The Application Of Steam Filature And The Social Structural Change In Modern China

The paper takes the application of steam filature as an example, and probes into the behavior of the gentry, the worker and the silkworm farmer. On the basis of that, the paper discusses the inter-construction between the application of technology and the organizational and social change. The application of new technology not only changed the interest construction, but also changed the organization and social construction directly and indirectly: such as from farmer to worker, from village to city, and so on. The paper finds that the new construction was partly determined by the interaction between the technology and the social structure and the culture tradition. In the inter-construction between technology and social structure, on the one hand, the same technology may constructure different structures; on the other hand, different structures will determine the direction and speed of technology change.And, the steam faliture constructed different structures between (and in) Changjiang Delta and Zhujiang Delta. Finally, the paper probes into the the stability of the new social structure, and finds that the structure which induces the conflict of group interest is less stable, and gradually to be the interest-sharing structure which is more stable.In the instruction, here is the topic, data source, research method and the value of the paper. At the same time, it also reviews the important researches in the relative field.Chapter 1 introduces the application of steam filature. The greatest difference between steam filature and house filature is that it is draughted by steam engine organized into the factory. Besides, the steam filature was centralized in Changjiang Delta and Zhujiang Delta. And in Changjiang Delta, most filature factories were in Shanghai and Wuxi city, where didn't produce silkworm; in Zhujiang Delta, they lied in the villages of Shunde and Nanhai, where produce silkworm.Chapter 2 analyses the gentry's role in the application of steam filature. The data showed that the comprador, overseas Chineses and the gentry who have studied overseas were the first group who introduced the steam filature. And those got their title throught the imperial examinations and embraced Confucianism most deeply, were the latest one. At the same time, there was huge difference between two regions in gentry's engagement. On the basis of above, the author discusses the interaction between the application of steam filature and the change of value. It's not doubt that the traditional value defined the gentry's opinion to the new technology; on the other hand, the successful application stimulated the transition of gentry's value. In addition, this chapter also probes into the interaction between the application of technology and the social structure.Chapter 3 probes into the interaction among social structure and the technoloby and the users. The application of steam filature brought an organization, that's the factory, and a new career. And some farmer turned into worker who got wage. Here's big difference in social change between the two Deltas too. In Zhujiang Delta, the factories lie in the village where its worker came from. So, the worker gained the backup from their villages, families and clans, which promised the worker played a more important role in the technological change, even can change its schedule and direction. In Changjiang Delta, the worker had to go far from their villages to Shanghai and Wuxi city. So that, they could't get any backup from their families and clans, and had not significant influence on the technological change.Based on the phenomena that steam filature in Changjiang Delta where owned the economic opportunities fell far behind Zhujiang Delta's, and its silk factories were short of silkworm in a long period, chapter 4 argues that the specialization pattern play a special effect on the technological change. In Zhujiang Delta, the inter-construction between technological change and specialization constructured an interest-sharing social structure which accelerated the commercial process of silkworm and the application of steam filature. But, in Changjiang Delta, especially in the forepart, the new social structure brought interest conflict, more unstable.Chapter 5 discusses the social base of the application of technology, and the inter-construction between technological change and social change. In Zhujiang Delta, the application of the steam filature created an interest-sharing structure, which brought the whole development of the region, and made it more stable than Changjiang Delta's. In Changjiang Delta, the inter-construction resulted in an interest-conflicting one which blocked the application of steam filature, and more unstable. Under the pressure of competition, the interest-sharing structure was taking over the interest-conflicting structure. It's the intrinsic demand of social structure to be stable, and the end of the long-term and continuous interaction between technology and society, that's inter-construction.