"Working Illegally": Predicament of Economic Rationality and Moral Existence-A Case Study of J Factory's Assembly Fitters

The Chinese economic reform has brought a complex economic and social structure with the coexistence of market competition and bureaucratic monopoly, which gives rise to all kinds of "gray" or even "black" markets and industrial chains that are outside the legal boundaries. This paper is an investigation of the survival crisis of workers in state-owned enterprises under the monopoly economic system through the case of "illegally working" assembly fitters in a tobacco equipment factory. The "Scott-Popkin" perspective of economic rationality and moral survival is applied as theoretical framework in this study. The study finds that the combination of market competition and bureaucratic control allows economic monopoly such as the tobacco industry that, in turn, breeds an underground industrial chain. The monopolistic and underground industries constitute unequal competition in production and redistribution, leading to monopolistic entities using institutional resources and public powers to prohibit underground e