| ID | 089755 |
| Title Proper | Making of a New Working Class? A study of collective actions of migrant workers in South China |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Chan, Chris King-Chi ; Ngai, Pun |
| Publication | 2009. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | In this study, we argue that the specific process of the proletarianization of Chinese migrant workers contributes to the recent rise of labour protests. Most of the collective actions involve workers' conflict with management at the point of production, while simultaneously entailing labour organizing in dormitories and communities. The type of living space, including workers' dormitories and migrant communities, facilitates collective actions organized not only on bases of locality, ethnicity, gender and peer alliance in a single workplace, but also on attempts to nurture workers' solidarity in a broader sense of a labour oppositional force moving beyond exclusive networks and ties, sometimes even involving cross-factory strike tactics. These collective actions are mostly interest-based, accompanied by a strong anti-foreign capital sentiment and a discourse of workers' rights. By providing detailed cases of workers' strikes in 2004 and 2007, we suggest that the making of a new working class is increasingly conscious of and participating in interest-based or class-oriented labour protests. |
| `In' analytical Note | China Quarterly vol. ,No. 198; Jun 2009: p.287-303 |
| Journal Source | China Quarterly vol. ,No. 198; Jun 2009: p.287-303 |
| Key Words | South China ; New Working Class ; Migrant Workers ; Chinese Migrant Workers ; China ; Labour Mobilization ; Labour Collective Actions |