Abstract

The world's largest working class is in the process of making in China. Based on the perspective of historical sociology，this book attempts to use theoretical framework and conceptual tools borrowing from the sociology of labor，to explore key issues during the class formation and the development of class consciousness of migrant workers. The following is the core problems ：what are the prominent features of the class formation of migrant workers？ How economic factors，social factors，cultural factors and political factors restrict and promote the class formation and the nascent class consciousness of migrant workers？ Comparing with other countries，especially those newly industrialized countries，migrant workers’ class formation and the development of class consciousness will face with what kinds of predicaments？ What is the possible trend of in the future？ How to make an on-the-spot investigation on the dynamic mechanism hiding behind the class formation of the migrant workers from the angle of the proletarianization？ For the researchers and the national governors，the rise of the new working class presents what kinds of challenges？ How to choose and construct the class integration strategies and labor policies that conforming to the historical trend？

The major research findings are the following：（1）The economic，social，cultural and political heritages of Socialist China have far-reaching influences to the paths and patterns of Chinese traditional and new working class formation，although the later is shaped more by market and state； at the same time，the class formation of the migrant workers also promotes the transformation of the civil society，market and state regime.（2）The economic centered-factors，the state centered-factors and the society-centered factors all play pivotal role in the making of new working class，which are reflected in the unique characters of class formation of migrant workers，for example，“the class formation without class organization”，etc.（3）On the whole，the class consciousness of the new working class is in the stage of “embryonic trade union consciousness”； using the method of sociological intervention to study the migrant workers is necessary and fruitful，the findings tell us that it will help the workers to sublimate the individual class experience into collective class consciousness，avoiding the shortcomings of old paradigm in the study of working class consciousness. （4）The migrant workers’ class formation and the development of class consciousness will be a long-term multiple open historical process； the relationship between agent and agency，the relationship between the history and will，the relationship between reality and possibility，all will be vividly displayed during this process.

The basic structure of this paper is as follows：

Chapter one analyzes the literatures of class formation and class consciousness，trying to provide viable theoretical references and research agendas for studying the class formation and class consciousness of the migrant workers.

The second chapter is about research framework and specific research methods. Based on the reflection of the existing research paradigm on class formation and class consciousness，this chapter revises the general comparative analytical framework of Katznelson et al.，the framework will be be appropriate for the reality and the experience of Chinese migrant workers. In order to explore the class consciousness of the new working class，the author choose the biography of Chun Tae-il and a film telling his life as the stimulus and design a sociological intervention research agenda.

Class formation in communist countries has its own complexity and the peculiarity. In order to understand the historical dynamics and determinants of the class structure and stratification from 1978 to reform era，the third chapter reviews different interpretations and theoretical arguments on the class structure and class relation of socialist countries，especially the class structure and status differentiation in China.The aim of this chapter is provide a historical context to understand how status politics and class politics both change the mororphology of class formation before the market transition.From the angle of historical sociology，this chapter briefly reviews the historical process of the transformation from “class politics” to “status politics” which reshaped traditional working class before the reform era； analyzes the “remaking”，“unmaking” and “withering” of the traditional class in China during the market transition，including its concrete historical process and features.

In chapter 4 and chapter 5，drawling lessons from the general comparative analytical framework of Katznelson et al.，the author give a rounded analysis on the class formation and its determinants of migrant workers. The analysis focuses on four dimensions of the class formation； they are economic dimension，societal dimension，cultural dimension and political dimension.As to the economic dimension，the author analyzes the rise of Township enterprises and word factory，the two trajectory of migrant workers’ class formation and the dynamic mechanism behind them，indicating how economic development pattern（especially industrialization mode） have generated ground influence on class formation of migrant workers.As to the social dimension，the author use Burawoy’s theoretical frame work of Factory Regime as reference，analyzing the dual labor market and differential citizenship and their role in shaping the character of the class formation of migrant workers As to the cultural dimension，the author mainly discuss three questions：（1） the fading way of class discourses and its influence on class formation of migrant workers；（2） the ideological state apparatuses and its discourse construction on image the migrant workers and the paradox in this construction；（3） the rising the working class culture and its declaration on workers’ rights and voices.As to the political dimension，the author analyses the migrant workers’ grassroots organizations and their difficulties to warding to the class organization，and different types of migrant workers protests over the meaning of class formation.

Chapter 6 introduces Charles Tilly's definition of proleteraalization and his analytical frameworks，and then gives a brief introduction of the theoretical controversies； This chapter combines the existing various survey data on migrant workers（especially statistics data），trying to examine the proletarianization process and pattern of migrant workers over the past 30 years，this class's demographic characteristics，social characteristics and degree of proletarianization.

Chapter 7 revises Touraine’s method of sociological intervention，using the biography of Chun Tae-il and a film on his beautiful life as the intervention material，trying to study the class consciousness of migrant workers. The researching finding is that sociological intervention can be helpful for the migrant workers to rethink their own work experiences，think deeply about themselves and the fate of the class they belonging to，to promote their native individual class experience to the degree of the collective class consciousness.

Chapter 8 mainly discuses the economic-centered factors，social-centered factors and state-centered factors and their impacts on class formation and class consciousness of migrant workers； reflects the shortcomings in the course of study，and have a advice on the future research and the direction.

Key words：Migrant workers Class formation Class consciousness Historical sociology Sociological intervention Labor policy