Manufacturing Loyalty

The Political Mobilization of Labor in Taiwan, 1950—1986

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6007807
AutoresM S Ho (0000-0001-6879-1783, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan,, autor de correspondencia), Ming-Sho Ho
Año2010
Volumen36
Número6
Páginas559-588
Fecha de publicación2010-11-01
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaModern China (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0097-7004 • E-ISSN: 1552-6836
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0097700410379551
OpenAlexW2159418633
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas40

Authoritarianism expects workers to play the dual role of diligent producers and loyal citizens simultaneously. In extreme cases, workers must demonstrate political commitment in their everyday life. This article analyzes Taiwanese sugar refinery workers to understand the dynamics of political mobilization under the Nationalists. In the name of anti-communism, a series of control mechanisms were installed in nationalized workplaces. Workers were coerced to participate in numerous political rituals. Beneath superficial conformity, workers adopted a rich variety of everyday techniques of resistance to cope with their dependence. The author characterizes workers’ behaviors in terms of ritualism, innovation, and retreatism. These acts of resistance brought about an undisciplined workplace with widespread work avoidance and moonlighting. Over the long haul, the infrastructure of political mobilization remained intact despite the fact that its content became more and more meaningless. Finally, only with the fundamental change in the political environment brought about by democratization did this labor control strategy finally collapse

Authoritarianism · Communism · Conformity · Democracy · Loyalty · Mobilization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Asian Industrial and Economic Development · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Japanese History and Culture · Law

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