Ousting Outsourcing

Outsourcing, also called offshoring, is not a new trend, but it is a growing

one. This phenomenon involves subcontracting services from an outside supplier or
source.
Through its faults and corrosive nature, outsourcing is proving itself to be a
negative global trend.
One of the most ubiquitous outcries Americans raise against outsourcing is
its very nature: it funnels American jobs to foreign agencies and people. Though
it is only now becoming a widespread issue, outsourcing “has been happening for
many years” (LaGrotta). Indeed, many manufacturing jobs were outsourced to China
during the 1960s and ‘70s (O’Leary). The sudden clamor regarding outsourcing is
due to the fact that people are realizing the mercurial nature of employers and
the threat outsourcing possesses to their own well-being. Though the lasting
effects of outsourcing have yet to be measured, “surveys estimated that in 2004
some 14 million Americans, 10% of the nation’s workforce, held position that could
be outsourced” (O’Leary).
The reason for this high percentage of offshorable jobs is relatively clear:
money-driven corporations can pay workers in less developed countries (LDCs) a
fraction of what they pay American workers; and now, “with the advent of Internet-
based communications technology and improved education in many LDCs, increasing
numbers of highly skilled jobs in such areas as information technology (IT) and
financial management” are being outsourced every year (O’Leary).
Proponents of outsourcing claim companies “are not just outsourcing to save on
salary,” but also because “they can” find “better-skilled and more productive
people than” “American workers” (Friedman). However, the assumption that foreign
workers are more skilled is short-sighted. Unfortunately, many are under this
impression. Predictions that “3.4 million service-sector jobs will leave the U.S.
by 2015” (O’Leary) serve to justify claims that “America has not yet experienced
job creation rates so low since the Great Depression, undoubtedly as a result of
outsourcing” (Piatak).
Not only does outsourcing diminish the economic robustness of nations like
America, but also it excels in washing away the formerly inveterate culture of the
citizens of the countries in which outsourcing is carried out. The novelty money
outsourcing provides these citizens with effectively undermines the culture of the
younger generations in many LDCs. The fact that “more than half the world's top
500 companies now outsource either IT or business processes to India” (Seabrook)
is proving problematic for Indian culture. The young people of India “have
learned to distinguish between regional accents” and have come to “know all about
Coronation Street and EastEnders” (Seabrook). Though outsourcing provides them
with money, the social consequences of outsourcing don’t pay out. The Indians
“must never lose patience or express an opinion. They must submit to abuse –
racial and sexual – while remaining polite, no matter how badly they are
provoked.”
Not only must young Indians accommodate the Western identity, but also they must
abandon their own. Authorities go so far as to say “the most marketable skill in
India today is the ability to abandon your identity and slip into someone else’s”
(Seabrook). This adoption of foreign culture forces them to become, according to
Macaulay, “a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes,
in opinions, in morals and in intellect” (qtd. in Seabrook). Furthermore, the
outsourcing industry does nothing to better the Indian people on the whole, but
rather makes the most of their efficiency before disposing of them. Because “the
work is intense, stressful and highly artificial,” “there is a high turnover in
the industry.” Outsourcing prepares the Indians “for no future career,” and the
work “leaves no residue of useful experience than can be transferred” (Seabrook).
In this way, outsourcing is not only a negative economic trend, but also a
negative cultural trend.
Past experience has shown that the world economy heavily relies on the
success of the American market. This makes the threat of outsourcing to one
economy – the American economy – a threat to every economy. Without a doubt, the
greatest economic crisis in the world was exacerbated, if not completely
catalyzed, by a crash in the American economy. The Great Depression began with
“the stock market crash of October, 1929,” an event many refer to as Black
Thursday (Archibald 122). When American “stock prices fell dramatically,” “the
last” of the global “depressions started” (122). Though the Great Depression
began “in the United States,” it “spread quickly to the rest of the world,”
creating “a time of great hardship for many people” (122). Thus, the vitality of
the American market extends far beyond the borders of the United States and does,
indeed, have an enduring and eternal impact on other nations. Unless we want the
legacy of the American economy to be an inimical, diminutive one, it is
fundamental that we do away with outsourcing.
Unfortunately, evidence of outsourcing is growing, not declining. It is
imperative that outsourcing be ousted in favor of a more positive, less
detrimental source of inexpensive labor – one that does not undermine inveterate
economic vigor and cultural values – lest it destroy the natural balance of wealth
and well-being, and bring the developed world to its knees as economic crises have
done in the past.
Works Cited
Archibald, Robert B. "Depressions." The New Book of Knowledge. 21 vols. Danbury:
Grolier Incorporated, 1995.
LaGrotta, Frank. “Outsourcing Contributes to Poverty in America.” Opposing
Viewpoints Series. 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. The Woodlands High
School, The Woodlands, TX. 8 Apr. 2007 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/>.
O'Leary, Christopher. "Offshoring." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopædia
Britannica Online. The Woodlands High School, The Woodlands, TX. 7 Apr. 2007
<http://school.eb.com/>.
Piatak, Tom. “Outsourcing Threatens American Workers.” Opposing Viewpoints Series.
2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. The Woodlands High School, The
Woodlands, TX. 8 Apr. 2007 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/>.
Seabrook, Jeremy. "Outsourcing Culture." The Guardian 30 Oct. 2003. 4 Apr. 2007
<http://www.countercurrents.org>.