From “the Game of Making Out” to “the Game of Boss”: Labor control in the informal employment

本研究以广州市中大布匹市场周边聚集的小型制衣厂为例，探讨非正式就业中的劳动控制问题。延续布洛维“赶工游戏”的思路，本研究将非正式就业的制衣工人在不受保护的劳动状态中仍然努力工作的原因归结为“老板游戏”的存在。一方面，“人人当老板”的实践和观念模糊了工人与老板的界限，使得即使再苦再累的工作也可视为当老板必要的“原始积累”；另一方面，“个个来管理”模糊了工人和管理者的界限，有助于工人了解市场行情和行业规则，实现从工人到师傅再到老板的跃升。“老板游戏”的提出在两个维度上拓展了既往关于工作场所游戏的研究。它既带入了工作场所外的影响因素，也刻画了工人与管理者和老板界限的模糊性。我们认为，虽然小型制衣厂不存在内部劳动力市场，但是存在一个范围更广、空间更大的行业内部劳动力市场，这为超越工厂体制，构建行业体制或部门体制等概念提供了可能。

This study explored the labor control mechanism in the informal employment based on the fieldwork of small garment factories gathered around Zhongda Textile and Garments District in Guangzhou. Following Michael Burawoys concept of “the game of making out”, this article proposed a different game beyond the workplace:“the game of boss”. This construct illuminated why the informal garment workers still working hard even under unprotected workplaces. On the one hand, the practice and idea of “everyone can become a boss” blurred the boundaries between workers and bosses, so that hard work could be considered as the necessary “primitive accumulation of capital”. On the other hand, “everyone can become a manager” obscured the distinction between workers and managers, which helped workers understanding the market situation and industry rules gradually and then assisted them jump from workers to masters and finally, to bosses. “The game of boss” expanded previous researches about workplace games in two dimensions. It brought external factors back in the workplace while discovering the deepening ambiguity between workers and managers or bosses. Though there is no internal labor market in small garment factories, there is another one within the garment industry or the informal sector, which is broader and bigger. This finding urges labor scholars to rethink Burawoys “factory regime” and build new concepts, such as “industry regime” or “sector regime”.

郑广怀 孙慧 万向东

本文是2013年度教育部哲学社会科学研究重大课题攻关项目“户籍限制放开背景下促进农民工中小城市社会融合的社会管理和服务研究”（13JZD018）的阶段性成果

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