Decolonizing culture: Euro-American psychology and the shaping of neoliberal selves in India

Abstract

Adopting a decolonizing framework, this article examines the role of mainstream Euro-American psychology in shaping neoliberal conceptions of self in many postcolonial nations such as India. We specifically draw on our respective ethnographic research to analyze identity formation in Indian cultural contexts. Our article is organized around three goals. First, we show how Indian outsourcing industries have become heavily reliant on Euro-American “personality tests” and are used for recruitment, screening, promotion, cross-cultural communication, and to motivate employees to become happy and positive workers. Second, we examine the tensions around identity or values that Indian youth face while embracing the ideology of Western corporate culture and acquiring new transnational identities. Third, we analyze how mental health in India is being shaped by neoliberalism by investigating the villagers’ narratives in Nandigram, who encountered brutal acts of political violence by the state of West Bengal in India.