Cultural Changes In Work-unit Compound Of State-owned Factory

The industrialization of socialist China is based on a planned economy system, mostly formed as work-unit compounds. In the factory, all the fine resources were gathered together by the central policy, which created a whole new community with fine public space, people and institution. Thus, a special group consciousness came about. Take T factory as a case, there is an emergent community culture existing in the living quarters after 60 years of development:it is the so-called Community Culture in Work-unit Compounds. Admittedly, this kind of culture is widely spread in all the work-units, especially before the Reform and Opening in 1978; after all, the special meaning and symbol reflection of T factory make it an appropriate place for fieldwork. This paper aims on defining this very culture, seeking the source of the culture and figuring out all the forces that is changing and re-shaping the culture.Using the method of case interview, the writer not only talked to the residents in the community of T factory as main part, but also talked to the residents from some other Work-unit communities as comparison. On the level of life world, the writer interprets the community culture formed in Mao era, then analyzes changes in the community and workers’lives under the influence of economic reform after 1978.Different from the former studies, this paper does not aim at building direct connection between central government policy and individuals’lives, but focuses on middle world, which including the form and changes of the community and the sense of community. More precisely, the writer describes how marketization is occurring in this state-owned industrial community, such as the dissolution of community welfare settings caused by auxiliary separation and reform, the pauperization of community residents caused by rightsizing. Thus, the writer analyzed changes in individuals’lives and subjective consciousness at the microcosmic level.The thesis of this paper, in short, is that the development of Work-unit community, no matter geographically or spiritually, was formed and shaped by national policy:the process is top-down. This formation has not stopped even after the year of 1978 when central planning on economic took one step back:on the one hand, the enterprise took over national sources in the factory and became actually controller of the community; on the other hand, the former public policy and work-unit system became informal institution, effecting residents’manners of thinking and behavior continually.The conclusion of the paper answers the question of what the community culture is about and how it changed over time. Before the economic reform in 1978, the culture in the community could be divided into three parts:firstly, the sense of national-large community which existed prior to the work-unit community, namely "All come with the Party, contribute socialism"; secondly, the sense of superiority among Chinese factory workers formed by generous welfare community life; thirdly, the sense of family related by geography, marriage and kinship, which is based on working relationship within the factory. In short, the formation of the sense of this very community is deeply affected by public policy and central planning.The effects of top-down can still be found even after economic reform and the restructuring of enterprise. Likewise, the resolving and reforming of the sense of work-unit community can also be divided into three parts:firstly, the reconstruction of national-large community consciousness at the macroeconomic level caused by the redirection of the national development; secondly, the loss of superiority among Chinese workers caused by the reduce of national capital and the profit pressure on the factory enterprise; thirdly, the enlarged scale of personal social connection and family relationship caused by restructuring the factory and working group structure. The loss of the sense of "we" in the national work-unit community views the psychological change following the developing steps of China’s large state-owned enterprises. Even if there is any sense of "we" left in the community among the residents, the essence of the feeling should be defined as nostalgia for the past life. In short, in the living community of T factory, the sense of community could be defined as the identification of the national industrialization before the economic reform, however, now it changed into the symbol of industrialization of socialist China.Finally, changes in individuals and subjective consciousness are discussed in the background of today’s urban community construction. The writer does find out active social interactions and mutual assistance among residents within the community. Work-unit community is never an unalterable or inanition area, but a place full of warm-hearted people with strong social responsibility. Nevertheless, individuals can only make differences when cooperate with administrations of the factory or the government. In addition, the number of warm-hearted people is reducing. How to encourage individual contributing to community is a task for our all.