From Laid-Off Female Workers To "McJobbers": An Ethnography Of Forced Individualization And The Re-making Self

Based on an ethnographic study on McDonald’s "Ajie" group, the paper tries to explain Chinese labor market transition and it’s impact on Chinese individualization. The researcher investigated the process of a group of laid off women workers’ Dis-embedding from "Danwei" system, and re-embedding in a global, standardized enterprise. The researcher explains the mechanism, features, and consequences of Chinese individualization by a three level analytical framework:institutional change, subjective domain,individual coping strategy.One key feature that differentiate Chinese individualization from its western counterpart is the State sponsored institutional change and the passive role of its individuals. In previous Chinese individualization studies, Yan Yunxiang announced two important theoretical implications:"The rising of individual", "Individualization without individualism". The article argues that the social groups like workers, may also experience "The fall of individual", as a consequence of forced individualization. Individualism has been accepted in subjective domain along with deeper penetration of globalization by western working institutions and enterprise ideologies. Intriguingly, collectivism still has its after sound. Therefore, Chinese self, in its re-making process, presents a hybrid, complicated characteristics. The writer calls it "collective-individualism hybrid self".During labor market transition, as a consequence of de-traditionalized of collective ideological notion of working, workers become labors. Deprivation of working’s emancipation attribute, they regard themselves insignificant and meaningless.In subjective domain, it surpasses Ajie group, to a broader level, and has profound impact on Chinese society.