ABSTRACT

This article analyses neo-colonial dynamics at peripheral units of a Western global professional service firm. Drawing on postcolonial theory, an empirical study at global news agency Reuters’ subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bangalore shows how socio-ideological and technocratic control mechanisms allow subsidiary workers to elevate their status, while still cementing their role as dominated in the global hierarchy and silencing any resistance. Thus, on the one hand, it might appear that the global service firm provides periphery units the opportunity to become equals of core units, representing a ‘nurturing’ role achieved by instilling aspirational values and shaping imaginations. On the other hand, coercive and universalising routines such as performance assessments highlight the ambivalent nature of global firm initiatives to incorporate the periphery on an equal footing with core units, demonstrating the countervailing nature of contemporary power relations.

摘要

本文分析了一家西方全球专业服务公司的外围部门的新殖民主义动态。利用后殖民理论，对路透社在孟买和班加罗尔的子公司进行的一项实证研究表明，社会意识形态和技术官僚控制机制如何使子公司的工人在提升地位的同时，还能巩固其在全球等级制中的主导地位，并使任何人沉默抵抗性。因此，一方面，全球服务公司似乎为外围单位提供了与核心单位平等的机会，这代表着通过灌输理想价值和塑造想象力而实现的“培育”作用。另一方面，