Virtual Migration , livre ebook

209

pages

English

Ebooks

2006

Écrit par
Aneesh A. Aneesh

Publié par
Duke University Press

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Découvre YouScribe et accède à tout notre catalogue !

Je m'inscris

Découvre YouScribe et accède à tout notre catalogue !

Je m'inscris

209

pages

English

Ebooks

2006

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Duke University Press

Date de parution

24 avril 2006

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780822387534

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

Workers in India program software applications, transcribe medical dictation online, chase credit card debtors, and sell mobile phones, diet pills, and mortgages for companies based in other countries around the world. While their skills and labor migrate abroad, these workers remain Indian citizens, living and working in India. A. Aneesh calls this phenomenon "virtual migration," and in this groundbreaking study he examines the emerging "transnational virtual space" where labor and vast quantities of code and data cross national boundaries, but the workers themselves do not. Through an analysis of the work of computer programmers in India working for the American software industry, Aneesh argues that the programming code connecting globally dispersed workers through data servers and computer screens is the key organizing structure behind the growing phenomenon of virtual migration. This "rule of code," he contends, is a crucial and underexplored aspect of globalization.Aneesh draws on the sociology of science, social theory, and research on migration to illuminate the practical and theoretical ramifications of virtual migration. He combines these insights with his extensive ethnographic research in offices in three locations in India-in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida-and one in New Jersey. Aneesh contrasts virtual migration with "body shopping," the more familiar practice of physically bringing programmers from other countries to work on site, in this case, bringing them from India to New Jersey. A significant contribution to the social theory of globalization, Virtual Migration maps the expanding transnational space where globalization is enacted via computer programming code.

Voir

Publié par

Duke University Press

Date de parution

24 avril 2006

EAN13

9780822387534

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

2 Mo

Virtual

Migration

Virtual

Migration

The Progra m m ing of Globalization

                 

          

. 

   

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 

Typeset in Adobe Garamond by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

For mummy and babuji

Contents

Acknowledgments

  Of Code and Capital

  Program ming Globalization: Visions and Revisions

  Body Shopping

  Virtual Migration

  Action Scripts: Rule of the Code

  Code as Money

  Migrations: Nations, Capital, and the State

  A Note on Method

  Tables

Notes

Bibliography

Index

100

133

153

165

171

175

179

191

Acknowledgments

s I look back, a number of conversations, writings, faces, and smiles come A into view. Perhaps ‘‘gratitude,’’ not acknowledgment, is the word. A deep sense of gratitude overwhelms my memory of the period when this book was conceived, researched, and written. Individualizing frames of authorship aside, the book is an extraordinary kind of debt free from a demand for any return. Borrowed ideas, freely available frames of analysis, active mentoring, and support from many people and institutions made possible the work, which ﬁts in more with the notion of ‘‘putting together’’ than with the romantic notion of authorship. While the author unavoidably disappears be-hind his writing, which frees itself from the author through the reader’s as-signed meanings, I do take responsibility for any failure in creating a fresh opening into the subject of globalization. My ﬁrst expression of gratitude goes to József Böröcz, who has been to me a combination of diverse cate-gories: advisor, colleague, and friend. Without his encouragement this work would not have been completed. Special thanks are due to Lee Clarke and Eviatar Zerubavel, who advised and supported me through the entire pro-cess of conception, research, and writing. I must also thank Saskia Sassen not only for her intellectual presence in my work but also for her support and mentoring during all these years. They all helped in shaping an academic career and giving it direction. I am deeply indebted to the software companies that allowed me to visit their premises as well as all the executives and programmers who agreed to have conversations with me. A few institutions contributed greatly toward the completion of this work. First, I thank the Sociology Department and all the associated people at Rut-gers University, which remained a ground for learning and professional so-cialization for many years. The Population Council and the International Mi-gration Program of the Social Science Research Council, with their generous

Voir