Brokering Culture and Labor

Akiko Murata

The rapid expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) has accelerated the distribution of work across geographically dispersed areas, and this transnational relocation of work is viewed as a seamless transaction by proponents of technological globalization. However, a close examination of the collaboration involved in Indian/Japanese software offshoring illuminates an array of difficulties that problematize the "seamlessness" of this endeavor. This dissertation investigated the complex social world of offshoring by focusing on analyzing India-Japan software offshoring, and the study revealed corporate control as well as workers' efforts and struggles to make this ICT-supported relocation of work function smoothly. Through the analysis of the interviews with Indian software engineers and liaison officers between companies and within companies, in combination with...