In the U.S. we are told we can become anything we want when we grow up. Not so much in India where hundreds of millions of people are held back by a deeply entrenched caste system that refuses to go away. Despite being outlawed in 1950, just three short years after the end of British rule, the nearly 90 years of British rule perpetuated and may have institutionalized the caste system for all future generations.
To understand what a caste system is, Wright tells us “Think of it as the opposite of the American Dream. Each caste is said to have come from a different part of the body of Brahma, the Hindu creator god. In the caste system, people are born into their situation in life, including the occupations open to them. And because they can only marry people within their caste, it’s a vicious cycle that never ends.”
With the election of an Indian President, from the lowest caste called Dalits, K.R. Narayanan, and the explosion of outsourced MNC (multinational corporation) jobs for entry-level workers, hope to increase the opportunities for those in lower castes is at a near frenzy. Outsourcing companies have exploded in India since the U.S. began outsourcing service jobs in the early 2000s.
Called BPO’s, (Business Processing Outsourcing Companies), these are the mega employers who front massive customer service call centers for some of the largest multinational companies (MNC’s) in the U.S. Clients like Microsoft, United Airlines, Infosys and Wells Fargo, just to name a few, are among the giants who have outsourced call center jobs to India. With these jobs comes the promise of a better life for those not wealthy enough for a college education. There is one catch however, proficiency in the English language is a must.
Gaining proficiency in the English language can become a game-changer for those in lower castes. Often families pool what little money they have together to give one of their family members a shot at changing everyone’s future. Teaching English proficiency and especially the removal of accents or the adoption of regional U.S. accents has become a big business in India. To address the demand of English-speaking countries, hundreds of these training centers have sprung up all over India – promising a future for the equivalent of $900 or more per class. Let’s put this in perspective.
To understand the impact of gaining a strong English proficiency Hartley and Walker provide a glimpse into the life of a young man named Krishna,
“Krishna Shah is 30 years old and unmarried. To a conservative Indian family like his, that combination is unacceptable. The South Indian comes from a culture where expectations are that men marry by the time, they are 25. But in India, one of the requisites of the desirable bachelor is a respectable job, and Krishna hasn’t been able to land one. Though he spent years working abroad in Dubai for a graphic design firm, he hasn’t been able to transfer that experience back into a job at home. Now, Krishna is anxious to settle down and start a family, pressured by the rumors circulating among his village 40 kilometers south of Mysore.
“My family and friends will speak fine when they’re in front of me, but as soon as I go away, they backstab me like anything,” he revealed during one of our class breaks, referring to gossip around the dining room table when he isn’t home.
Krishna thinks that a job at a call center is the key to tying the knot. In India, the customer service jobs are known to be respectable and well-paying, enough to give Krishna the income, and the title, to become a suitable bachelor. While a typical wage earner earns 5,000 rupees a month, a call center employee takes in as much as 15,000 rupees (300 dollars). “
Hartley and Walker continue on this subject, “As long as your accent is good, it’s not that hard to get a job on the floor, because of the high burnout rate and booming industry. There are over 265,000 BPO jobs in Bangalore alone, of which call center positions represent a sizable proportion.
While India has declared they are no longer discriminating against lower caste levels and there are, in some places, affirmative action guidelines it is by no means the norm to offer an opportunity to all. The barrier to entry might have been diminished and certainly more people than ever before have access to language training but economic mobility and opportunity are still out of reach by many.
In a country whose cultural norm for more than 5000 years is steeped in collectivism versus individualism, India also scores very highly on the Hofstede scale for power distance. Meaning they are more willing to tolerate a society with wide distances between rich and poor. These two areas seem, particularly at odds. Plus, when you factor in the impact of British colonialism which created even more power distance and reinforced the deeply entrenched caste practices already held in Indian society. There was an unintended consequence. “English as the language of status and achievement in India is creating another layer of societal hierarchy, internalized oppression, and control that the country can do without.” (Staff, 2017)
References
Hartley, M., & Walker, C. (2012, December 20). The culture shock of INDIA’S call centers. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/morganhartley/2012/12/16/the-culture-shock-of-indias-call-centers/#4004cd6272f5
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
Staff, P. (2017, March 23). How English creates a new caste system in India. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://psmag.com/news/how-english-creates-a-new-caste-system-in-india
Wright, M. (2017, March 20). The Indian caste system explained. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://www.thenotsoinnocentsabroad.com/blog/the-indian-caste-system-explained
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