India

Abstract

This article explores the history of the labor movement in India and the parallel development of labor sociology. It assesses the influence of Western models of labor, stressing their weaknesses in diagnosing the peculiarity of the Indian situation. Because of these models, and also because of the narrow concerns of trade unions, until recently labor studies overlooked the overwhelming proportion of the work force—namely, the informal workers. Despite all the hype about business process outsourcing companies and call centers, it is this sector of the labor force that has increased most rapidly during the past 15 years since the beginning of market liberalization. Although sociological studies are catching up with the transformation of the labor force, there still remain very few contacts between scholars and labor unions or labor activists.