ABSTRACT
This study explores laid-off workers’ varied responses to retrenchment by demonstrating the difficulties and possibilities of collective action under an authoritarian regime. Rather than focusing entirely either on worker resistance or on their silence, my study adopts a dual-interaction approach to explain variations in workers’ responses to reforms in terms of their collective action. It sees collective resistance, and its absence thereof, of Chinese workers as the result of two types of interactions. One is interaction between laid-off workers and the reformer and the other is the interaction among the workers themselves. This approach contributes to an understanding of collective action by showing how action against the government is possible under an authoritarian regime. It suggests that solidarity and coordination mechanisms of workers are preconditions for action, and that, without them, the capacity of workers to act is undermined. On the other hand, collective action and its outcome are influenced by the power of and constraints on the targets of their action, that is, the government and the management. While such constraints may create opportunities for collective resistance, the target has the power to adopt various measures to weaken resistance. Its policies determine the nature, mode, and scale of resistance, thereby producing noninstitutionalized politics by shaping people’s incentive and ability to act. The following summarizes the rationale behind Chinese workers’ resistance and its implications for better understanding the collective action of the deprived, government reform strategies, and the relations between political institutions and economic transitions.
