In the Indian outsourcing industry, employees are expected to be "dead ringers" for the more expensive American workers they have replaced - complete with Westernized names, accents, habits, and lifestyles that are organized around a foreign culture in a distant time zone. Dead Ringers chronicles the rise of a workforce for whom mimicry is a job requirement and a passion. In the process, the book deftly explores the complications of hybrid lives and presents a vivid portrait of a workplace where globalization carries as ...
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In the Indian outsourcing industry, employees are expected to be "dead ringers" for the more expensive American workers they have replaced - complete with Westernized names, accents, habits, and lifestyles that are organized around a foreign culture in a distant time zone. Dead Ringers chronicles the rise of a workforce for whom mimicry is a job requirement and a passion. In the process, the book deftly explores the complications of hybrid lives and presents a vivid portrait of a workplace where globalization carries as many downsides as advantages. Shehzad Nadeem writes that the relatively high wages in the outsourcing sector have empowered a class of cultural emulators. These young Indians indulge in American-style shopping binges at glittering malls, party at upscale nightclubs, and arrange romantic trysts at exurban cafs. But while the high-tech outsourcing industry is a matter of considerable pride for India, global corporations view the industry as a low-cost, often low-skill sector. Workers use the digital tools of the information economy not to complete technologically innovative tasks but to perform grunt work and rote customer service. Long hours and the graveyard shift lead to health problems and social estrangement. Surveillance is tight, management is overweening, and workers are caught in a cycle of hope and disappointment. Through lively ethnographic detail and subtle analysis of interviews with workers, managers, and employers, Nadeem demonstrates the culturally transformative power of globalization and its effects on the lives of the individuals at its edges.
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Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 288 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Very good in very good dust jacket. Ex-library. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 273 p. Audience: General/trade. LCCN 2010031434 Type of material Book Personal name Nadeem, Shehzad, 1978-Main title Dead ringers: how outsourcing is changing the way Indians understand themselves / Shehzad Nadeem. Published/Created Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, c2011. Description xiii, 273 p.; 24 cm. ISBN 9780691147871 (hardcover: alk. paper) LC classification HD2365. N23 2011 Contents Leaps of faith--Variations on a theme--Macaulay's (cyber) children--The uses and abuses of time--The rules of the game--The infantilizing gaze or schmidt revisited--The juggernaut of global capitalism--Cyber coolies and techno-populists. LC Subjects Contracting out--India. Offshore outsourcing--India. Notes Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-263) and index. Dewey class no. 338.8/7 Geographic area code a-ii---
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
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