The Influence of the Work Unit on the Organization of Chinas Urban Centers - Article Example

THE INFLUENCE OF THE WORK UNIT (DANWEI) ON THE ORGANIZATION OF CHINA’S URBAN CENTRES Course Tutor University City/State Date The influence of the work unit (danwei) on the organization of china’s urban centers Introduction It was universally acknowledged that the primary purpose of danwei proceeding to the economic reform was basically all-encompassing for those citizens living in urban centers. In other words, Danwei defined individual’s economic, social and political life. Additionally, individual’s life’s revolved around danwei for anything they need in what was basically defined as organized dependency (Yanjie 2005, 1444). Moreover, the post economic reform that occurred in 1978 has shifted the danwei role but has not diminished. In other words, certain roles of danwei have been displaced in pre-reform China or rather in one way or the other weakened substantially by the market and this included housing provision, entertai8nment provision, food rationing as well as conferment of political rights. Furthermore, non-state economic units such as joint ventures with international firms and private firms have emerged and gained more prominence in China’s economy (David 2005, 66). By so doing, they have diminished the all-encompassing danwei character in state-owned employers working in universities, hospitals, and large public-traded firms. In simple terms, they are technically no longer attributed to the state command economy. Therefore, it is then an open opinion on whether danwei still possess a strong driving force in defining the communal stratification in reform-era urban China. One concrete argument about the danwei system‘s role in the organization of the cities in China is that, a worker in contemporary China is not basically interested in reducing the cost of labor as the equilibrium of the labor market would allow, rather they may in one way or the other interested in the economic gains of their current workers by ensuring that they pay them at higher levels that substantially may not be supported by the market competition (Jie Chunlong & Yiyin 2007 523). In other words, the arrangement of the cities in most cases is down to the financial conditions of danwei which determined the workers earnings. This paper will therefore, explore how danwei (the work unit) has influenced the way Chinese cities are organized. Shifting boundaries of danwei and social stratification in urban china Before the economic reform, the urban society of China was structured as a hierarchy, such that, each work unit whether it is a factory, a school, government office or a store performed its role as a social unit in a functioning system that was dominated by what is known as the redistributive state. Additionally, under the socialist system of the state, danwei status in the hierarchy was reflected by the resources at its disposal which was largely dependent on its ownership, bureaucratic rank and its type (Xi 2007, 248). Moreover, the Chinese danwei were classified into government agencies (dangzheng jiguan), enterprises (qiye danwei), and public institutions (Shiye danwei). In other words, dangzheng jiguan agencies were basically the redistributors while the shiye danwei (public institutions) were the main beneficiary since they were relying on the government support (Yanjie 2005, 1444). For quite a long period in the People’s Republic history, danwei organizations served as an intermediate connection between the state and the individuals and conferred unequal life chances and economic status on workers in respect to their organizational status they hold in the redistributive hierarchy. Furthermore, the urban stratification structure was characterized primarily by the inequality between relative egalitarianism and work units within danweis. In other words, employees as well as their family members depend totally upon their affiliated danwei for career chances and material resources. A permanent membership or belonging of a danwei was a significant symbol of social status and the main driving vehicle for social mobility and status attainment (Jie Chunlong & Yiyin 2007 520). The dependence of employees and work units had shifted and changed since the economic reform on two aspects. First, the danwei hierarchy had to a great extent been undermined by the subsequent growth and introduction of the private sector as well as the decentralization of enterprises that were state owned on the other hand (Jie Chunlong & Yiyin 2007 527). Additionally, since 1980s, the reformation of the Chinese cities had tried to move enterprises that were state-owned to the market so that the work unit capacity should generate a lot of revenues for distribution at discretion of their own among the members which was not always in line and with their hierarchy status, that was defined by their bureaucratic rank and their sector. Moreover, with the competition that was emanating from the private sector as early as the 1990s, the collective enterprises and the state-owned enterprises had filed to make profits on an increasing scale and therefore, they could in one way or the other barely sustain themselves making most medium-sized and small firms to be privatized via the ownership-restructuring program in the late 1990s (Si-Ming &Youqin 2006, 623). . For social categories to function and exist, the membership of these categories had to be directly or indirectly explicitly defined and the social mobility across the categories was low. Notwithstanding the fact that privatization expansion as the primary resources provider alternative and life chances had as well played an undermining role on the bureaucratic coordination that extended until the year 1990 when china cities incurred housing allocation reforms, social security and remuneration had detached employees from their danwei to a great extent and in the process facilitate the market of labor (Xi 2007, 253). Additionally the national policy to make the urban housing sector commercial was implemented and this caused the demolition of the direct allocation of housing units by danwei in the year 1998 (Yanjie 2005, 1447). By so saying, it means that, the delivery of fringe benefits and other services took over on an expanding scale in the form of cash payments as the government and the state lifted its stand on work units’ salary control which has made social security unified successfully at the provincial level extending its coverage to encompass those working units in the private sector. Moreover, the toleration of the unemployment and layoff by the Chinese government made many employees to leave the public sector unwillingly and the rate of job mobility increased at alarmingly than before (Si-Ming &Youqin 2006, 623). . However, owing to the restructuring of employee’s relationship among the work units as well as the functioning of a number of fluid markets in increasing numbers, the importance of organization in social stratification in the cities is expected to reduce over time (Jie Chunlong & Yiyin 2007 515). By so saying, it means that, in the modern cities of China, the