Serving The State Or Serving The Self: A Study Of Job Preference And Work Ethics In Guangzhou Ka-ho Mok David Chan

Transcription

1 1999/No.3 Serving The State Or Serving The Self: A Study Of Job Preference And Work Ethics In Guangzhou Ka-ho Mok David Chan

2 Serving The State Or Serving The Self: A Study Of Job Preference And Work Ethics In Guangzhou Ka-ho Mok David Chan

3 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Dr. Ka-ho Mok and Dr. David Chan Dr. Ka-ho Mok is Convenor, Comparative Education Policy Research Unit of the Department of Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong. He is also Assistant Professor of the same department. His major research interests include social and political development issues in contemporary China and East Asia, comparative education policy, and intellectuals and politics. He is the author of Intellectuals and the State in Post-Mao China (London: Macmillan, 1998) and Social and Political Development in Post-Reform China (London: Macmillan and New York: St. Martin Press, forthcoming 1999) and the Editor of a book on Socio-Structural Change and Educational Development in the Asia Pacific Region (with Anthony Welch) (London: Macmillan and New York: St. Martin Press, forthcoming). Dr. David Chan is a Member of the Comparative Education Policy Research Unit of the Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong. He is also Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Social Studies of the same university. Dr. Chan has a strong research interest in the sociology of education and comparative education policy studies. He has published chapters and journal articles in various international referee-journals and books. His most recent work appears in the Asia Pacific Journal of Education and he is also co-editor of The Quest for Quality Education in Hong Kong: Theory and Practice (with Dr. Ka-ho Mok).

4 SERVING THE STATE OR SERVING THE SELF: A STUDY OF JOB PREFERENCE AND WORK ETHICS IN GUANGZHOU 1 ABSTRACT Guangdong is the province one step ahead in China and Guangzhou is the city one step ahead in Guangdong. Being one of the most economically active cities in China, Guangzhou citizens have generally experienced improved living standards and better quality of life after the economic reform started in the late 1970s. What is also true is that economic modernization has changed the social structure, allowing far more social mobility in the post-mao society. Nowadays, people living in Guangzhou have more job choices in a relatively free labour market. This paper is set in such a socio-economic context to examine job preferences and work ethics of Guangzhou citizens, with particular reference to what changes have taken place in people s work values after the adoption of a market economy in the mainland. The paper is based on our current research projects conducted in the Guangzhou area to examine how socio-economic changes have affected people s value orientations and is confined to discussion of whether people living in Guangzhou have changed their attitudes towards work in the 1990s. 1 The authors would like to thank the Research Grant Council for granting the research funds to undertake field research in Guangzhou. In addition, the authors also thank Prof. Andrew Nathan, Prof. Ian Holliday and Dr. Adrienne La Grange for reading the manuscript and giving very useful comments and constructive suggestions to improve the paper.

5 INTRODUCTION Economic reforms initiated in the late 1970s have created an unusual opportunity to study the transition from a state socialist redistributive economy to a market-oriented economy (Bian and Logan, 1996; Nee, 1996). As China enters into the twenty-first year of reform, the success of its economic policies has been widely recognized. Being one of the most economically active cities in China, Guangzhou citizens have generally experienced improved living standards and a better quality of life after the economic reform which started in the late 1970s. What is more sociologically significant is that economic modernization has also changed the social structure, allowing more occupational and social mobility in post-mao society (Li, 1994). This paper examines how the flourishing of a market economy has affected people s value orientations. Even though the peculiar characteristics of the labour allocation system in the Mao era still persist (Davis, 1992), the dynamism and vigour unleashed in the reforming market economy, together with the vibrant labour market, should have attracted movers and first-time job seekers (Wu, 1995). Specifically, this paper discusses the theme of serving the state or serving the self by examining Guangzhou citizens work values and ethics against a changing socio-economic context. The present paper is based upon our two research projects conducted in Guangzhou from 1996 to One of the projects focuses on value change of Guangzhou citizens in the midst of a market economy. Another project concentrates on workers attitudes towards work from selected state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) in Guangzhou, as well as the examination of how they perceive the social status of occupation. 2 2 One of the major research methods of the first research project is primarily a survey research conducted in Guangzhou. A structured questionnaire, with some questions on a 5-point scale, was designed and administered to a sample of 500 Guangzhou households through proportionate stratified sampling from eight districts in Guangzhou from late 1996 to In order to deepen our understanding of work-related values of Guangzhou people, we met 50 Guangzhou citizens either in the form of group discussion or face-to face interviews to discuss their work-related ethics and family values in the fall of In order to compare and contrast the work values and ethics of ordinary citizens and workers in Guangzhou, we conducted another survey of a sample of 500 to examine selected workers job preference and work ethics in 1997.

