Attempting to transgress neoliberal value: Constructing a micro-foundation of social values of working-class youth in vocational schools in China

Abstract

In contrast to the existing argument that the logic of capital has monetised almost every aspect of human relationships to the realm of exchange value, this article explores the social values that are practised by Chinese working-class youth as an alternative form of agency and everyday practice. Instead of understanding social values as a realm of value operating entirely outside the logic of exchange value, this article takes social values as the constitutive other of exchange value embodied in the neoliberalised form of capitalism. It attempts to develop a micro-foundation of social values or a social mechanism of values for understanding social protection and class solidarity. Employing in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations in vocational schools in China, at sites for the education and nurture of working-class youth, we ask what social values are, how they are perceived and exercised, and by whom. From students’ practices of care in schools, cooperation in the workplace and solidarity in the community, our goal is to build a micro-foundation of social values that challenges and goes beyond the logic of exchange value.

Marx’s Theories and Beyond: Understanding Working-Class Solidarity in China

“…Our in-depth interviews and field observation further confirm that for students at vocational schools, mutual support is a common practice in daily life, particularly in the 'compulsory boarding' schools that require all students live in the dormitory, and do not allow them to leave the campus except for on weekends (Lu et al, 2019). The school serves as a small community which provides boarding for students.…”

“…Hence, requiring a technique of cooperation to repair broken social relationships is to re-establish solidarity, and the technique required is a kind of social praxis of education and internship at work, step by step, to repair the structure of society. This relates to our research in that students’ practices of cooperation can also be viewed as a ‘repairing process’ to confront the broken social bonds of today’s China (Lu et al, 2019). Certainly, it was common in our interviews to learn that students are working together—both within and outside the school.…”

“…Their parents are either farmers or migrants working in the cities, with average monthly earnings of around RMB3000. 3 Most vocational school students are defined as working class due to their below average family incomes for the region in which they live (Lu et al, 2019). Originally, we were interested in understanding the ‘learning-to-labor’ experiences in vocational schools and at workplaces, but our in-depth interviews and field observations helped us to understand the dynamics of the lifeworld of these working-class youth by uncovering unexpected solidarity among the students, and this led us to formulate a macro–micro nexus of working-class solidarity.…”

“…Students coming from a lower class background studying in a vocational school felt proud when they could offer support to people in need. A student leader from Loving Heart Society also stated that it might be her low-income family background that nurtures her to be more sensitive and empathetic to the poor (Lu et al, 2019).…”

“…To support each other, students would run donation campaigns to raise funds to cover the cost of medical and other expenses. Students at vocational schools sacrificed their breakfast to save money which they donated to their schoolmate (Lu et al, 2019). The logic behind this prosocial behavior is obviously not because the working-class students have higher morality than others, but because suffering and difficulties in life that could easily happen in a poor family.…”