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The Politcal Economy Of Call

The Political Economy of Call-Centers:
Understanding the Intersections between Capitalism,
De-Culturalization, and Information Technology-Driven Globalization
Lubna Ayub Asif
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, USA
Contemporary globalization processes are continuously redefining the ways we live and communicate. In making this statement, I employ a liberal interpretation of the term globalization “as fostering international economic integration and as a mechanism for promoting global liberal capitalism” (Thussu 2006). This interpretation identifies an international division of labor, a heightened role of markets and transnational corporations as imperatives of the globalization processes, often at the cost of nation-states and indigenous communities (Thussu 2006).
It is generally agreed that giant leaps in information communications technology (ICT) are propelling global dynamism by accelerating greater intra-regional connectivity (Thussu and Sarikakis 2006; Mujahid 2002; Bettig 1996). The consequent trends are the “expansion of an information economy and the convergence of technologies” (Bettig 1996). Additionally, technology as the “new means of production in the virtual age of speed and freedom is associated with borderlessness of capitalist globalized markets” (Thussu and Sarikakis 2006). ICT is hence construed as a “key enabler of globalization” (Mujahid 2002).
One pronounced impact of these trends is the growth of ICT-enabled outsourcing of goods and services from the developed to the developing countries of the world (Mujahid 2002; Duening 2007). In this paper I explore the ICT-enabled call center sector which, despite their offshore locations, provide virtual remote-office functions to numerous U.S. companies and offers sales, service and support options to their customers (Johnson 2007; Duening 2007; Ueltschy, Herremans, Ryans 2006; Thomas and Wilkinson 2006).
In the first part of the paper, I present an overview of the impact of...