Class, ideology and nationalism : the case of Chinese 5G digital infrastructural workers

Abstract

Contrary to the abundance of research on Chinese nationalism, in the studies of Chinese class politics, ideology is at the periphery. How should we understand the role of nationalism as an ideology in the class formation of Chinese workers? Reciprocally, how does class affect the reproduction of nationalist ideology? Drawing inspirations from Marxist theories on class and ideology, this thesis fills this lacuna by studying the workers in the rollout of the Chinese 5G digital infrastructure, the epicentre of inter-capitalist competitions that involve the state, capital, and labour. Through a digital ethnography of the infrastructural works, in particular the workers in an upper-stream technological national champion and the frontline base state construction and maintenance workers, content analysis on relevant public discourses on Zhihu, and archival research, it is found that despite the effort by the state and capital in positioning the 5G digital infrastructure as a backbone of economic upgrading, decorated with a nationalistic ideology, workers showed mixed receptions. When their class subjectivities and national subjectivities conflict, some workers underwent individual legal-class actions and informal class formation.

The monopolies of state and private capitals dominate the 5G infrastructural production network and form the exploitative mode of production. On the upper stream, workers at Huawei are attracted by the employee shareholding scheme but disciplined by a complicated management regime composed of age discrimination, long working hours and "elimination of the end seat". The state's policy to reduce the mobile network subscription squeezed the profit of the telecom operators and was passed onto the outsourcing engineering companies, and further down to the base station workers via multi-level internal outsourcing. These class experiences formed the material matrix of affirmation and sanctions for ideological reproduction. In this matrix, workers with industrial conflicts with their employers tend to show a critical reception of techno-nationalism as their class interests collide with capitalist interests. When the legal apparatus of the state cannot contain and appease the workers, workers went further to question the state and nationalism. It is also found that in the discourse of 5G workers on Zhihu, popular support for state-led nationalism is countered by class ideology and consumer identity, questioning the binding of national interests and exploitative domestic capitalists as well as nationalistic marketing. This nuanced ideological competition provided a realistic grasp of Chinese nationalism.

This thesis contributes to the existing literature in the following ways: by bringing nationalist ideology into class analysis, we see a new compliance-cum-contradiction for comprehending the class formation of Chinese workers. Also, by revealing the ideological competition of class and nationalist subjectivities, this thesis suggests going beyond a state-led/popular model and analysing Chinese nationalism with respect to other ideologies.