6 Guangzhou is not, of course, typical of the rest of China. No claim is, therefore, made that our findings are representative of conditions in the whole of China. But, nonetheless, the case of Guangzhou does considerably reflect how people s value orientations are affected by the transition from a socialist redistributive economy to a market-like economy. WORK UNDER MAO In the early years of the People s Republic of China (PRC) during the 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) confronted a smashed economy, characterized by an undeveloped traditional agriculture, backward industry, inadequate funds, poor technology and a population with lower educational standards. In order to recover from such an under-developed economy, the CCP modelled itself after the former Soviet Union to adopt a central planning policy to direct the course of economic development. Under a planned economic system, industrial output was strictly determined by the central government. With power centralized in the hands of state officials, production and operation of enterprises were guided by state policies. State penetration was definitely clear not only in work force and material supply, but, in fact, was manifested by the purchase of industrial products (White, 1993; Jackson, 1986). Working in such an environment, Chinese citizens simply had no choice because the state was given an absolute control over labour hiring and allocation. Embedded in the socialist ideal, the CCP tried very hard to realize the goal of full employment by assigning people to different work sectors. Thus, people working in the Mao period seemed to enjoy tenure terms because their employment was a life-long appointment known as iron rice bowl (tiefanwan). In addition, as the CCP could not afford the luxury of a differentiated wage system but, at the same time, had to maintain a basic living standard for all workers, the remuneration system was based on an egalitarian ground. Hence, all people had to share an equally but relatively low wage eating out of a big rice pot (daguofan) (Leung, 1994). Clearly, Chinese citizens were highly dependent upon their work units under a planned economic system, a picture which was regarded as an organized dependence (Walder, 1986; Lu, 1989; Li, 1994).

7 People would also have complained about the rigidity of the work system in the Mao era for suffocating individual initiative and autonomy. Despite such an organized dependence, state workers could have comprehensive occupational welfare, a high degree of job security and generous social entitlements (Walder, 1986). As Solinger (1995) suggested, the state sector had to fulfill at least three customary objectives: full employment for urban residents, welfare security for workers and production maximization in the Mao era. This all-embracing and paternalistic work environment was organized as much as a security system as it [was] a social or economic system... the essence of the Chinese system... was the individual s ties to his danwei, a kind of industrial feudalism (Butterfield, cited in Westwood and Leung, 1996, p.383). Not surprisingly, people working under this type of managerial paternalism had very low labour mobility and low unemployment and thus they were highly dependent upon their work units (Walder, 1986; Child, 1994). WORK IN THE REFORM ERA Not surprisingly, the economic reforms introduced since the 1970s have far-reaching impact on people working in the state sector. At the 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee of the CCP in 1978, the post-mao leadership openly recognized the failures in the previous systems at both the micro-economic and enterprise management levels (Huang, 1985; Walder, 1989; Riskin, 1987). A series of reform strategies was employed to improve management and enhance economic efficiency such as the introduction of the economic responsibility system, with greater decentralization and more discretion for enterprise directors; diminishing of party and bureaucratic control; and the use of a labour contracting system linking performance and reward (Woodward, 1985; Howard, 1991; Korzec, 1988; Becker and Yang, 1989; Leung and Nann, 1995; Howe, 1992). In recent years, the CCP has even promulgated the bankruptcy law to allow inefficient state enterprises to close down (Wong and Ngok, 1997; Mok and Chow, 1997; Jefferson and Rawski, 1992). Clearly, these broad aspects of reform should have had both an indirect and direct impact on the work context, and thus the working force in Mainland China.

8 One immediate impact of economic reform which Chinese citizens have experienced is the emergence of a relatively open labour market system since the mid-eighties (Mok, 1995). Unlike the Mao era when social mobility was constrained because people were allocated to different danweis (work units) without their consent or any chance of job transfer (Li, 1994; Lu, 1989), people in the post-mao period have more job choices (Yang, 1998). In the post-mao period, the south-eastern coast and most Chinese cities were opened up for foreign investment and trade. Millions of Chinese were employed in export processing enterprises by the late 1990s (Thoburn et al., 1989), and millions more were starting up their own businesses (Rosen, 1987/88; Xinhua Digest, No.2, 1996; Open Times, No.3-4, 1995). For the past two decades, the urban sector has been booming. According to recent statistics, there were about 13,425,000 households registered as private businesses; while about 35,456 thousand people were employed in these firms by the end of From the mid-1980s to 1997, employees in the private enterprises and self-employed people rose to 15.1 percent of the urban work force. In 1997 alone, 6.3 percent of urbanites served in joint-venture and foreign-funded units (China Statistical Yearbook 1998, p.127; Yearbook of Labour Statistics of China 1998, p.9). In addition to those registered, millions of unregistered small family enterprises have been emerging, the development of which not only facilitates the formation of an entrepreneurial class but also develops the private sector in an exceedingly rapid way (Goodman, 1995; Rocca, 1994; Yang, 1998).

