Faceless power and voiceless resistance: How a Chinese context challenges a western theory of power

Abstract

This article examines the applicability to the Chinese context of a western power typology by Fleming and Spicer. In particular, we extend this power framework to exploring the relationship between language policies and organizational power. Drawing from 30 interviews in addition to 6-months of participant observation in a multinational corporation’s subsidiary in China, we question the separability of the different faces of power, and observe the absence of certain corresponding forms of resistance – most notably that of voice. We found Fleming and Spicer’s faces of power to prioritize individualistic and active as opposed to more collectivist and passive dynamics, potentially indicating cultural bias. Drawing on defaced account of the structures of power, we highlight the absence of an adequate emphasis on sociocultural and historical context in power discourse and expand the traditional conceptualization of power to a more multifactorial understanding of the interaction between faced and defaced structures of power as influenced by the historical, economic, socio-cultural and organizational reality of our lived experiences.