
The march towards a 'new India' began with its entry onto the global stage as a rising economic power, impelled by liberalization policies and the forces of globalization. The success of India's information technology (IT) industry symbolizes these larger developments, yet we lack a critical understanding of the wider social and cultural reverberations of this phenomenon. Reengineering India explores India's post-liberalization transformation through the lens of the software industry.This book views the IT industry as a key site where new identities, aspirations, and social imaginaries are being created and circulated. It examines the origins and organization of software capital, the production of the Indian IT workforce, the introduction of new forms of work and management, and the connections between software and the new middle class. The author argues that the software industry has been central to India's post-liberalization refashioning, yet it remains deeply embedded in older structures of inequality and modes of accumulation.An anthropological account of the relationship between work, class, capital, and culture in India's new economy, this book is essential reading for thinking about the future of the post-IT revolution nation.
How has the rapid expansion of the information technology industry fundamentally reshaped the social, cultural, and economic landscape of post-liberalization India? Carol Upadhya, an anthropologist, utilizes extensive ethnographic research to investigate the software sector as a primary catalyst for India's modern economic identity. She argues that while the IT industry projects an image of progress and global integration, it simultaneously reinforces and adapts existing domestic structures of inequality and class stratification. By examining the intersection of capital, labor, and cultural aspiration, the author provides a critical framework for understanding the complexities of India's contemporary economic trajectory.
What You Will Find
Scholars and sociologists frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the cultural dimensions of India's economic liberalization. Experts highlight the author's ability to bridge the gap between macroeconomic trends and the lived experiences of the workforce.
Page Count:
398
Publication Date:
2016-09-07
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0199461481
ISBN-13:
9780199461486
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