Uncovering Traces of Ming Occupations with Sociological Theory (UTMOST)

Drawing on all kinds of textual sources, as well as material culture and practical knowledge, this project examines more than two dozen different occupations and professions carried out by non-elite men and women in Ming times (1368–1644), among them:

• miners
• porters and sedan-chair bearers
• policemen, guards, and military officers
• book craftsmen, illustrators, and paper-makers
• rice farmers and family textile producers
• dyers and calenderers
• brokers and porcelain traders
• shamans, midwives, fortune-tellers, fengshui masters, and doctor diviners
• actors, musicians, and instrument-makers
• fishermen and sailors
• jailors and doorkeepers

Framed by the Chicago school’s sociology of work, UTMOST explores the working lives and identities of the members of these groups. We trace the relations between practitioners in each occupation with their colleagues, co-workers, and clients. Among other aspects of the social drama of daily work we explore:

• how those practicing occupations regulated themselves (code)
• the way they presented themselves to laymen (policy)
• their knowledge and skills (technique)
• secrets they had to know and how their required knowledge might threaten others (guilty knowledge)
• how practitioners entered and left the occupation and how they were remunerated
• what they were proud of in their work and what aspects of their work hurt their dignity (dirty work)