Workplace Dignity in a Total Institution: Examining the Experiences of Foxconn’s Migrant Workforce

Abstract

In 2010, a cluster of suicides at the electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group sparked worldwide outcry about working conditions at its factories in China. Within a few short months, 14 young migrant workers jumped to their deaths from buildings on the Foxconn campus, an all-encompassing compound where they had worked, eaten, and slept. Even though the language of workplace dignity was invoked in official responses from Foxconn and its business partner Apple, neither of these parties directly examined workers' dignity in their ensuing audits. Based on our analysis of media accounts of life at Foxconn, we argue that its total institution structure imposed unique indignities on its workers that both raised questions of their self-respect and selfworth, as well as gave rise to multiple episodes of disrespectful communication. We interpret our findings in light of the larger cultural context and meanings of work in China to understand more fully the experience of dignity of Foxconn's migrant workforce.

‘Lower than a Snake’s Belly’: Discursive Constructions of Dignity and Heroism in Low-Status Garbage Work

“…employers, customers, publics) but is, importantly, something that can be discursively constructed from within an occupational grouping. This builds on work by, amongst others, Lucas et al (2013), Cassell and Bishop (2014) and Perry (1998) who all suggest that those who undertake dirty work discursively construct degrees of dignity.…”

“…Although the concept of workplace dignity has been labelled 'an elusive subject' (Bolton 2007, p. 7) from a Western perspective there is broad consensus around terms such as reasonable pay and terms and conditions, equality, esteem, worth, autonomy and respect (Lucas et al 2013). Berg and Frost (2005), for example, conceptualise dignity through the three dimensions of economic security, fair treatment and intrinsically satisfying work.…”

Stories as Artworks: Giving Form to Felt Dignity in Connections at Work

“…Surely, we have learned a lot about dignity at work from the content of narratives about people's experiences at work (e.g. Hodson 2001;Lucas et al 2013). However, while there is much to be learned from gleaning the patterns in the content of stories through tools such as thematic analysis (Boyatzis 1998;Glaser and Strauss 2012), approaching stories only in this way risks glossing over the holistic feeling unique to each one.…”

“…Felt dignity is a subtle, subjective, yet significant phenomenon that is difficult to access, analyse, and understand by means of many common methods such as surveys or observations. Because dignity is known through feeling, it is difficult to judge how it is manifested in practice (Lucas et al 2013), leaving us with a dearth of examples of how a sense of dignity is jointly developed and felt in discrete, ephemeral workplace connections. This leaves unclear how people are made to feel more or less dignified in their moment-to-moment experience of their work and focuses instead on cases where dignity is challenged in ''bigger'' ways, such as widespread managerial abuse or neglect (Hodson 2001).…”

Just one of the guys until shower time: How symbolic embodiment threatens women's inclusion in the US military

“…Like workers on cruise ships (Tracy, 2000), at boarding schools (McGuire & Dougherty, 2008) and in Chinese migrant industrial complexes (Lucas, Kang, & Li, 2013), military personnel live under the constant surveillance of their employerespecially during basic training and deployment, when workers are separated from civilian society for extended periods of time. Like workers on cruise ships (Tracy, 2000), at boarding schools (McGuire & Dougherty, 2008) and in Chinese migrant industrial complexes (Lucas, Kang, & Li, 2013), military personnel live under the constant surveillance of their employerespecially during basic training and deployment, when workers are separated from civilian society for extended periods of time.…”