Children's labour in ethnic family businesses

The case of Chinese take-away businesses in Britain

Bibliographic Data

ID2145912
AuthorsMiri Song (University of Kent, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume20
Issue4
Pages690-716
Publication date1997-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.1997.9993985
OpenAlexW1998891876
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited53

Reliance upon unpaid and committed family labour is said to make many ethnic businesses competitive. However, most analysts' references to this labour have not taken into account the nature of family members' and, in particular, children's work roles or the ways in which their labour is elicited and maintained. Here, the nature of children's labour participation in ethnic businesses is investigated in the case of families running Chinese take-away businesses in Britain. This article focuses on how children in these families understand their often double-edged experiences of 'helping out', as part of a 'family work contract', and on the ways in which families negotiate children's labour over time. Given these families' experiences of migration and ethnic minority status, I argue that Chinese children's work in take-away businesses must be examined in relation to the intersections of family obligations and relationships, livelihood strategies and pressures, and issues of cultural identity

Child labour · China · Ethnic group · Identity (music · Livelihood · Negotiation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Family Business Performance and Succession · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy