Changes in the world of work in China: from observations to theoretical questions

Abstract

This article reviews the transformations of the Chinese labor scene since the 1990s: the disappearance of the old working class, the emergence of a new working class from the countryside (the peasant-workers or mingong), and, more recently, the consequences of the tertiarization of the economy and the flexibilization of employment. It highlights the main questions debated in academic literature. Conflictuality and workers’ resistance to domination by capital has led to various interpretations. The very existence of a Chinese working class, in the Marxist sense of the term, is still a highly debated question.