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Domestic Labour — The Experience of Work in India’s Other Call Centre Industry

In: Work and Life in the Global Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Phil Taylor
  • Premilla D’Cruz
  • Ernesto Noronha
  • Dora Scholarios

Abstract

In the film Slumdog Millionaire, the central character Jamal Malik gains employment in a Mumbai call centre as a chai wallah. Scenes from this workplace, particularly the one in which Jamal stands in for a customer service representative and mishandles a call from a Scottish customer, resonate with the multiple images and perceptions popularly associated with the Indian call centre: cultural and linguistic difference and misunderstanding, crowded and fast-paced workplaces, the youth of its upwardly mobile workforce, technological domination, the concealment of the centres’ locations and the ambiguous identities of employees. Although myths persist, such as that presented in the film of management giving agents daily updates of UK soap operas so that they can better empathize with customers (Taylor and Bain 2005), these representations do reflect a material reality, the relocation of interactive service work from the English-speaking developed economies (principally the United States and the United Kingdom) to the developing countries (notably India) (Dossani and Kenney 2003; Taylor 2009).

Suggested Citation

  • Phil Taylor & Premilla D’Cruz & Ernesto Noronha & Dora Scholarios, 2010. "Domestic Labour — The Experience of Work in India’s Other Call Centre Industry," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Debra Howcroft & Helen Richardson (ed.), Work and Life in the Global Economy, chapter 6, pages 99-123, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-27797-7_6
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230277977_6
    as

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