The 6pm struggle: the changing meaning of work, a culture of overtime work, and corporate governmentality in urban China
Abstract Through ethnographic materials gathered from participant observation and interviewing in and beyond corporate contexts in Shanghai, this paper shows how a culture of overtime work was sustained and legitimated in urban China and how white collar workers endured, rationalized, and accommodated it. In particular, I discuss forms of managerial control imposed on white collar workers and social control prevalent in the workplace, to shed light on the formation of a kind of corporate governmentality in urban China and its implications for shaping the personhood of workers.
Asian Anthropology