9 People doing business and entering the commercial field have become far more popular, particularly after the official endorsement of the socialist market economy in 1992 (Goodman, 1996; Mok, 1997). A wave of jumping into the sea (venturing into the business and commercial sea) evolved with Deng Xiaoping s encouragement after his southern tour during the Spring Festival of early According to a recent report, from a base of 150,000 persons in 1978, a new category of individual industrialists, businessmen and private enterprise owners expanded to more than million people in 1993 (New Star Publisher, 1994). Other than these formally registered private enterprises, university students, intellectuals, reformers and ordinary workers have also engaged in legal but unregistered and untaxed economic activities (Gold, 1991; Rocca, 1994; Yang, 1998). Equally important, urban collectives, village enterprises, rural townships and firms with foreign investments have become more prominent in China s economic sphere, constituting 51 percent of the gross value of industrial output in 1992 compared to 20 percent in Recent statistics even show that the non-state sector contributed close to 70 percent of China s GDP in 1993 (Wu cited in Xiao and Gao, 1994). A recent estimation further suggests that over 95 percent of consumer goods are now circulated in the market, while only a few categories of production materials are under planned allocation (Chao, 1994). Thus, it is clear that the engine of China s economic growth has been the non-state sector after the initiation of economic reforms in the post-mao era (A Statistical Survey of China 1998). Economic reform started since the death of Mao Zedong has not only enriched the general public, but has, in fact, also altered the social structure. Despite regional disparities, the continual accumulation of wealth and capital has created more opportunities for social mobility and the possibility for the rise of a new middle class (Davis, 1995; Li, 1996). Such a development sheds more light on why Chinese citizens nowadays are relatively free from state control and thus can exit from their original danwei (Hirschman, 1970; Yang, 1998). What is also true is that the rise of the new rich and the flooding of ordinary villagers into the cities are the most visible signs of the restructuring of Chinese society, suggesting also a structural change in social stratification and in the system of social status (Yan, 1994; Goodman, 1996). As one of the authors argues elsewhere Chinese citizens have gone beyond organized dependence when they are becoming economically independent and socially autonomous in the reform era. It is beyond doubt that the economic reforms implemented in the past decades have rendered the traditional social structure inappropriate, a social re-stratification process has already started when people are becoming socially mobile and occupationally vibrant (Mok, 1999).

10 In short, when more Chinese people are growing rich, and are no longer dependent on the state for everything, they will have more control over their very survival, particularly when they now enjoy private ownership. Eschewing themselves from dependence upon the state, Chinese citizens nowadays enjoy far more personal choices and opportunities for social mobility. No longer merely relying upon job allocation by the central authority, people can now determine their future career by searching for jobs available in the open labour market. As statistics show, 90 percent of these job transferees obtained posts in foreignfunded enterprises, rural and township enterprises and private enterprises, which offered higher remuneration and better welfare benefits (Lam and Mok, 1997; Li, 1994). Besides, the booming of rural companies and the increasing opportunities for peasants to change occupations are remarkable. By the end of 1993, more than 100 million out of 900 million people with registered residence in the countryside had moved to market towns and cities, believing that better chances and job opportunities are available in cities (Yan, 1994; Chan, 1992). In the mid-1990s, there were about 100 million rural residents who had migrated to urban China, suggesting that Chinese citizens now enjoy enhanced opportunities for social mobility (Li, 1996). This paper is set in such a changing socio-economic context to examine Guangzhou citizens work-related values in general and state workers evaluation of the work environment and occupational status in particular. GUANGZHOU CITIZENS' WORK-RELATED VALUES As discussed earlier, the transition from a socialist redistributive economy characterized by the allocation and distribution of goods through central planning, to a market-driven economy, which favours direct producers relative to redistributors, should have a considerable impact on people in the mainland (Nee, 1989). The changing socio-economic environment has diversified enterprise ownership, and in turn, has altered the occupational structure (see, for example, Lin and Xie, 1993; Li, 1994; Lin and Bian, 1991). With dramatic changes in the system of reward allocation, occupational competence and education are becoming more significant determinants of occupational prestige and income (Blau and Choy, 1990; Walder, 1989; Feng and So, 1994). Unlike the Mao era when people placed political privilege and loyalty as the most important performance indicators in the work place, individual success, specialized skills and professional knowledge are highly appreciated in the reform era (Mok, 1995; Chiu, et al., 1998).

