Chinese Migrant Workers: Rights Attainment Deficits, Rights Consciousness and Personal Strategies

2011 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 870-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Wong
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Chinese Migrant Workers ◽  
Rights Consciousness

AbstractDagong 打工 as a way of life gives rise to many abuses and rights violations against China's 200 million migrant workers. This article analyses the intricate issues of rights deprivation, rights consciousness and personal strategies of Chinese migrant workers with the research findings from a large sample survey completed at the end of 2005. The data confirm the occurrence of many types of rights abuses, significant levels of rights consciousness, and preference for legal and institutionalized means for rights defence besides the use of private resources. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the experience of discrimination, consciousness of rights and choice of personal strategies are affected by personal backgrounds like age, gender, education and occupational status before migration, which carry implications for policy. Finally, the article comments on the ongoing debate about “rights consciousness” versus “rules consciousness” in contentious Chinese politics.

Tamils and the Haunting of Justice

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Willford
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice

In 2006, dejected members of the Bukit Jalil Estate community faced eviction from their homes in Kuala Lumpur where they had lived for generations. City officials classified plantation residents as squatters and questioned any right they might have to stay. This story epitomizes the dilemma faced by Malaysian Tamils in recent years as they confront the collapse of the plantation system where they have lived and worked for generations. Foreign workers have been brought in to replace Tamil workers to cut labor costs. As the new migrant workers do not bring their whole families with them, the community structures need no longer be sustained, allowing more land to be converted to mechanized palm oil production or lucrative housing developments. Tamils find themselves increasingly resentful of the fact that lands that were developed and populated by their ancestors are now claimed by Malays as their own; and that the land use patterns in these new townships, are increasingly hostile to the most symbolic vestiges of the Tamil and Hindu presence, the temples. This book is about the fast-approaching end to a way of life, and addresses critical issues in the study of race and ethnicity. It demonstrates which strategies have been most “successful” in navigating the legal and political system of ethnic entitlement and compensation. It shows how, through a variety of strategies, Tamils try to access justice beyond the law-sometimes by using the law, and sometimes by turning to religious symbols and rituals in the murky space between law and justice.

Crossing the sea from They to We? The unfolding of knowing and practising in collaborative research

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Marcos ◽  
David Denyer
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Knowledge Integration ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Institutional Pressure ◽  
Research Findings

This article addresses how knowing and practising unfolds in collaborative research amongst practitioners from a large consulting and business services group and academics from a UK School of Management. Dialogue enabled actors to cross between theory and practice by providing a ‘space’ for support, challenge, exchange and experimentation. However, this ‘space’ was fragile and the insensitive actions of one individual, driven by institutional pressure to exploit the project for competitive advantage, resulted in withdrawal and the re-establishment of traditional divisions. Our view is that collaborative research is not necessarily an exercise in producing, transferring and implementing research findings but is better thought of as knowledge integration through a dialogue of theory and practice. The article contributes to the ongoing debate about the relevance of management research and the theoretical development of knowledge co-production.

scholarly journals Migration and Health—Freedom of Movement and Social Benefits for Chinese Migrant Workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12371
Author(s):  
Fengxian Qiu ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
Heying Jenny Zhan
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Chinese Migrant Workers

This study utilized the concept of social right to understand factors affecting migrant workers’ health and healthcare in China. Using mixed methods, this study integrated findings from a survey of 817 migrant workers and a follow-up study of 30 intensive interviews to present an in-depth understanding of cumulative disadvantage of health and healthcare of rural-to-urban migrant workers. Our quantitative results indicated that migrant workers with no more than 5 years of working experience and having a good relationship with employers were 65% and 72.8% more likely to report good self-rated health as compared to their counterparts; those with work-related injury experience and low income were 41.6% and 53.6% less likely to report good self-rated health. Qualitative findings revealed the social contexts of the cumulative effect of the length of work experience and fear of medical cost on migrant workers’ declining health. Even though the participation rate for health insurance in China is reported to be over 99%, the lack of portability in health insurance and different reimbursement rates in health care access are structural barriers in health-seeking behaviors among Chinese migrant workers and in establishing sustainability in China’s healthcare system. This study adds to the literature by delineating the process of the unequal access to social rights in general, healthcare in particular as the major explanation for migrant workers’ poor health beyond the surface of China’s universal healthcare.

scholarly journals The Effect of Obesity and Other Factors towards On the Increased Risk of Rheumatism in Indonesia (Analysis of IFLS 2014)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-87
Author(s):  
Nuraini Nuraini ◽  
Amrina Rosyada
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatic Disease ◽  
Rheumatic Diseases ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Healthy Lifestyles ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Complex Sample

The number of people with rheumatism worldwide has reached 355 million, and this is estimated by 2025, suggesting that more than 25% will experience paralysis. This study aims to determine obesity and other factors related to the increased risk of rheumatic diseases in Indonesia, the method used was data analysis using a complex sample survey. It used 2014 IFLS data and a cross sectional study design, as well as a multistage random sampling with a total of 29,106 respondents, and the results showed that the prevalence of rheumatic disease in Indonesia was 5.2% in 2014. The most dominant and unmodifiable variable that influenced incidence was gender (PR=1.686; 95% CI=1.488-1.910). Meanwhile, obesity is the most dominant and modifying variable that influences the incidence of rheumatic disease (PR=1.630; 95% CI=1.433-1.855). Factors that are simultaneously related to the increased risk of rheumatic diseases include age, gender, education, physical activity, protein consumption, obesity, and accident history. Considering the results, patients need to eat healthy and low purine foods, as well as implementing other healthy lifestyles such as appropriate, adequate, and regular physical activities in order to reduce the risk of rheumatism.

scholarly journals Between Mainland and Island: Causes for Migration and the Way of Life of Chinese Mainland Migrant Workers in Bó’áo

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Gumpenberger
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Small Town ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Hainan Island ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Rapid Transformation ◽  
The Way

Abstract This article presents the results of a case study conducted in Bó’áo, a small town on Hǎinán Island currently undergoing rapid transformation. Triggered by the founding of the Boao Forum for Asia, an unknown fishing village has turned into an important location for conferences and tourism. On the basis of Grounded Theory this case study focuses on migrant workers from mainland China, using qualitative semi-structured interviews in order to explore the causes behind this migration influx to Bó’áo. In addition, this paper investigates the way these migrants organise their lives in this small town by raising the question of social integration within the local society—a topic largely neglected in the general academic discourse in and on China. The results of this study show that the level of education determines both reasons for migration as well as the way the migrant workers organise their everyday lives and the way in which they interact with locals. This paper also scrutinises common concepts of integration, e.g. the need to acquire the language spoken by the majority.

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