| Author: | Chen, Yunqiao |
| Title: | Recontextualizing "996" in China's overwork dispute : a multi-dimensional critical discourse analysis |
| Advisors: | Liu, Ming (CBS) |
| Degree: | DALS |
| Year: | 2024 |
| Subject: | Critical discourse analysis Hours of labor -- Social aspects -- China Work -- Social aspects -- China Internet industry -- China Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Faculty of Humanities |
| Pages: | x, 209 pages : illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This study examines the dispute over the prevalent “996” work schedule (i.e., working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week) among China’s tech companies. The dispute is viewed as a critical discursive moment in the marketization, modernization, and acceleration of Chinese society. This study argues that behind the discursive event lies the hegemonic struggles among business tycoons, the government, and the workers amidst China’s changing social landscape. Drawing on theories of critical discourse analysis, it studies the recontextualization of “996” by business tycoons, Chinese official news media, and the workers from multi-dimensions, including textual (i.e., discursive strategies), intertextual (i.e., interdiscursivity), and social cognition (i.e., conceptual metaphors). The primary purpose is to reveal the complex and subtle ways in which “996” is (de)legitimated and explicate the connections between language use and power struggles. Data from the study consist of comments posted by the two business tycoons, Jack Ma and Richard Liu, online news commentaries from official news media, and discussions among Internet users on China’s leading question-answering community Zhihu within the time frame from March 26, 2019 to September 30, 2021. The analysis of (de)legitimation strategies reveals that the two business tycoons amplify their voice by establishing themselves as authorities and role models, using carefully crafted definitions, abstract concepts, goal orientation rationalization, and moral tales that foreground the “projected” potentials to “996”. The official news media consolidate state authority by delegitimating “996” with impersonal authority, expert opinions, negative evaluation, abstract concepts, and utilitarian rationalization that accentuate its detrimental effects on the state. Zhihu users express their dissatisfaction and request fundamental rights by referencing constitutional law and socialist icons alongside negative evaluations. They also draw on effect orientation rationalization and the workers’ cautionary tales that depict the “real” reality in their lives. The analysis of interdiscursivity demonstrates that the two business tycoons employ religion and family discourses to recontextualize “996” as a matter of personal choice, thereby backgrounding economic interests of workers and decentering government intervention. They foreground working as a “blessing”, “good fortune” and for “the shared family” within the realms of religion and family. They also resort to differentiation between positive “Us” or negative “Them” and between “true” and “false” brothers. The official news media appropriate legal discourse to foreground the illegality of “996” and official authority in addressing this issue. However, the official news media distribute responsibilities to all the involved parties to address the problem while mitigating the pressure on specific official departments. Zhihu users apply revolutionary discourse to request the protection of their rights and demand collective actions to resist “996”. They use intertextual resources mainly from the revolutionary phrasings, as well as differentiation between the proletariats and the capitalists, and the socialist system and the capitalist system. The analysis of conceptual metaphors highlights Jack Ma’s positive conceptualization as he portrays business as philanthropy, employers as philanthropists, employees as learners, and overwork as a form of giving and learning. Similarly, Richard Liu conceptualizes business as Jianghu, a domain where employers and employees unite like brothers in combat. These metaphors serve to emphasize the positive aspects of business and overwork while humanizing employers and employees. The metaphors of war and contest deployed by the official news media and online community, in contrast, emphasize the competitive and profit-driven nature of business. The official news media suggest perceiving business as a journey and a process of building, necessitating continuous effort. They dehumanize employers with metaphors of vampires and employees with machines and animals. Overwork is constructed as a show and disease. Zhihu users reconceptualize business as farming, employers as ghosts, and employees as machines, animals, and even slaves; overwork is reconceptualized as a crime and disease. These metaphors reject the positive conceptualization of “996”, emphasizing the impersonal, mechanical, and dehumanizing elements. Their different preferences in discursive strategies, interdiscursivity, and conceptual metaphors illuminates the underlying power struggles within the debate. Business tycoons align with corporate interests and consolidate entrepreneurial power while demanding decentralization and self-regulation. The official news media function as a reinforcing apparatus for the existing state power while minimizing individual power. Zhihu users align with the interests of the workers and resist entrepreneurial power while expressing their dissatisfaction towards status quo by evoking a sense of nostalgia and advocating for transformative change towards a communist utopia. A multi-dimensional critical discourse analysis of the overwork debate provides valuable insights not only into the discursive features, but also into the hegemonic struggles among entrepreneurs, the Chinese government, and the workers. It is one of the few studies that situate the debate within the context of social change. By examining the role of language and semiotics in the recontextualization of “996”, a deeper understanding of the social issue emerges within the broader socio-economic, socio-cultural, and socio-political landscape. Furthermore, it contributes to research on the overwork schedule by offering a comprehensive multi-dimensional critical discourse analysis. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8034.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 1.7 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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