Abstract
Is a de-alienation possible? In the modern period, the internationalization of capital and the intensification of competition have made Taiwan’s labor under threats of losing jobs and the conditions on making a “better” industrial relations seems impossible. The “Hsin-Fu” corporation, a typical capitalist private-owned business group demonstrates a very different aspect of their labor relations by giving their workers a fair share of company stocks and emphasizing making-money is only a means rather than the goal of life…etc. In other words, “Hsin-Fu” has consciously touched the alienation issue of the Marxist theory on industrial capitalism.
Is the seemly “de-alienated” capitalism actually a more sophisticated type of work control? If so, we need to examine the foundation of voluntary servitude and their labor regime. If there is a de-alienated capitalism existing, than what could it be possible? What kind of institutional arrangement and mechanism has made it plausible? How does the company to balance their profits between employer and the employee? Those are the questions being raised in this study and will do a further research to answer. The importance of this study lays not solely on the uniqueness of the case. Rather, it is more vital to explore the possibilities of breaking the iron-cage under modern working condition.
Is the seemly “de-alienated” capitalism actually a more sophisticated type of work control? If so, we need to examine the foundation of voluntary servitude and their labor regime. If there is a de-alienated capitalism existing, than what could it be possible? What kind of institutional arrangement and mechanism has made it plausible? How does the company to balance their profits between employer and the employee? Those are the questions being raised in this study and will do a further research to answer. The importance of this study lays not solely on the uniqueness of the case. Rather, it is more vital to explore the possibilities of breaking the iron-cage under modern working condition.
Translated title of the contribution | A De-alienated Capitalist Enterprise?: A Case Study of "Hsin-Fu" Corporation's Labor Regime |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Pages (from-to) | 79-107 |
Number of pages | 29 |
Journal | 國立政治大學社會學報 |
Volume | 35 |
State | Published - Dec 2003 |
Keywords
- alienation
- labor regime
- voluntary servitude
- paternalism