Based on official Chinese sources as well as intensive interviews with Hong Kong residents formerly employed in mainland factories, Andrew Walder's neo-traditional image of communist society in China will be of interest not only to those concerned with China and other communist countries, but also to students of industrial relations and comparative social science.
Communist Neo-Traditionalism Work and Authority in Chinese Industry
About the Book
Reviews
"Here is a book that smashes and rebuilds. It smashes widely held ideas about communist bureaucracy, charisma, the convergence of industrial societies. . . . It rebuilds our understanding of contemporary China—and of communist regimes in general—by showing how overlapping instrumental and personal ties, embedded in ideology and party organization, have reshaped Chinese industrial enterprises. By placing Chinese experience firmly and lucidly in comparative perspective, Walder helps us rethink non-communist enterprise as well."—Charles Tilly, New School for Social ResearchTable of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Communist Neo-Traditionalism: An Introductory Essay
The Neo-Traditional Image of Communist Society
Communist Neo-Traditionalism as a Type-Concept
Social and Economic Dependence on the Enterprise
Political Dependence on Management
Personal Dependence on Superiors
The Institutional Culture of Authority
Precis of the Analysis
2. The Factory as an Institution: Life Chances in a Status Society
The Transition to a Communist Pattern
Demographic Problems and the Administrative Response
Status Groups in the Labor Force
The Supply and Allocation of State Sector Jobs
Social and Economic Aspects of the Employment Relationship
Labor Mobility and Dependence on the Enterprise
Mobility and Life Chances in the Enterprise
The Structured Dependence of the Enterprise Community
3· The Party-State in the Factory
The Party-State and the Working Class
The Political Organization of the Factory
The "Foreman's Empire" on the Shop Floor
The Chinese Work Group System
Stalinist and Maoist Mobilization: A Comparison
4· Principled Particularism: Moral and Political Aspects of Authority
Social Ties in Ideological Groups
From Ideological Orientation to Principled Particularism
Biaoxian and the Flexibility of Rewards and Punishments
Worker Responses to Moral-Political Authority
The Substantive Ambiguity of Biaoxian
5· Clientelist Bureaucracy: The Factory Social Order
The Divided Workforce as a Social Fact
The Official Patron-Client Network
Cliques and Factions
Instrumental-Personal Ties
A Comparative Perspective
6. Maoist Asceticism: The Failed Revitalization
Maoism as a Revitalization Movement
Trends in Real Wages and Living Standards
The Inequities of Wage Austerity
The Emergence of Indulgent Patterns of Authority
The Expanding Scope of Instrumental-Personal Ties
The Decline of Work Groups
The Unintended Consequences of Revitalization
From Asceticism to Paternalism: Changes in the Wake of Maoism
7. From Asceticism to Paternalism
The Restriction of Moral-Political Mobilization
Recasting the Political Standards
The Redefinition of Activism
The Changing Role of the Party
Continuities in the Pattern of Dependence
The Evolving Institutional Culture
8. Theoretical Reflections
The Structure of Communist Societies
Social Stability and Legitimacy in Communist States
The Varieties of Modern Industrial Authority
The Evolution of Communist Societies
Appendix A: The Hong Kong Interviews: An Essay on Method
Appendix B: List of Informants
Bibliography
Index
Awards
- 1988 EGOS Award, Section on Organizations and Occupations of the American Sociological Associatio
- 1988 Joseph Levenson prize, Association for Asian Studies
- Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award, American Sociological Association