No abstract

Scholarship in business history often produced divergent opinions that seldom engage with each other. Business historians have continued their scholarly endeavors with little obvious concern to the popular discontents around them. This book series will foster debate among business historians, bring together a variety of opinions from around the globe to confront the key issues of our time with the intent of becoming a fulcrum of debate. The series will use a broad understanding of "business history" so that it brings together work that is currently operating in tandem with each other without ever engaging with each other: work from business and management history, social history, economic history, cultural history, labor history, sociology, and political history whose focus is societal rather than personal or narrowly institutional. The series will focus on the following current debates in the field: the nature of globalization; the nature of capitalism; the nature and effects of western civilization (particularly as relates to industrialization); the mediatisation of business; gender, class and identity; and business and shifts in wealth, power and inequality. Within these topics there is passionate dissension, creating an opportunity engage multiple perspectives.

No abstract

No abstract

Purpose This paper aims to describe an exploratory study that has sought to understand how an institutionalised docility rather than resistance has been created in the minds of Chinese workers by the Chinese State. The study proposes that this docility has been crucial in enabling China to become a world leading economic powerhouse. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on Foucault’s concept of governmentality and uses the genealogical method to examine the historical events that have shaped the mentalities of today’s Chinese workers. Original interviews (n = 74) with everyday workers across industries and locations illustrate this. Findings It was found that the utilisation of centuries-long Confucian hierarchical rules by successive regimes has created a cumulative effect that has maintained workers docility and their willingness to submit themselves to poor working conditions that – ultimately – benefit the Chinese State and business, though this is at their expense. This finding is in juxtaposition to current research that claim that their working conditions are fostering a rising consciousness and resistance among Chinese workers. Originality/value This paper provides a novel explanation for why Chinese workers accept their poor working conditions and thus critiques current perspectives about Chinese worker resistance.