The self is both a sociological and a psychological construct. It is investigated in this paper from the perspectives of sociology of work, critical management studies and employment relations. Accordingly, drawing upon ethnographic research, this article seeks to unravel how an employee defines herself or himself in two realms—the organizational and the personal—respectively against the background of changing Indian IT industry marked by uncertainty and rising job insecurity. It examines how these two realms converge to bring about an individual’s sense of ‘dasein’ or being. The self is entwined in the value chain of the Indian IT labour process and, within it, soft HRM discursive practices seek to constitute and mould the ‘disciplined confessional self’ who is supposed to be not only autonomous but a proactive and proactive team player. This article identifies the sources from which the self finds definitions and validation in the liquid modern context of the ‘gig economy’. It seeks to reflect upon the ramifications arising out of the interplay between Western and Indian managerial repertoires and, finally, the interplay of caste and class against changing Indian societal norms and expectations. In doing so, it looks at the micro and macro means through which the self seeks to obviate its incoherence and find resonance and fullness. Given the volatile political economy of the Indian IT industry labour process, much of the work is repetitive and fragmented, and individuals feel alienated and burnt out after the initial excitement of experiencing the Sapient or Cisco way of life. They adopt various coping mechanisms reminiscent of Burawoy’s (1985) respondents to fight job insecurity and to secure their peer group’s acceptance. Thus, the onus of negotiating inherent dualities for finding meaning in the organizational realm, and yet leaving room for a transcendental individual coherent self whose larger ‘internal conversation’ transcends the existential concern of the structured antagonism of the wage–employment relationship, lies upon the individual rather than the organization.

中文翻译：

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我是谁？民族志研究探讨印度IT员工的组织和个人自我建构

自我既是社会学的，也是心理的。本文从工作社会学，批判管理研究和雇佣关系的角度进行了研究。因此，本文以人种学研究为基础，力求揭示员工如何分别在不确定性和工作不安全感日趋明显的印度IT行业变化的背景下，将自己定义为组织和个人两个领域。它研究了这两个领域如何融合以产生个人的“镇静”或存在感。自我与印度IT劳动力流程的价值链纠缠在一起，在其中，软性HRM话语实践试图构成和塑造“纪律的悔自我”，该人不仅具有自主性，而且具有积极主动的团队精神。本文确定了自我在“零工经济”流动的现代语境中从中找到定义和验证的来源。它试图反思西方和印度管理阶层之间的相互作用所产生的后果，最后是种姓和阶级对不断变化的印度社会规范和期望的相互作用所产生的后果。在这样做的过程中，它着眼于自我寻求消除其不连贯并找到共鸣和丰满的微观和宏观手段。鉴于印度IT行业劳动力流程的政治经济动荡不定，许多工作是重复性的，分散的，在经历了Sapient或Cisco的生活方式的最初激动之后，个人感到疏远和精疲力尽。他们采用了各种应对机制，使人想起了Burawoy（1985）的受访者，以应对工作上的不安全感并确保他们的同伴被接纳。因此，谈判固有的对偶性以在组织领域中寻找意义，而又为超然的个人连贯自我留出了空间，其更大的“内部对话”超越了工资与雇佣关系的结构性对立的存在关切。个人而不是组织。