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Globalization, Work and Urban Identities in Kolkata, India
| In India's economic transformation in the past two decades, cities have assumed a particular centrality as as ‘Generators of Economic Momentum’ and as the key site of an emerging entrepreneurial culture. Business, enterprise, technology and a knowledge-based service economy dominate public imagination as the sources of both individual social mobility and national economic growth. Cities have not only witnessed significant changes in the organization of work, labour markets, employment relations and workplace practices, but also a re-evaluation of the social worth, public status and discursive meanings of various forms of work and labour. At the same time, India's ‘demographic dividend’, in the form of a youthful population has been celebrated as an untapped potential for national regeneration through participation in the new entrepreneurial and consumer economy. Within this context, this paper compares the work experience and political perceptions of two sections of urban youth in two different social and occupational settings in the metropolitian city of Kolkata: one from a so-called 'sunset' sector, adversely affected by economic restructuring and industrial decline, and the other a 'sunrise' sector and an icon of India’s economic success at the heart of the new consumer culture and retail boom. The paper seeks to shed light on the impact of recent urban transformation from the analytical vantage point of the interplay of work, labour and political ideas and practice of young people.
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