11 In our study, when Guangzhou citizens were asked which were the most important variables affecting their job choices, most of the respondents considered job security, high salary and generous welfare entitlements as very significant. All these variables, in short, are more related to material benefits and comfort of one s occupation. Not entirely surprisingly, contribution to society was regarded as less significant, ranked number nine among the other twelve factors (see table 1). Table 1: Variables Affecting People s Job Choices (In Year 1997) Reason Number Percentage Job security High salary Generous welfare entitlements Utilize one s knowledge better Best fit own interest Good promotion opportunity Self-actualization Good collegial relationship More freedom Contribution to the society Others High social status When people were asked about what reward could they expect after working hard, about 63.2 percent of them believed that an increase in income is the most important consideration, while gaining respect, promotion opportunities and enhanced training and learning opportunities were put in secondary priority (see table 2). Table 2: External Reward for Working Hard (In Year 1997) Reason 1 st Choice 2 nd Choice 3 rd Choice Number % Number % Number % Increase income Promotion opportunities Enhanced training and learning opportunities Appraise by others Having opportunities to choose other jobs More Power Gaining respects Others

12

13 In order to develop a more comprehensive picture about people s work values, we posed the respondents a question why do you like the present job?. We find that most respondents were very much concerned with job nature, job security, good collegial relationship, favourable work environment and high income and bonus. In order to test the consistency of people s attitudes towards work, we asked them the reasons why they are dissatisfied with their existing jobs. Most respondents, therefore, listed several factors such as poor income and bonus, inappropriate job nature, unfavourable work environment and poor collegial relationship. To follow up the above questions, we asked our respondents to comment on what factors would you consider whenever you have the intention to change job?. Most of them gave more weight to increase in income, job security, better utilize one s knowledge and career development. All these variables are closely related to occupational advancement and material-oriented considerations. Again, contribution to society was only ranked very low among other factors; the ideal of altruism is gradually wearing away. This observation is further confirmed by a majority of the respondents support (88 percent) for the notions of working hard is for accumulation of wealth and labour brings glory and working hard is for making more money. The findings generated from the survey are consistent with the observations derived from the field interviews with Guangzhou citizens. In the fall of 1998, we met 50 Guangzhou citizens to discuss values related to family relationships and job preferences. When asked about what criteria would they consider for an ideal job, all the interviewees had similar views that high incomes, good promotion opportunity, favourable working environment, generous welfare and fringe benefits and job security are the major criteria for ideal jobs. In addition, they also believed that good collegial relationship and respect from other people are also important variables when choosing a job. During our field interviews with Guangzhou citizens, they told us that one major change in work values was related to the choice of work settings. When asked about the factors to be considered when changing their jobs, one male interviewee answered that the work unit has to be cost-effective and that the unit is better to be in town to be near his home so that he can look after the children. When he was further asked whether the family is an important factor to consider when changing for a job, he said: this is an important factor. Similarly, another male interviewee also mentioned that the welfare of his family is the first priority. He specifically mentioned that: work is for the security of both self and family, so the first thing to consider in changing a job is whether it is good for the family.

14 These kinds of opinions were echoed in the answers of many of the interviewees, especially female interviewees. One female interviewee, when asked the same question mentioned that: yes, (the family) is being considered, and is very important, because besides working we also have to take care of our family, such as bringing children to and from school. In the Mao era, people were very keen to work in state-owned enterprises or government organizations because they believed that working in these settings would give them job security, high social status and stable incomes. But nowadays, people tend to find jobs in the non-state sector, particularly interested in working in commercial and business fields where they can better utilize their knowledge and skills, as well as to learn to make more money by working hard. Again, quite a lot of the interviewees have shown that this is, indeed, the situation. For example, one interviewee specifically mentioned, when asked about whether there are any changes in values from before, that: quite a big change, before the open policy, many would go to government agencies and state-enterprises because the job was more secure and the salary was good. Another interviewee also mentioned the same: big change, before people like iron-ice-bowl, stable job and good salary, once and for all; after the open policy, people can choose the jobs they like which are more challenging.

15 A third interviewee said: Before, government jobs and iron-rice-bowl were the aims of all people...they all looked for state-owned work units. But now, the nature of work units is no longer important, and instead the realization of personal values is the first priority. The above findings are consistent with a similar study regarding social status of occupations that had taken place in Guangzhou in 1993 and In this study a majority of the respondents (62 %) considered salary as the most important determining factor of an occupation s social status, followed by power (39 %), contribution to society (37 %), professional training (32 %), respectability (32 %), and academic qualification (25 %) (Chiu and Cai, 1996). 3 When being asked to rank the importance of the selected factors, salary again was put at the top (34 %), followed by power (22 %), and contribution to society (20 %) (see table 3). Table 3: Factors Taken into Consideration in Assessing the Social Status of Occupations (%) (In Year 1994) Factors All Responses Most Important Factor Salary Power Contribution to society Professional training Respectability 32 8 Academic qualification 25 5 Serving the Public 10 2 Source: Adopted from Chiu, C. and Cai, He (1996). Social Status of Occupations in Guangzhou, in Cheng, J. and MacPherson, S. (eds.) Economic and Social Development in South China, England: Edward Elgar, p As Chiu and Cai suggested after analyzing the findings generated from this project, objective rewards (salary) yielded by occupations, the power attached to occupations, and the value of the occupations to society (contribution to society) all matter (Ibid, p. 232). They concluded that: 3 The respondents could choose more than one variables, therefore the accumulated sum reported here was more than 100.

