Feeling the Pressure to Cover - Case Study Example

The need for cover is not only in the call centers operating from India but even in the United States, which prides itself as a nation that embraces diversity. Wherever you go, you can see instances of ordinary Americans 'covering' under pressure. That is, pretending to what they are not pretending to be like the mainstream. According to Kenji Yoshino who writes in his article, "The Pressure to Cover" published in the New York Times of January 15, 2006, people "play down their outsider identities to blend into the mainstream.

" Although the laws against discrimination have become pretty strict with the enforcement of "a battery of civil Rights Laws" like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, there are still subtler forms of discrimination practiced. Now entire ethnic groups or racial minorities are not targeted for discrimination, but there is still discrimination against individuals who dare to go against the mainstream. Yoshino says that individuals are forced to 'cover'. Since the existing civil rights laws do not protect individuals fully, they are forced to concede to the social demands to 'cover'.

I have come across many people who try to cover. I remember I used to wear long-sleeved shirts even in summer when I had an attack of eczema in my elbow when I was seven years old. I was just covering my stigma, although everybody knew about eczema. Fortunately for me, it got cured very soon and I could wear comfortable clothes. My friend Singh who belongs to a religious sect called Sikhs wears a turban according to the tenets of his religion and has long hair. Although his ambition is to join the air force, he can never do so.

Sociologist Irving Goffman's 1963 book, "Stigma" provided the inspiration for Yoshino. According to Goffman, covering was practiced even by the famous like President F.D.Roosevelt. "He relates how F.D.R. stationed himself behind a desk before his advisors came in for a meeting. He was covering, playing down his disability so people would focus on his more conventionally presidential qualities." (Yoshino) Yoshino gives examples of other famous personalities who resorted to covering- Helen Keller got artificial glass eyes in place of her natural, protruding eyes, Margaret Thatcher got coaching in speaking, many famous personalities like Martin Sheen and Ben Kingsley changed their original names to Anglo-Saxon sounding names.

Covering is done by people who have already admitted that they have a stigma, and make efforts to ensure that the stigma is not very noticeable.Karthikeyan told me about his own son, a little boy of six, whom the parents have named Ashwin. "I call him Ash, and my wife calls him Win. We are happy both the names sound American," he said smugly. Many non-white and non-Anglo Saxon ethnic groups have started giving Anglo-Saxon sounding names to their children. Almost all Chinese Americans have an English name; there are many Charlies and Jimmys in Chinatowns.

It is a well-known fact that many Hollywood stars have changed their names to make them more English sounding. Kirk Douglas' real name was Issur Danielovitch Demsky, and Ben Kingsley's was Krishna Bhanji.Changing their real names is also a sort of cover. When Karthikeyan introduces himself as 'Karr', he is taking refuge in a cover, he is trying to blend seamlessly into the mainstream.