The Rhetoric and Reality of Class: The Narration of Working-Class Identity in China’s Early 1980s
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Authors
Lu, Ying
Date
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Egalitarianism , Class Discourse , Working-class Subjectivity , Industrial Workers , State-owned Enterprises
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Abstract
At the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, egalitarianism was a key principle of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), yet the goal of social equality has remained out of reach ever since. Before the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the party-state responded with a political approach to industrial workers’ demands for economic equality. Officials organized class-centered political movements, distinguished “people” and “enemies” among workers, and shaped a new Chinese working class to match the goals of socialist state building. However, the party-state’s emphasis on class and class struggle did not survive into the post-Mao era of Reform and Opening. As economic development dominated the agenda of the new era, class discourse faded away from official propaganda, though without explicit disavowal of Maoist class struggle. Meanwhile, state sector workers experienced serious losses in economic benefits and political status, and new forms of inequality emerged in various social groups as economic reforms proceed. Therefore, China’s early 1980s (1979-1983) deserves investigation as a period of transition when the politics of class reflect continuity and departures from the Maoist era. Following the Marxist tradition of class analysis, this study adopts an approach combining macro-level analysis of historical changes and micro-level interpretation of workers’ daily lives. It examines the narration of class discourse and working-class subjectivity in China during the early 1980s. The thesis concludes that instead of applying the established Maoist political approach, in the early 1980s China’s party-state was willing to deal with inequalities within the economic sphere. This shift can be observed in the re-interpretation of class discourse and the transformation of state-owned enterprises. This research has also revealed discrepancies between the propaganda of class discourse and practices at the local level in China’s early 1980s. Although long-standing differentiating factors shaped in the Maoist era continued to influence the consciousness of industrial workers, workers in the early reform era were motivated more by economic elements than by political discourse.
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ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.