16 The social image of stratification in Guangzhou is multi-dimensional. Economic, structural and ideological factors interplay to construct the subjective occupational status structure in Guangzhou as salary, power and contribution to society are deemed the most important factors in assessing the social status of occupations. This may be somewhat contrary to the popular view that during the process of economic modernization, Chinese society has become overwhelmingly materialistic and utilitarian (Chiu and Cai, 1996, pp ). Our present project on people s work-related attitudes suggests that social values in Guangzhou seem to skew towards using utilitarian bases for judging the status of occupations; idealism (contribution to society) has become less important than it was a few years ago. The research findings point to the dominance of utilitarianism in people s work values and ethics, revealing that the drastic shift from virtuocracy to meritocracy have had a great impact on the value systems of the people. Such observations are confirmed by similar studies conducted in other parts of the country. A study of the social psychology of Mainland Chinese in 1997 reported that Chinese citizens are becoming more materialistic and utilitarian. Compared to the 1980s, people attach far more importance to money. In this survey, the respondents generally believed that money is (1) their personal goal and they would struggle hard to earn more money; (2) fundamental to survival, daily life and development; (3) the most important criterion in judging social status; (4) the most important variable to assess people s success; (5) the means to be socially influential and enhancing goal achievements; (6) the important source of an enjoyable life (Open Times, No.5, 1997). Similarly, another study about people s perceptions on social status of occupations taken place in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen again reported that people put more weight on materialistic and economic considerations than social respect. When asked about what would be the driving force for changing jobs, the majority of respondents (69 %) considered higher salary as the most crucial variable, followed by job security (27 %), welfare and fringe benefits (22 %) (Zhonghua Gongshang bao, 11 April, 1996). Not surprisingly, people are increasingly concerned about job mobility and job choice. This is particularly true for younger respondents who strongly believe that free choice in the labour market is what is needed in modern society (Open Times, No.5, 1997). Other studies of a similar nature repeatedly report that the work values of Chinese citizens have shifted towards a market-oriented value system in the post-mao period. When asked what kind of job do you

17 prefer? and the given choices were one that is boring but pays well or one that is very interesting but pays less in a study conducted in Shanghai, most respondents preferred the former than the latter (Chu and Ju, 1993). This feeling is particularly prevalent among young people. In the same study, when people were asked about the variables which they would take into account when changing jobs, high income, career accomplishment, interest, more promotion opportunity are highly prioritized. These observations are supported by similar research conducted by Lin and Xie in 1993 as well as Lin and Bian in All in all, our findings in this survey research has suggested that the majority of Guangzhou citizens have become much more pragmatic and the ascendant value is the rise of individualism and the weakening of collectivism. Living in a new socialist market economy context, people give due recognition to material reward and economic achievements. This is particularly true when people see themselves as a relatively deprived group because they may fail to have an equal share of the economic success. The publicity of successful millionaires in the mass media and the general increase of income inequality have made people consider material well-being as a more important indicator to reflect one s achievement (Yang, 1998). After three decades of socialist indoctrination stressing self-sacrifice and revolutionary spirit, coupled with the practices that work motivation was highly dependent on honour, Guangzhou people nowadays treasure more immediate and tangible material rewards.

18 GUANGZHOU WORKER'S WORK-RELATED VALUES AND ROLE PERCEPTION State Workers Attitudes Towards Work In the first half of the paper, we have discussed statistical and other evidence relating to Guangzhou residents work-related values. The remaining part of the paper will concentrate on Guangzhou workers job preferences and work values. This study was conducted in Guangzhou in As shown in Table 4, more and more people are willing to choose high income and risk-taking jobs (60.2 %). More than two-thirds of the people (75.4 %) are willing to choose high income jobs but heavy workloads. More than 78 percent of the people are willing to choose jobs with high pressure but good career prospects. Moreover, more than 80 percent are willing to accept those jobs which present challenges. These findings seem to indicate that more and more people are inclined to accept a market economy and are willing to compete in the marketplace. Table 4: Work Values of Employees (In Year 1997) Questions (%) 1A Low income but secure employment B High income but dependent upon economic exigencies and work performance A Low income but low workload B High income but high workload A No work pressure but no career prospects B High work pressure but good career prospects A Routine job, not necessary to absorb new knowledge and technology B Challenging job, always learn new knowledge and technology 82.4 In order to reflect a general picture of work values of employees, the researchers add up all four questions together. One point is given to those who choose choice A and two points for choice B. The possible range of scores is between 4 and 8. The higher the scores, the stronger the inclination of work values 4 With the assistance of the Department of Sociology, Zhongshan University, the target population was drawn from Guangzhou Cable Factory, Guangzhou Fruit Product Factory, Guangzhou Daneng Yogurt Limited Company and Guangzhou Hualing air-conditioning Company Limited. The first two in the previous list are SOEs while the other two are NSOEs. Four different kinds of questions were asked concerning the work values of employees. These questions are related to risk-taking, tempo of work, work pressure and degree of challenging. The total number of completed interviews was 476 (out of a sample of 500). Of those interviewed 57.3 percent were male and 42,7 percent were female. More than 86 percent of the respondents were aged between 25 and 45. Just under 20 percent of the respondents achieved a tertiary educational level.

