From Iron Rice Bowl to the World’s Biggest Sweatshop
Globalization, Institutional Constraints, and the Rights of Chinese Workers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10539397 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chak Kwan Chan (0000-0001-5541-6095, corresponding author), Zhaiwen Peng (0000-0003-2093-0582) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 421-445 |
| Publication date | 2011-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Service Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-7961 • E-ISSN: 1537-5404 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/662328 |
| OpenAlex | W2082401829 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
This article discusses how China’s institutional constraints combine with its integration into the global economy to suppress its workers’ rights. The rapid expansion of China’s market economy is the consequence of the government’s active embrace of global capitalism and global capitalists’ ongoing search for new markets and lower production costs. China’s traditional socialist labor relationships collapsed as a result of state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform and the emergence of private enterprises. In the wake of these events, China’s leaders promulgated new labor legislation and social insurance schemes, but these initiatives fail to safeguard workers’ rights effectively. This is because the SOEs fail to compensate their workers properly, local authorities do not actively monitor labor abuses, the judicial system cannot effectively defend workers’ rights, and the Chinese government suppresses efforts to organize independent labor unions. In short, global capitalism, together with China’s authoritarian polity, has limited workers’ rights and undermined their well-being
Authoritarianism · Business · Capitalism · China · Democracy · Economic system · Economics · Globalization · Government (linguistics · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polity · State capitalism · Sweatshop · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law
The Political Economy of Globalization
Fiscal decentralization and political centralization in China
Relative performance evaluation and the turnover of provincial leaders in China
Regional decentralization and fiscal incentives
Hegemony and Workers' Politics in China
Labour Market Reform and the Plight of the Laid-off Proletariat
The Hukou System and Rural-Urban Migration in China
Small States in World Markets
Is the state being ‘transformed’ by globalisation?
Social policy in ChinaDevelopment and well-being
Globalization and Regional Welfare Regimes
Subsistence Crises, Managerial Corruption and Labour Protests in China
Advance and Retreat
Central–local conflict and property cycle
The Changes of Chinese Labor Policy and Labor Legislation in the Context of Market Transition
China's Workers under Assault
Xiagang, the Chinese Style of Laying Off Workers
Between Deregulation and Social Pacts
Selective Policy Implementation in Rural China
Workers, Unions and the State
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |