Below is the essay topic based upon the ethnography Working the Night Shift by Reena Patel.
The central question is how globalization affects the gender roles and family dynamics of the young women doing call center work. In the assignment below, I have also posed subsidiary questions that should also inform your answer to the central question. Although I expect that you will engage with these questions, feel free to compose and organize your answer as you see fit. That is, you need not simply work through each question in the sequence in which I have posed them below. Instead, follow whatever organization makes sense to you as long as you address these issues. Be sure to state your thesis in response to the central question in your opening paragraph. Be sure to use terminology from this course (like gender roles, etc.) and define the term you use.
The paper should be four full pages. You will need to read ahead in the book to complete this assignment. It is due in class on May 5. Finally, base your answer on actually reading this book, not on any other sources you might locate about it.
PLAIGIARIZED PAPERS WILL RESULT IN A GRADE OF “F” FOR THE COURSE.
Assignment:
Working the Night Shift describes how young Indian women navigate the opposing pressures they confront in choosing to work in call centers. On one side, the pressures to conform to the traditional gender roles of Indian women come from women’s families, neighbors and society as a whole. On the other side, the pressures to live a modern lifestyle come from the globalizing economy and the opportunities it presents not only to work in the call center but also to participate in an emerging consumer culture. How do Indian women navigate these opposing pressures? What are the gender role expectations they confront? What are the new opportunities presented to them by this new labor opportunity? How does globalization affect the gender roles and family dynamics of women who work in the call center industry?
