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Intimate Economies pp 33–56Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The “Authentic Cybertariat”? Commodifying Feeling, Accents, and Cultural Identities in the Global South

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Globalization and Embodiment ((PSGE))

Abstract

This chapter extends current theorizing in affect studies by examining “cultural immersion” within Indian call centers. In order to sell a service, call center workers must suppress not only their feelings, but also names, accents, and cultural identities. Embedded within these practices is the assumption that in order to be “authentic,” Indian workers must convince customers of being “Western” (ized). The “cybertariat” is an embodied cultural performance within which Indian call centers engage in the social construction of the Westernized client and the racialized service provider. This imaginary is dialogic, just as the call center worker constructs the image of the Western client, so too is the racialized worker imagined. The findings highlight the complex ways by which the “intimate” is co-opted, performed, and resisted within global work.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Sweta Rajan-Rankin

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  1. Sweta Rajan-Rankin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Susanne Hofmann

  2. Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Adi Moreno

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Rajan-Rankin, S. (2016). The “Authentic Cybertariat”? Commodifying Feeling, Accents, and Cultural Identities in the Global South. In: Hofmann, S., Moreno, A. (eds) Intimate Economies. Palgrave Studies in Globalization and Embodiment. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56036-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56036-0_2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56036-0

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