapter Four: The Rules of the Game......................................................................................... 95 Chapter Five: The Infantilizing Gaze........................................................................................ 128 Chapter Six: The Juggernaut of Global Capitalism................................................................... 166 Conclusion: Of Cyber-Coolies and Techno-Populists .............................................................. 190 Glossary of Outsourcing Terms ................................................................................................ 215 Appendix One ........................................................................................................................... 216 Appendix Two........................................................................................................................... 217 References ................................................................................................................................. 218 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Average Salaries for IT. .............................................................................................. .3 Table 1.2: Average Salaries for BPO (Non-voice)........................................................................ 4 Table 1.3: Average Salaries for BPO (Voice)............................................................................... 4 Table 1.4: Where Does Your Company Offshore or Intend to Offshore the Following Activities?.................................................................................................................................... 13 Table 2.1: Estimates of the Development of Export Processing Zones ..................................... .22 Table 2.2: Companies that Offshore Services to India............................................................... .25 Table 2.3: IT and ITES/BPO Sector Performance in India......................................................... 26 Table 2.4: Employment Figures in the IT and ITES/BPO Sector. .............................................. 26 vi LIST OF ACRONYMS BOSS Burn Out Stress Syndrome BPO Business Processing Outsourcing CEO Chief Executive Officer CIO Chief Information Officer COO Chief Operating Officer CSP Customer Services Professional CSR Customer Service Representative FY Financial Year GE General Electric HR Human Resources ICT Information and Communication Technologies ILO International Labour Organisation IT Information Technology ITES Information Technology Enabled Services KPO Knowledge Process Outsourcing NASSCOM National Association of Software and Services Companies UN United Nations UNI Union Network International vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my family. Without their support I would not have been able to begin or complete this dissertation. I am deeply indebted to John D. Skrentny for his searching comments, encouragement, and good humor throughout the research and writing process. The rest of the committee—Paul Frymer, Martha Lampland, Gershon Shafir, Michael Schudson, Harley Shaiken—were also pivotal in shaping the direction of the project and in keeping my morale up. Many other members of the Sociology Department helped me and this project along the way, among them Jeff Haydu, Akos Rona-Tas, Christena Turner, Isaac Martin, Mary Blair-Loy. Rafael Acevedo, Nora Bodrian, and Emmanuel de la Paz also provided crucial support. Some of my fellow graduate students deserve their own special thanks: Pierre “Jules” Feilles, Michael Haedicke, Nadav Gabay, Mariano Bargero, Paula Gutierrez, Larissa Leroux, Caroline Lee, Jas He, Melody Chiong, and Rika Yonemura. I cannot thank Michael enough for his hospitality on my visits back to San Diego. The University of California Labor and Employment Research Fund provided generous financial support for the researching and writing of the dissertation. The Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies, the Friends of the International Center, and the Dean’s Social Science Research Fund all provided funds for travel to South Asia. The University of California, Berkeley provided two Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships in Hindi and Urdu. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the many interviewees and research participants whose input and confidences took the project in often odd and unexpected directions. They gave of themselves freely and expected little in return and for that I am grateful. viii VITAE 2000 B.A., James Madison University 2001-2003 San Diego Fellowship, University of California, San Diego 2002-2003 Pre-dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Institute for Labor and Employment 2002-2003 Research Assistant, Living Wage Research Project, Center for Policy Initiatives 2003 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley 2003 M.A., University of California, San Diego 2003-2004 Teaching Assistant, Urban Studies and Planning and Sociology Departments, University of California, San Diego 2004 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Declined 2004 Dean’s Social Science Fund Research Grant, University of California- Washington Center 2004-2005 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley 2005 Travel Grant, Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies, University of California, San Diego 2005 Sigmond Schwartz Scholarship, Friends of the International Center 2005-2006 Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Labor and Employment Research Fund 2006 Sociology Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, San Diego, Declined 2006-2008 President’s Fellow and Instructor, University of California- Washington Center 2008 Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, Sociology ix PUBLICATIONS 2008 Shehzad Nadeem. “The Living Wage Movement and the Economics of Morality: Frames, Ideology, and the Discursive Field.” Research in Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change , Volume 28 (Fall): 137- 167. 2008 Shehzad Nadeem. “Macaulay’s (Cyber) Children: The Cultural Implications of Offshoring to India.” Cultural Sociology , Forthcoming. 2008 Shehzad Nadeem. Review of Freedoms and Solidarities: In Pursuit of Human Rights , by Judith Blau and Alberto Moncada, Contemporary Sociology , Forthcoming. 2009 Shehzad Nadeem. “The Uses and Abuses of Time: Time Arbitrage and Offshoring to India.” Global Networks , Fortcoming. x ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Dead Ringers: Globalization and the Paradoxes of Development and Identity by Shehzad Nadeem Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, San Diego, 2008 Professor John Skrentny, Chair This study investigates, through ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews in India and the U.S., the causes