Abstract
This paper considers the issue of labor and labor regimes in China from a micro angle. It aims at identifying how individuals in today’s China relate to work and labor after the « thirty glorious years » of booming economic growth. The analysis of changing attitudes to work and labor takes up the notion of strategy, considering that individuals in a given social environment have the capacity to promote their own personal interests and take action to increase their gains or benefits. Listening to the discourse of a group of white-class workers, the Chinese capitalism ethos appears to be close to how social scientists have described Western capitalism, wherein employees are autonomous, flexible, creative and individualistic. At the same time, this survey shows that, beyond complying with this ethos, individuals are able to make choices. The white-collar workers we met set down clear requirements when it comes to choosing a job. Employment should advance their personal development, but should not be to the detriment of other aspects of their lives. In today’s China, while industrial workers are fighting for decent salaries after decades of marginalization, white-collar workers are also making new demands of their employees in terms of the quality of their jobs and lives.
Highlights
This paper considers the issue of labor and labor regimes in China from a micro angle
The academic literature on labor issues in China has extensively discussed the diversification of labor regimes in the last thirty years
It is hard to pinpoint the norm in terms of employment in today’s China
Summary
The academic literature on labor issues in China has extensively discussed the diversification of labor regimes in the last thirty years. The law applies when there is a “labor relationship” between “a person who engages in labor” and an “employing unit” or “work unit” It applies to private companies and state-owned enterprises and their employees, but excludes independent contractors, farm laborers, domestic staff and de facto most mingong workers, who have not signed any kind of formal labor contract. The indicator of status in employment can be used to answer questions such as what proportion of employed persons work for wages and salaries, run their own business, with or without hired labor, and work without pay within the family unit These figures overestimate the share of employees insofar as self-employed individuals can only be counted if they
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