Manufacturing new consent: Labor control in a socialist firm in market transition

The ongoing marketization has witnessed significant changes in power relations and management styles in China's state-owned enterprises. Under the strong influence of the government's policies and market forces, the relatively calm cadre-mass relations has evolved into a new labor relation, i.e., as a result of daily interaction, workers in state-owned enterprises who used to perceive themselves as the enterprise's "owner" have gradually realized that they are virtually the employees of the enterprise. In contrast, the enterprise's managers who used to take themselves as equal to the workers with a slight difference in division of duties, are now the dominating power of the organization and its operation, as the enterprise becomes more and more independent in profit maximization.;Since the reform brings the insurance to a welfare-style employment to an end, such change means the status-descending and power-weakening for workers in state-owned enterprises. Meanwhile, due to the main goal of the reform to be efficiency enhancement, the management has to attempt new labor control measures in order that workers will adhere to necessary disciplines in spite of their descending status. At the same time, workers need to adjust and cope with the new control measures, in an effort to adapt to the changes and also to impact the forming process of the new relations.;This is a new forming order for the state-owned enterprise: One part of the picture is that the government officials and enterprise managers, with the leadership of the whole process of change, need to impose the changes on workers in a coercive way, and at the same time to gain the consent of the workers to keep the balance. The other part is that unless changes endanger worker's living or right legally violations occur, workers would accept the new system dominated by the state in a voluntary or reluctant way, rather than resist the reform.;With reference to Burswoy's exploration on labor control in capitalistic factories (1979), and Walder's conclusive argument about pre-reform "Neo-traditionalism" in China's state-owned enterprises (1986), how can we interpret the above mentioned phenomenon in the state-owned enterprise in China during the market transition? What is the difference between China's state-owned enterprises and capitalistic factories in terms of labor control? What are the changes in labor control in these enterprises before and after the reform? The most important issue is that why workers should change their ideas and adapt themselves to the marketization and hegemony of labor control?;Based on the survey In a long-standing state-owned enterprise in the marketization reform process, and from the perspective of the power shift situation between managers and workers, this book describes the new system formed in state-owned enterprises in a market transformation environment. The study shows that within the politic and economic framework of China's market transformation, state-owned enterprise managers in order to achieve the goal of high efficiency, apply compulsory measures, as well as define the basic principles of labor control as manufacturing consent from workers. The author claims that in respect of system basis and basic characteristics, the labor control in state-owned enterprises during market transformation has demonstrated a symptom of paternalistic despotism. And what Walder depicted as "Neo-traditionalism" control system in traditional state-owned enterprises, is presenting itself as the so-called "Post-Neo-traditionalism" within the framework of the enterprise institution system in transition.