How The Game Of Boss Came Into Being

Within 2020,the Total Annual Cargo Transportation of China has reached 34.26 billion tons.Undoubtedly,in the forthcoming "14th Five-Year Plan",the domestic logistics industry will continue to play an increasingly critical role.In recent years,sociologists,gradually,put more and more attention on goods vehicle drivers,which is one important component of the logistics industry in modern China.However,from the literature review,it shows that the depth of research on different types of drivers still could be further advanced.It will not only helps to enrich the existing research based on the theory of production politics,but also deepen the micro-cognition of "concrete" workers.Based on the theory of production politics of Michael Burawoy and fieldwork of the owner-operators of city Z,this paper use the concept of "the game of boss" as an explanatory path to illuminate why owner-operators still working hard even under highintensity of workload and clarify the transfer from the ideologically "be your own boss" to" self-exploiting" in practice.Additionally,how the mechanism of manufacturing consent was carried out and what strategy did drivers take as responses to the employers also need to be shed light on.The result shows that "the game of boss" is an ideological fantasy that co-constructed by employers and drivers.This kind of factory regime,with specific property rights,production processes,management systems and production relations,is what makes drivers believe that they wield the power of decision-making and drives them,willingly,into the labor field.Specifically speaking,the labor control was carried out under the autonomous management.And by using tight working schedule and salary control on the"backstage",the whole labor process of drivers was under the panoramic surveillance of employers.Secondly,the consensus between drivers and employers is formed in their active and passive way of acceptance towards overtime and overwork.On the one hand,the autonomy of "be your own boss" and companion of fellow colleagues allow them to accept the reality of heavy workload.On the other hand,the structural opportunities,gender and family roles,kinships,geographical networks also leave drivers no choice but to work hard.As a result,the compromising way of taking actions constrains the response strategies for drivers to take.Furthermore,even though the strategies are out of instrumental reason,however,unfortunately,instead of making any fundamental change,drivers’ strategies are just compromise made to make ends meet.The research of owner-operators within a specific factory regime is only a silhouette of the goods vehicle drivers.In the future,with the introduction of more information technologies such as algorithm,it is inevitably going to change the fate of all kinds of driver in a deeper level.As indispensable builders of the "Chinese Dream",the further discussion and research of their working and living conditions are of great importance.