Migrant Labor in China / Edition 1

by Pun Ngai

Overview

Long known as the world's factory, China is the largest manufacturing economy ever seen, accounting for more than 10% of global exports. China is also, of course, home to the largest workforce on the planet, the crucial element behind its staggering economic success. But who are China s workers who keep the machine running, and how is the labor process changing under economic reform?

Pun Ngai, a leading expert in factory labor in China, charts the rise of China as a world workshop and the emergence of a new labor force in the context of the post-socialist transformations of the last three decades. The book analyzes the role of the state and transnational interests in creating a new migrant workforce deprived of many rights and social protection. As China increases its output of high-value, high-tech products, particularly for its own growing domestic market of middle-class consumers, workers are increasingly voicing their discontent through strikes and protest, creating new challenges for the Party-State and the global division of labor.

Blending theory, politics, and real-world examples, this book will be an invaluable guide for upper-level students and non-specialists interested in China s economy and Chinese politics and society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745671741
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	03/28/2016
Series:	China Today
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Pun Ngai is Associate Professor and Director of the China Research and Development Network at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Table of Contents

• Map
• Chronology
• Acknowledgements
• 1. China and its Labor in the Neoliberal World
• 2. Capital Meets State: Re-emergence of the Labor Market and Changing Labor Relations
• 3. Building China: Struggle of Construction Workers
• 4. Making and Unmaking of the New Chinese Working Class
• 5. Spatial Politics: Production and Social Production of the Dormitory Labor Regime
• 6. Monopoly Capital in China: Foxconn Experience and Chinese Workers
• 7. Radicalization and Collective Action of the New Chinese Working Class
• References