Articles
Corporate Intervention in Workers’ Lives: A Focus on “Guidance” in Employee Dormitories
2025 Volume 24 Pages 13-26
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2025 Volume 24 Pages 13-26
This study investigates the discourse of labor management that supported corporate intervention in the personal lives of workers living in employee dormitories, focusing on the period from the 1960s to mid-1970s. During this time, dormitory management adopted a method known as “human management,” which extended corporate control beyond the workplace into workers’ daily routines. At the heart of this approach was “Guidance,” which was designed to shape workers into individuals who could contribute effectively to corporate productivity. However, these practices clashed with post-war social norms that emphasized the protection of workers’ private lives and rejected corporate intrusion.
A key justification for these interventions lay in the depiction of young workers as immature and in need of guidance. This perception provided a basis for corporate involvement, which was framed as necessary for the personal and professional development of these workers. The study identifies this rationale as the “logic of education,” which utilized the youth of group-recruited employees as a resource to enable and justify interventions in their personal lives, thereby potentially circumventing societal norms.
The research further reveals that this “logic of education” has the potential to transform the way dormitory management is understood. Instead of being viewed as a form of disciplinary control, it could be reframed as a developmental initiative. Dormitories were presented as spaces in which personal growth and corporate values could coexist, thus differentiating these practices from traditional labor-management relationships. This reframing positioned dormitory management as a form of educational relationship.
By examining these dynamics, the study shows how dormitory management practices sidestepped societal norms against employer interference and legitimized a model that subtly aligned workers’ private lives with corporate interests.
