Abstract
“White-collarization” is a process by which aspirational white-collar workers actively or passively change themselves until they actually become members of the white-collar group, accepting “white-collar identification.” By analyzing interview data from an everyday-life perspective, we find that ICT products and white-collar workers interact after the former enter the everyday life of the latter. “White-collarization” endows the life course of white-collar workers with fresh and different meanings, which strengthens their identification with their own groups, forming a specific system of membership identification, and solidifies the white-collar class. The discussion on the form of confirmation and exclusion systems offers a new perspective on social classification theory.
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- 1.
Here ICT products include information technology and communication technology, all items tied to these high-tech electronic products, and the corresponding software, such as computers, the Internet, television, MP3 players, iPods, cell phones, tape recorders, digital cameras, all kinds of games, VCDs, DVDs, game software, computer software, and network software.
- 2.
Li Qiang claims that the basic characteristics of this group are that they (a) are relatively young, (b) generally have higher education, (c) have professional knowledge, (d) have a mastery of English, and (e) own or can work competently with computers. Most of them work in foreign-funded enterprises and newly emerging industries, so they have a distinct advantage in terms of income. Their consumer behavior reveals a high-consumption trend. The new way of life has begun to form a so-called style, the so-called petite bourgeoisie and BoBo nation. “Bourgeois Bohemia” refers to a lifestyle dominated by the middle class (Li 2004).
- 3.
In current Chinese society, quite a few white-collar workers do not conform to the fourth and fifth characteristics.
- 4.
It should be pointed out that the popularity of mobile phones is also connected to the popularity of prepaid card system. Please refer to Jing Wang’s article (Wang 2005).
- 5.
See articles on Jishi Net on 16 June 2006.
- 6.
The design of such products meets the needs of white-collar workers. Therefore, as with the stratified market in ICT products, a lot of white-collar workers prefer these products because they are fashionable and easy to use.
- 7.
We mainly research the two parts of white-collar workers’ everyday lives: working (learning) and leisure time.
- 8.
Products like tape recorders, televisions, DVDs, and other ICT products entered white-collar life 20 years ago. However, their widespread and profound influence started from white-collars’ acceptance of mobile phones which began in the late 1990s; during that period, most white-collar workers were still students.
- 9.
For studies on the use of SMS during SARS 2003, please refer to Haiqing Yu (2004).
- 10.
We regard radio, broadcasting, and television as traditional ICT products. They have a common characteristic: they cannot be repeated, so the viewer has to watch or listen to a program as it is being broadcast.
- 11.
An interviewee said, “I definitely won’t vote. It is total nonsense” (GBN, Assistant Lawyer, Guangzhou).
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Yang, S., Li, J. (2012). The Use of ICT Products and “White-Collarization” of White-Collar Workers: An Everyday-Life Perspective. In: Law, Pl. (eds) New Connectivities in China. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3910-9_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3910-9_13
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