Reworking China's Proletariat
Reworking China's Proletariat

Author: Sally Sargeson

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-01-18

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0230513239

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China's workers have been transformed by the transition to capitalism. Sally Sargeson presents a new theoretical analysis of the impact of capitalism and state power on social identities, employment conditions and workplace organization. Her study draws upon an unprecedented level of empirical research from case studies of the labour market and employment conditions in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. The book will interest students of Chinese political economy, socialist transition, working class formation and the representation of collective identity.

The Political Economy of Reforms and the Remaking of the Proletarian Class in China, 1980s–2010s
The Political Economy of Reforms and the Remaking of the Proletarian Class in China, 1980s–2010s

Author: Shan Shanne Huang

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-19

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 3031204557

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This book comprehensively investigates the position of China’s working class between the 1980s and 2010s and considers the consequences of economic reforms in historical perspective. It argues the case that, far from the illusion during the Maoist period that a new society had been established where the working classes held greater political and economic autonomy, economic reforms in the post-Mao era have led to the return of traditional Marxist proletariats in China. The book demonstrates how the reforms of Deng Xiaoping have led to increased economic efficiency at the expense of economic equality through an extensive case study of an SOE (state-owned enterprise) in Sichuan Province as well as wider discussions of the emergence of state capitalism on both a micro and macroeconomic level. The book also discusses workers’ protests during these periods of economic reform to reflect the reformation of class consciousness in post-Mao China, drawing on Marx’s concept of a transition from a ‘class-in-itself' to a ‘class-for-itself’. It will be valuable reading for students and scholars of Chinese economic and social history, as well as political economy, sociology, and politics.

Law and Fair Work in China
Law and Fair Work in China

Author: Sean Cooney

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1135101736

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China’s economic reforms have brought the country both major international clout and widespread domestic prosperity. At the same time, the reforms have led to significant social upheaval, particularly manifest in labour relations. Each year, several thousand disputes break out over working conditions, many of them violent, and the Chinese state has responded with both legal and political strategies. This book investigates how Chinese governments have used law, and other forms of regulation, to govern working conditions and combat labour disputes. Starting from the early years of the Republican period, the book traces the evolution of the law of work in modern China right up to the reforms of the present day. It considers the structure of Chinese work law, drawing on both Chinese and Western scholarship to provide new insights into its unique features and assess where the law is innovative and where it is stagnant and unresponsive. The authors explore the various legal and extra-legal techniques successive Chinese governments have adopted to enforce work law and the responses of firms, workers and organizations to these practices.

The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China
The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China

Author: Weiping Wu

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2018-07-09

Total Pages: 1566

ISBN-13: 1526455595

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The study of contemporary China constitutes a fascinating yet challenging area of scholarly inquiry. Recent decades have brought dramatic changes to China′s economy, society and governance. Analyzing such changes in the context of multiple disciplinary perspectives offers opportunites as well as challenges for scholars in the field known as contemporary China Studies. The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China is a two-volume exploration of the transformations of contemporary China, firmly grounded in the both disciplinary and China-specific contexts. Drawing on a range of scholarly approaches found in the social sciences and history, an international team of contributors engage with the question of what a rapidly changing China means for the broader field of contemporary China studies, and identify areas of promising future research. Part 1: Context: History, Economy, and the Environment Part 2: Economic Transformations Part 3: Politics and Government Part 4: China on the Global Stage Part 5: China′s Foreign Policy Part 6: National and Nested Identities Part 7: Urbanization and Spatial Development Part 8: Poverty and Inequality Part 9: Social Change Part 10: Future Directions for Contemporary China Studies

Workers and Change in China
Workers and Change in China

Author: Manfred Elfstrom

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-01-21

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1108831109

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Rising labour unrest is changing Chinese governance from below; Elfstrom shows that this is occurring in unexpected and contradictory ways.

Chinese Migrant Workers and Employer Domination
Chinese Migrant Workers and Employer Domination

Author: Kaxton Siu

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-11-05

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 9813291230

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This book explores three major changes in the circumstances of the migrant working class in south China over the past three decades, from historical and comparative perspectives. It examines the rise of a male migrant working population in the export industries, a shift in material and social lives of migrant workers, and the emergence of a new non-coercive factory regime in the industries. By conducting on-site fieldwork regarding Hong Kong-invested garment factories in south China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, alongside factory-gate surveys in China and Vietnam, this book examines how and why the circumstances of workers in these localities are dissimilar even when under the same type of factory ownership. In analyzing workers’ lives within and outside factories, and the expansion of global capitalism in East and Southeast Asia, the book contributes to research on production politics and everyday life practice, and an understanding of how global and local forces interact.

Rural Women in Urban China
Rural Women in Urban China

Author: Tamara Jacka

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-12-18

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1317460618

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Based on in-depth ethnographic research - and using an approach that seeks to understand how migration is experienced by the migrants themselves - this is a fascinating study of the experiences of women in rural China who joined the vast migration to Beijing and other cities at the end of the twentieth century. It focuses on the experiences of rural-urban migrants, the particular ways in which they talk about those experiences, and how those experiences affect their sense of identity. Through first-hand accounts of actual migrant workers, the author provides valuable insights into how rural women negotiate rural/urban experiences; how they respond to migration and life in the city; and how that experience shapes their world view, values, and relations with others. The book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the relationship between gender and social change, and of the ways in which globalization and modernity are experienced at the most personal level.

Against the Law
Against the Law

Author: Ching Kwan Lee

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2007-06-07

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0520940644

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This study opens a critical perspective on the slow death of socialism and the rebirth of capitalism in the world's most dynamic and populous country. Based on remarkable fieldwork and extensive interviews in Chinese textile, apparel, machinery, and household appliance factories, Against the Law finds a rising tide of labor unrest mostly hidden from the world's attention. Providing a broad political and economic analysis of this labor struggle together with fine-grained ethnographic detail, the book portrays the Chinese working class as workers' stories unfold in bankrupt state factories and global sweatshops, in crowded dormitories and remote villages, at street protests as well as in quiet disenchantment with the corrupt officialdom and the fledgling legal system.

How China Works
How China Works

Author: Jacob Eyferth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-09-27

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1134163975

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Spanning the whole of the twentieth century, How China Works examines the labour issues surrounding the workplace in China in both the Republican and People's Republic epochs. The international team of contributors treat China's twentieth-century revolution as an industrial revolution, stressing that China's recent emergence as the new workshop of the world was a gradual change, and not a recent phenomena led by external forces. Providing the reader with extensive ethnographic research on topics such as culture and community in the workplace, the rural-urban divide, industrialization, subcontracting and employment practices, How China Works really does ground the study of Chinese work in the daily interactions in the workplace, the labour process and the micropolitics of work.

Contemporary China
Contemporary China

Author: Tamara Jacka

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-09-30

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1107292298

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China's rapid economic growth, modernization and globalization have led to astounding social changes. Contemporary China provides a fascinating portrayal of society and social change in the contemporary People's Republic of China. This book introduces readers to key sociological perspectives, themes and debates about Chinese society. It explores topics such as family life, citizenship, gender, ethnicity, labour, religion, education, class and rural/urban inequalities. It considers China's imperial past, the social and institutional legacies of the Maoist era, and the momentous forces shaping it in the present. It also emphasises diversity and multiplicity, encouraging readers to consider new perspectives and rethink Western stereotypes about China and its people. Real-life case studies illustrate the key features of social relations and change in China. Definitions of key terms, discussion questions and lists of further reading help consolidate learning. Including full-colour maps and photographs, this book offers remarkable insight into Chinese society and social change.