Phone clones : authenticity work in the transnational service economy / Kiran Mirchandani.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mirchandani, Kiran, 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Call center agents--India--Social conditions.

Call center agents.

Service industries workers--India--Social conditions.

Service industries workers.

Customer services--Social aspects--India.

Customer services.

International business enterprises--Social aspects--India.

International business enterprises.

Intercultural communication--India.

Intercultural communication.

Identity (Psychology)--India.

Identity (Psychology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (189 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : ILR Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: The Authentic Clone

1. Transnational Customer Service: A New Touchstone of Globalization

2. Language Training: The Making of the Deficient Worker

3. Hate Nationalism and the Outsourcing Backlash

4. Surveillance Schooling for Professional Clones

5. "Don't Take Calls, Make Contact!": Legitimizing Racist Abuse

6. Being Nowhere in the World: Synchronous Work and Gendered Time

Conclusion: Authenticity Work in the Transnational Service Economy

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780801464614

0801464617

9781322505350

1322505357

9780801464140

0801464145

OCLC:

786447021