Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline

Factory Women in Malaysia

Author: Aihwa Ong
ISBN: 0887063810

Why are Malay women workers periodically seized by spirit possession on the shopfloors of modern factories? In this book, Aihwa Ong captures the disruptions, conflicts, and ambivalences in the lives of Malay women and their families as they make the transition from peasant society to industrial production.To discover the meaning that the market economy and wage labor hold for Malay peasants, Ong conducted anthropological field work in an agricultural district in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, which is undergoing rapid proletarianization. Weaving together history, ethnography, and quantitative analysis, she addresses many questions pertaining to peasants and state policies. The book shows how the diverging roles of young men and women are increasingly channelled, by educational and labor market pressures, toward conformity with corporate culture and capitalist discipline.A unique feature of this book is the portrayal of Malay women workers in Japanese factories, caught between their cul

Publisher: SUNY Press
Publish Date: 1987-07-15

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / General

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Cross-Cultural Center (Location: Asia (ASIA)), Women's Center (Location: Asian-American/Asian)