19 towards the market economy. In this study, more than 70 percent of the respondents interviewed have scores between 7 and 8. Personal Characteristics as a Factor in Employees Work Values The perceptions of work values among workers are influenced not only by financial matters, but also by psychological and social factors. If people are interested in pursuing high income jobs and good career prospects, they are willing to work for challenging jobs. The work values of people are strongly influenced by personal characteristics such as educational achievement, age and household identities. Educational achievement The study shows that there is a relationship between educational achievement of employees and their work values. When employees receive a higher education, they are more supportive of the concept of the market economy. Table 5 shows that people who have obtained a better education are inclined to choose high income but risk-taking jobs, and are willing to take up challenging and high pressure jobs. Nearly 80 percent of the people in this study who received tertiary education are more willing to accept a market economy, compared with 44.8 percent of those who received primary education.

20 Table 5: Relationship between Educational Achievement and Work Values (%) (In Year 1997) Question Primary or below Lower forms of Secondary level Higher forms of secondary level Tertiary level 1A B A B A B A B Total Scores Age The study demonstrates that young employees are more willing to choose high income but high risk-taking jobs. It may be explained that they do not bear responsibilities for taking care of their family members. Furthermore, they have had an opportunity to receive a higher education than the older workers. For instance, a person who has worked for a company for three years is more willing to choose a high income but risky job than a person who has worked for a company for 15 years. The latter is more willing to choose a stable and secure job owing to well-established work status, friendships and family burden (Table 6).

21 Table 6: Relationship between Age and Work Values (%) (In Year 1997) Question 25 or below Between 26 and or above 1A B A B A B A B Total Scores With the exception of question 2, all the questions show that there is a relationship between the age of employees and their work values. An examination of the scores leads the researchers to conclude that middled age people in the study prefers to maintain the status quo. It seems likely that they encounter more work pressure and bear a heavier family burden than young people and older people. Household identity The study also finds that there is a relationship between the household identity of employees and their work values. Owing to uneven development between urban and rural areas, the living standards of rural residents are much lower than their urban counterparts. Besides, rural residents do not receive the same welfare benefits that urban residents enjoy. Although their remuneration is lower than urban residents, the living standards of rural inhabitants have improved. In order to improve their standards of living, rural residents work very hard and thus they are more willing to take up jobs which involve high income but heavy workload, high work pressure and challenging work. Except for question 2, all the questions show that rural residents prefer high risk-taking and challenging jobs. They also expect better career prospects (Table 7).

22 Table 7: Relationship between Household Identity and Work Values (In Year 1997) Question City Resident Rural Resident 1A B A B A B A B Total Scores Institutional Differences as a Factor in Employees Work Values Before economic reforms, SOEs employees enjoyed state provision of welfare. They were more willing to choose stable, secure and low risk jobs. On the other hand, NSOEs employees are more willing to take up competitive and high-risk jobs. Although economic reforms have narrowed institutional differences between SOEs and NSOEs, it is difficult to change the old system overnight. The study finds that NSOEs employees are more willing to do high risk, heavy workload jobs. They are also willing to take up those jobs with high work pressure but good career prospects and those which present a greater challenge. The researchers therefore conclude that NSOEs employees are inclined to accept the market economy (Table 8).

23 Table 8: Relationship between Institutional Differences and Work Values (%) (In Year 1997) Question NSOE SOES 1A B A B A B A B Total Scores State Workers Evaluations And Perceptions Of Role And Social Status In addition, the authors believe that in order to have a better understanding of state workers work values, one must first examine how they evaluate their livelihood after the economic reform since the 1970s and their perception of social status in the midst of a market economy. The discussion will provide us not only with workers subjective feelings but also more insights into their occupational experience in post-mao China. Interestingly, state workers in Guangzhou generally have mixed feelings toward economic reform. On the one hand, they regard that economic reform has enhanced their overall living standards; yet on the other hand, they believe that their social status has suffered after the economic reforms, especially since the 1990s. Despite the fact that the majority of respondents generally believe that their livelihood has greatly improved since 1978, they are particularly worried about the lowering of living standards in recent years because of poor income and cuts in welfare benefits. In general, however, state workers told us that economic reforms had really enhanced people s life chances, citing concrete examples of how people nowadays can buy whatever they like in the open market. Living conditions are greatly improving. What is more important is that people have more choices and their lives have become more exciting, said one of the respondents. Nonetheless, despite the fact that the interviewed state workers generally support the economic reforms, they have mixed feelings about the impact of economic reform on their livelihoods. On the one hand, there is no doubt that their living standards have improved since But what is also true is that they have

