“信息主导”背景下农民工的生存状态和身份认同

Young Rural Workers'Living Ecologies and Self-identification:From the perspective of "information-led"

中国在市场经济改革这个过程中所经历的除了生产关系和产权关系的变化外,还有一场伴随着全球一体化而来的信息革命。这意味着我国所经历的现代化轨迹不同于欧美国家,从而农民工在城市打工所体会的"现代生活"也有自身的独特之处。本文就此提出以"信息主导"(information-led)为研究视角,探讨新一代农民工在全球信息化的背景下,其日常生活、社会关系,以及个人身份建构(self-identification)所经历的变革过程。首先,本文通过反思以劳资对立为研究视角的农民工研究,指出以该理论框架为指导的农民工研究的理论预设及其视角局限。其后,本文会讨论信息及通信技术(in-formation and communication technologies—ICTs)如何作为农民工研究的另一个切入点,从日常生活的角度展现新一代农民工在面对"流动"和"通讯"之间的必然性时所面对的疲惫、彷徨和被动处境。最后,本文会以珠三角地区展开的田野调査,来说明信息及通信技术在新一代农民工的日常生活里的社会意义,并探讨新一代农民工的生存状态如何对工人身份的认同构成阻力。

During economic reform,China has been experiencing not only the changes of relations of production and property ownerships,but also the globalization and information revolution. This means China's path to modernization may be different from the western ones. In the eyes of young rural workers,'city life' may also have its specific meaning in the Chinese context. The paper first briefly reviews the theoretical assumptions and limitations of rural labor researches in a Marxist perspective,then discusses how information and communication technology (ICT) studies can be one of the other possible ways to examine contemporary Chinese labor situation. Based upon an understanding of the interplay of young rural workers and ICTs,the paper suggests that the living ecologies and social meanings of 'work' in young workers'life courses need to be revisited.