The construction of workers’ social identity in the Maoist era: the case of the Caoyang workers’ new village in Shanghai

The workers’ new village was a type of public housing built on a large scale for employees of state-owned enterprises during the Maoist era (1949-1976), the aim being not just to provide them with accommodation but also to build a new social identity for the working class. Based on the case of Caoyang xincun, Shanghai’s first workers’ village, this article examines three processes involved in constructing the social identity of the workers living on the village, namely the allocation of housing by the government and the work units (danwei), the media’s creation of social images, and the formation of a dual attachment on the parts of residents both to their work unit and to the workers’ village. We will also shed light on the specific role of the physical and spatial environment within this process.