24 experienced a decline of living standards especially after the 1990s. When we asked state workers to assess the following aspects and compare that with their experiences ten years ago, the views are rather divided (see table 9). Table 9: State Workers Evaluation of Livelihood in Comparison with their Experience Ten Years Ago (In Year 1997) Aspects for Evaluation Very agree Relatively agree Difficult to judge Not agree Very disagree Your income level has been raised 5.4% 29.7% 16.7% 26.4% 21.3% Your welfare conditions are improving 2.9% 13.4% 22.6% 36.0% 25.1% Your social security (i.e. pension, medical 2.1% 18.0% 27.2% 25.5% 26.4% & social relief) has improved Your promotion opportunity is enhanced 1.7% 21.8% 36.8% 18.0% 18.8% Your social status is higher 0.8% 23.8% 37.7% 20.1% 15.9% Table 9 clearly shows that about 47.7 percent of the respondents do not feel that the level of their incomes has been raised. If, to this, we add those respondents who were uncertain about whether their incomes had improved, then a total of 64.4 percent disagreed that their income level had improved. Similarly, most of the respondents (61.1%) considered their welfare conditions had been declining, instead of improving. With regard to their social security (i.e. pension, medical and social relief), more than half of the respondents felt that the level of social security had never improved, while more than 27 percent of them were uncertain as to whether any improvement had taken place. Moreover, most state workers were dissatisfied with the lack of opportunity for promotion. Only 23.5 percent of them supported the notion that their opportunity of promotion is enhanced. Our findings are consistent with those of other similar studies conducted in Guangzhou, reporting that Guangzhou state workers generally perceive their living standard to be declining (Xin Xi Shi Bao, 25 January 1995).

25 Most sociologically important of all, state workers find themselves being marginalized by the economic reforms introduced in the industrial sector in the mid-eighties. During our different group discussion sessions, they repeatedly complained that the preferential policies toward the non-state sector had inevitably reduced the competitiveness of SOEs in a new market setting. They were critical of state policies which favoured village-based or township-owned enterprises, joint-venture and foreign enterprises. They also blamed the non-state enterprises for producing goods and services of very low standard at a cheaper price to attract buyers, thus placing the SOEs into a very vulnerable position because of their higher production costs even though their products were of high-quality. Moreover, most state workers are skeptical about the future of SOEs. When being asked whether SOE will have no future under a market economy context, 21.2 percent of the respondents agreed, 54.4 percent were ambivalent and only 24.4 percent (about 1/4) of them disagreed. This suggests a general feeling of uncertainty about the future economic viability of SOEs. This uncertainty is even higher concerning the future of their own work units. About 42.2 percent of the respondents considered working for their units as no future; 34.5 percent believed there would be a future and 23.2 percent of them were skeptical or ambivalent (Mok and Cai, 1999). When asked about whether they had any plans to find jobs elsewhere, many of the respondents broke out in laughter and said that they would be most happy to find jobs elsewhere but they were too old to be able to do so. Other respondents just joked, saying they were old and less competitive, their skills might not be appropriate to other firms. The only thing which many of the respondents are thinking about is how to get early retirement. One female worker told us if the firm grants me a pension, I would immediately ask for early retirement. The view that they are too old, not competitive enough and it is too late for them to join the open labour market was widely shared among the workers we interviewed. Another major reason for their reluctance to leave their work units is the fringe benefits which they are receiving. SOE workers have enjoyed comprehensive, non-contributory, and from-cradle-to-grave welfare services. Though the state workers are facing the problem of dismantling the iron rice bowl (Howard, 1991; White, 1989; Feng, 1996; Liu, 1995), our interviewed workers still receive such fringe benefits. Though they complain that the standard of welfare provision is lowering, and they have to make financial contributions to the welfare scheme, they are still the group of people who are benefiting from state social services. The most significant gain is housing provided by their work units, without which they will encounter worse economic difficulties.

26 What makes the SOE workers annoyed and frustrated is when they compare their income and prospects with those of their counterparts in the non-state sector, more specifically, with those in privately-owned enterprises, joint ventures and village enterprises. It is not just that the latter have better incomes and prospects, but many of them have become wealthy in the commercial and business world. Popular dissatisfaction with the income gap is immediately apparent in popular rhymes which denounce the inequality among different sectors. One such rhyme is particularly effective in summing up the popular mood: the reform has made peddlers and those who live in the coast rich, but has impoverished and deceived those who live on salaries... It has allowed young people to be promoted, enriched peasants, and benefited senior cadres, while causing workers to be more strictly controlled (Chiang, 1989, p. 39). Living in such a socio-economic context, it is not surprising that ordinary workers become very angry when they see managers, businessmen and officials enjoying meat and drinks in expensive restaurants. Many of those spent as much on their meat and drinks in one day as what a worker earns during a six months period (Wong and Mok, 1996). It is not surprising that state workers are becoming less patient of reform and desperate about their own future. Considering themselves as marginalized, as well as socially and economically deprived in the reform, our interviewees have a general regard that the social status of workers is lowering. One effective way to examine workers evaluation of their social status in a changing socialist market environment is to ask them to give themselves a rank in the social ladder. Not entirely surprising, nearly all the respondents considered the master position only as a myth. 5 Some of them were dissatisfied with their reduced bargaining power under authoritative managers (Tang and Feng, 1996). This observation is again consistent with that of another study conducted by one of the authors. It was found that, in Beijing and Shenyang, state workers not only complained about the economic hardship as a result of economic inefficiency of their work units, but also criticized the reform measures introduced in the industrial sector to have inevitably marginalized state workers. In Shenyang, it is common to see state workers who have not received any income for a year; while in Beijing more than half of the state workers have been made redundant because of the declining economic efficiency of SOEs (Mok, 1999; Mok, Wong and Lee, 1999). Some state workers openly declared that the master role has gone and that they are becoming the under-class in a new market setting (Tang, Parish and Feng, 1996). This feeling is intensified especially when more and more state workers are threatened by unemployment (Zhu, 1997).

