The Differentiation Of Hegemony:A Case Study On The Labor Process Of Packing Garments Factory Under The Subcontract Labor System

This paper is a research on the labor process of clothing package plant under the subcontract labor system in China. Textile and garment industry, one of the pillar industries in Jiangsu province, plays an important role in economy for a long time. On the basis of data from observation, questionnaire investigation and observation involving managers, workers in factory and workers in other teams, I try to show the characteristics and the causes of labor process in clothing package plant which belongs to the informal economy department.We found that there are differentiation of labor process in packing garments factory filled with the migrants and local retired workers. There is a relationship of relatives, friends and countrymen between migrants and managers. They all have two roles, worker and friend or relative, throughout the whole labor process since they enter the factory. Ascribed relative makes the chance for migrants to gain access to the factory. At the same time, this is reason why they are willing to enter the plant. Therefore, ascribed relative is a potential constraint for the migrant workers and is also a potential control way of the factory and the manager.On one hand, factory managers use the ascribed relative as a kind of effective constraints and management means to gain the loyalty of production. On the other hand, migrant workers use ascribed relationship to seek for the solution of the problem. All aspects of the relationship hegemony embodied in labor process, including in and out of the clothing packaging plant, space, labor arrangement, etc. And the relationship between the local retired workers and managers is only a labor relation, and thus formed in the process of their work is system-based hegemony.The differentiation of labor process in packing garments factory is based on the age and region, divided into system-based hegemony for local retired female workers and relation-based hegemony for female migrants. Age impacts on production system from two aspects, their own life and family life cycle. In addition, age combines with social security system in state intervention makes the differentiation between system-based hegemony and relation-based hegemony more apparent.Regional differences brought out the different relationship and interaction between managers and workers. The local retired workers can get more job opportunities than migrants, thus having more rights and opportunities to struggle for their own interests in the market competition. The combination of age and the region results indifferent patterns of reproduction, split type and complete type, promoted the differentiation of clothing packaging plant production regime.