IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v177y2022i4d10.1007_s10551-022-05096-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ambedkar, Radical Interdependence and Dignity: A Study of Women Mall Janitors in India

Author

Listed:
  • Ramaswami Mahalingam

    (University of Michigan)

  • Patturaja Selvaraj

    (Gettysburg College)

Abstract

In this paper, using Ambedkar’s pioneering vision for engaged Buddhism, we developed the notion of radical interdependence, which consists of four interrelated processes: (a) dialogical recognition; (b) negating invisibilities; (c) dignity as an embodied praxis; (d) ordinary cosmopolitanism. Our research primarily focused on women janitors’ lives (N = 20) in a Mumbai Mall using this conception. Our participants experienced four different kinds of dignity injuries (yelling, invisibility, the target of suspicion of theft of valuables, othering). They used various strategies to preserve personal, intersubjective, and processual dignities. We also found horizontal and vertical ordinary cosmopolitanism strategies to bridge social boundaries between colleagues and mall customers. We further discuss the implications of radical interdependence for organizational research.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramaswami Mahalingam & Patturaja Selvaraj, 2022. "Ambedkar, Radical Interdependence and Dignity: A Study of Women Mall Janitors in India," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(4), pages 813-828, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:177:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-022-05096-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-022-05096-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-022-05096-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-022-05096-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hari Bapuji & Snehanjali Chrispal, 2020. "Understanding Economic Inequality Through the Lens of Caste," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 533-551, March.
    2. Caroline A. Bartel & Amy Wrzesniewski & Batia M. Wiesenfeld, 2012. "Knowing Where You Stand: Physical Isolation, Perceived Respect, and Organizational Identification Among Virtual Employees," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 743-757, June.
    3. Hodson,Randy, 2001. "Dignity at Work," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521771313, October.
    4. Mehdi Boussebaa & Shuchi Sinha & Yiannis Gabriel, 2014. "Englishization in offshore call centers: A postcolonial perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(9), pages 1152-1169, December.
    5. Kristen Lucas & Dongjing Kang & Zhou Li, 2013. "Workplace Dignity in a Total Institution: Examining the Experiences of Foxconn’s Migrant Workforce," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 91-106, April.
    6. Hodson,Randy, 2001. "Dignity at Work," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521778121, October.
    7. Fallon, Peter R & Lucas, Robert E B, 1991. "The Impact of Changes in Job Security Regulations in India and Zimbabwe," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 5(3), pages 395-413, September.
    8. Fahreen Alamgir & Ozan N. Alakavuklar, 2020. "Compliance Codes and Women Workers’ (Mis)representation and (Non)recognition in the Apparel Industry of Bangladesh," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 295-310, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola M. Pless & Thomas Maak & Howard Harris, 2017. "Art, Ethics and the Promotion of Human Dignity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 223-232, August.
    2. Zawadzki Michał, 2018. "Dignity in the Workplace. The Perspective of Humanistic Management," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 26(1), pages 171-188, March.
    3. John Paul Stephens & Jason Kanov, 2017. "Stories as Artworks: Giving Form to Felt Dignity in Connections at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 235-249, August.
    4. Christian Fieseler & Eliane Bucher & Christian Pieter Hoffmann, 2019. "Unfairness by Design? The Perceived Fairness of Digital Labor on Crowdworking Platforms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 987-1005, June.
    5. Peter Hamilton & Tom Redman & Robert McMurray, 2019. "‘Lower than a Snake’s Belly’: Discursive Constructions of Dignity and Heroism in Low-Status Garbage Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 889-901, June.
    6. Fahreen Alamgir & Hari Bapuji & Raza Mir, 2022. "Challenges and Insights from South Asia for Imagining Ethical Organizations: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(4), pages 717-728, May.
    7. Daniel B. Cornfield, 2005. "Professions and inter-disciplinary teamwork in socially embedded bureaucracies: Synthesis and hypotheses on the impact of informal and formal organization," Enterprise and Work Innovation Studies, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, IET/CICS.NOVA-Interdisciplinary Centre on Social Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, vol. 1(1), pages 27-36, November.
    8. Rachael Pope, 2017. "The NHS: Sticking Fingers in Its Ears, Humming Loudly," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 577-598, October.
    9. Francisco José León, 2011. "Peer loyalty and quota restriction as social norms: A case study of their emergence," Rationality and Society, , vol. 23(1), pages 75-115, February.
    10. Peter Butler & Anita Hammer, 2019. "‘A Minute’s a Life-Time in Fast-Food!’: Managerial Job Quality in the Quick Service Restaurant Sector," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(1), pages 96-111, February.
    11. David Courpasson & Françoise Dany & Ignasi Martí, 2016. "Organizational Entrepreneurship as Active Resistance: A Struggle against Outsourcing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(1), pages 131-160, January.
    12. Marjolein Lips-Wiersma & Lani Morris, 2009. "Discriminating Between ‘Meaningful Work’ and the ‘Management of Meaning’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 491-511, September.
    13. Po-Keung Ip, 2009. "Developing a Concept of Workplace Well-Being for Greater China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 59-77, March.
    14. Jan Ch. Karlsson & Egil J. Skorstad & Jonas Axelsson, 2015. "On the Track of the Worker Collectivity," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, April.
    15. Schieman, Scott & Reid, Sarah, 2009. "Job authority and health: Unraveling the competing suppression and explanatory influences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 1616-1624, December.
    16. Silvia Maja Melzer & Martin Diewald, 2020. "How Individual Involvement with Digitalized Work and Digitalization at the Workplace Level Impacts Supervisory and Coworker Bullying in German Workplaces," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-21, September.
    17. Helena Lundberg & Jan Ch. Karlsson, 2011. "Under the clean surface," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(1), pages 141-148, March.
    18. Emma Hughes & Tony Dobbins, 2021. "Frontier of control struggles in British and Irish public transport," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(3), pages 327-344, September.
    19. Christopher Shane Elliott & Gary Long, 2016. "Manufacturing rate busters: computer control and social relations in the labour process," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(1), pages 135-151, February.
    20. Cheryl Cockburn-Wootten & Alison McIntosh, 2020. "Improving the Accessibility of the Tourism Industry in New Zealand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:177:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-022-05096-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.