work unit’s accounts for a very insignificant fraction of the variance in the earnings of workers. In other words, the decades that witnessed economic reforms had undermined the assets of organization that were tied to the work units (danwei) ownership in the cities social stratification. Alternatively, organizations may still hold a significant purpose but through different mechanisms (Yanjie 2005, 1444). Organizational attributes revolving around the individual’s socioeconomic realization may have shifted with the channels via which a danwei or rather a work unit secures economic resources and distributes them among the members. The state is regarded d as the significant factor for understanding the transformation of the Chinese cities (Jie Chunlong & Yiyin 2007 520). Additionally, in China, the state and the party are believed to penetrate deeply and widely to grassroots level. By so saying, it means that, to some extent, the transformation to urban centers grassroots level can be comprehended as new institutional level arrangements or rather structural adjustments that makes it possible to fulfill the goals of the party -state. Danwei, work unit urbanism and governance in Chinese cities A danwei comprised of a form of social organization that followed the principle of workplace organizing and housing basically as a spatial unit (Yanjie 2005, 1464). Additionally, every Chinese citizen was required to be a member of a unit that would in one way or the other provide for his cultural, social and work needs (David2005, 63). Besides the work unit’s role as the primary identifying instrument, its design and layout as well as the way the units were laid out in the cities created a different and unique spatial order specific to the citizens of China. The city planners in China after 1949 developed urban schemes for new cities and towns based on the unit scheme postulated by Clarence Perry (Yuming David Nan 2000 65). In other words, buildings that served as production houses, community facilities and residences within danwei differed in height, age and style, but generally, they are modern concrete and brick structures designed based on the doctrines of rationalists (Ray &Ngai-Ming 2007, 47) Therefore, most urban cities in china grew up as a result of the utilization of the neighborhood concept and Japanese and Chinese’s town planning strategy (Si-Ming &Youqin 2006, 623). . The cities of China since the emergence of socialism in the year 1949 have been in one way or the other the creature of the government state designs. For instance, the bureaucratic rank in the work unit once held a significant role in characterizing the status of the work unit and the bargaining power as far as the redistributive hierarchy is concerned in the 1980s (David2005, 60).However, its influence on benefits and income in the modern Chinese cities has faded owing to the expansion of the private firms and the overall relaxation of the state control that goes way back into the 1990s.Additionally, this attributes are especially prevalent in the modern cities public enterprises which basically had to concentrate and rely on the market and ignore the bureaucratic coordination of profits and revenues. In other words, their financial situation of a work unit ranks second as earnings determinant only after the city where the unit is located and the explanatory ability of danwei’s financial situation is larger for workers earnings as compared to their benefits (Yanjie 2005, 1450). By so saying, it means that, the danwei or rather the work unit has continues to be a very significant agent in Chinese cities social stratification, but pertaining to a great extent to their financial situation and business performance, which according to the modern cities are no longer stratified as far as their positions is concerned in their redistributive hierarchy. Therefore, the modern cities organizational attributes suggest that concrete mechanism via which danwei or work units impact social stratification in post socialist cities of China (Yuming David & Nan 2000, 67) Major attribute of Chinas cities transformation in the modern era has been the emergence of a variety of residential housing estates simultaneously, the planning and design of this cities has basically changed from the work units to residential community (Yuming David & Nan 2000, 65). Additionally, in many residential districts, the development of the basic a planning unit and governance unit coincides such that, planning in the modern cities corresponds to the strategic efforts of the administration or governance (Si-Ming &Youqin 2006, 623). The demographic, physical and social changes caused by danwei have placed the China’s authorities with primary challenges in their effort to rule the city population (Yong Weihong Klaus 2009 423). Additionally, the past methods revolved on the work unit (danwei) and were no longer able to support and encompass a diverse and mobile population in the rapidly changing city environment. In an effort to curb this challenge, the government of China initiated a strategy known as the community building that solely aimed at reorganizing the city population based on their residential area (David2005, 66). Moreover, this new policy initiative is underpinned basically by a new society conception. In this case, the community has the responsibility for caring for its residents with a number of special economic needs but with uplifting those individuals in the community morally and educationally most especially those sections of city residents viewed as problematic such as criminals, migrant laborers delinquents as well as those who are unemployed (Yong Weihong Klaus 2009 427). Conclusion Danwei had once performed a significance role in deliberating life chances and unequal socioeconomic status on employee, owing to their rank in their redistributive hierarchy (Xi 2007 253). Additionally, such an organizational hierarchy in one way or the other had been dented by the growth and expansion of the private sector, the reformation of the enterprises that were state-owned as well as the dynamic interaction and linkages between the two market sectors. However, against this backdrop, the differentiating attributes that define the socioeconomic attainment of individuals had been redrawn (Yanjie 2005, 1460). Moreover, the governance and social stratification that is currently diminishing in most Chinese cities is evidence of the evolving function the organizations play in social stratification in the urban China. References David B.2005. Social space and governance in urban China: the danwei system from origins to reform, Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, . Jie C.; Chunlong L.; and Yiyin Y., 2007. “Popular support for grassroots self-government in urban China,” Modern China 33 (4)505-528. Ray F.; Ngai-Ming Y., 2007. “Neighbourhood and neighbouring in contemporary Guangzhou,” Journal of Contemporary China 16, (50) 47-64. Si-Ming L.; Youqin H. 2006. “Urban housing in China: market transition, housing mobility and neighbourhood change,” Housing Studies 21 (5) 613-623. 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