27 In 1996 alone, about 100,000 workers were made redundant by the state sector in Guangzhou. Redundancy unquestionably results in economic hardship even though those workers wage are very low. About 41.2 percent of these redundant state workers received less than 300 yuan per month; and 80 percent less than 500 yuan per month, compared with the existing average monthly income of 872 yuan in Guangzhou in Clearly, their living standards drop even more after being made redundant. A study indicated that about 87.1 percent of unemployed workers experienced declining living standards and more than 70 percent received less than 300 yuan per month to sustain their life in Guangzhou. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of these redundant workers saw no future and no prospects, feeling themselves as losers in the economic reforms (Mok, 1998). The direct confrontation with economic hardship and personal experience of declining living standards have caused state workers to regard themselves as a low status group. According to a study recently conducted in Guangzhou, about 19.9 percent of state workers ranked themselves as the lowest group in the social ladder; while about 57.8 percent of them considered themselves as relatively lower in social ranking than other occupational groups. Putting these two groups together, more than 77.7 percent of state workers perceive themselves as lower in social status; while only 21.5 percent of the respondents ranked themselves as middle in the social ladder (Cai, 1996). During our field interviews with selected workers, some female workers told us that they were extremely proud of themselves when they had been employed by state-owned enterprises twenty years ago. They shared a common belief that getting married to state workers was a glory and a way to security in the future. But the situation now is totally different: inefficiency in their state firms, no career prospects, cut in welfare benefits, and the threat of unemployment. Thus, state workers nowadays have no sense of pride working for SOEs. Again, there is no question to find only about 24.6 percent of state workers considered their social status has been enhanced, while more than 73 percent of them either were ambivalent or disagree with such a notion, as indicated in our present study. Similarly, different surveys conducted in Guangzhou repeatedly report that state workers consider themselves a low-income group. In addition, most state workers prefer other jobs to their present one, finding state work no longer an honour but a very unpopular job (Nan Fu Du Shi Bao, 8 June 1995; Xian Dai Qi Ye Jia Bao, 8 November 1995; Wen Hui Daily, 8 July 1996). Living in a very unfavourable 5 Since the foundation of the People Republic of China, workers have been regarded as the master of the country, the

28 socio-economic environment, state workers in Guangzhou therefore hold a very pessimistic view regarding their future. When asked about their assessment of their own future, more than a third of the respondents in Guangzhou were pessimistic about their own future with ordinary workers being the most pessimistic group (Cai, 1996). DISCUSSION The above discussion has clearly suggested that people s perceptions, interpretations and responses in regard to their work environment are shaped by a complex set of factors. The meanings people attach to work are never a universal pattern because work-related attitudes are affected by individuals background and past experiences, motivations and calculations of individuals, and hence their work performances and abilities. The perceptions and attitudes toward work held by people are never immune from the impact of the wider socio-economic and socio-political environment. The organizational structure, factors in the immediate work environment and other institutional factors that continue to shape people s work-related attitudes and ethics. Explanations of work values can be divided into two major perspectives personal characteristics and social factors. The former tries to explain how personal characteristics, namely, age and sex, contribute to various work values and have affected people s job choices. The latter looks into the impact of social factors such as traditional culture, social changes and different institutional systems, on people s work values. Studies of work values reveal that people s job preference and work values are complicated and complex, both personal and social factors having a formative impact on people s jobrelated / work-related values (Westwood and Leung, 1996). The above case study of state workers in Guangzhou has suggested that even though Guangzhou state workers are dissatisfied with their existing work environment, pay and welfare benefits, as well as declining occupational status, most of them find difficulties in changing jobs or reluctant to venture into the open market because they are less competitive and technically viable. More importantly, these workers have been serving in the same work place for not less than twenty years, they have developed a very good relationship with their colleagues, as well as a special kind of sense of belonging toward their work units (Yao, 1992). What makes these workers less determined to change jobs is the welfare benefits which working class is supposedly the leading social class in society.