From production to reproduction: Pension strikes and changing characteristics of workers’ collective action in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110520
Author(s):  
Elaine Sio-ieng Hui ◽  
Chris King-chi Chan
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Global South ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Rural Migrant ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
New Framework

Workers in the global South are becoming increasingly sensitive to their pension rights. In recent years, rural migrant workers in China have staged a series of protests to fight for pension protection. Drawing from two in-depth case studies conducted in the Pearl River Delta, we explain why workers staged pension strikes, what these protests looked like, how the employers and the government responded, and how these protests differed from previous strikes. Building upon insights from the sociology of collective action and labour process theory, we formulate a new framework for examining labour protests. In addition to seeing workers’ collective action as defensive or offensive, this framework helps us interpret these actions in relation to the spheres of production and reproduction. It classifies pension strikes in China as defensive actions located in the sphere of reproduction, which are distinct from previous strikes that were either defensive or offensive actions situated in the sphere of production. This synthesised framework assists us in theorising that workers’ protest activities, especially in the global South, are not restricted to the traditional production sphere but can also be found in the reproduction sphere.

scholarly journals Workplace quality and labour turnover in the electronics industry of the Pearl River Delta, China

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Hartmann Kilian ◽  
Daniel Schiller ◽  
Frauke Kraas
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
Demand Changes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Turnover

AbstractExport-oriented manufacturing firms in developing countries need to be highly flexible in order to respond to demand changes in volatile global markets. By using a modified version of Atkinson’s flexible firm concept as a framework, it is the aim of this paper (i) to describe the impact of workplace quality on labour turnover and (ii) to derive implications of this relationship for upgrading processes. Empirical data are combined from two surveys of migrant workers and electronics firms in the Pearl River Delta, China.

Diasporic Memories and Conceptual Geography in Post-colonial Hong Kong

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1566-1593 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANGELINA Y. CHIN
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Pearl River Delta Region ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Pearl River

AbstractThis paper explores how the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been trying to incorporate post-1997 Hong Kong into the framework of a Greater China. The construction of two ‘narratives’ are examined: the grand narrative of Chinese history in secondary school textbooks in Hong Kong; and the development of a new regional framework of the Pearl River Delta. The first narrative, which focuses on the past, signals the PRC government's desire to inculcate through education a deeper sense of collective identity as patriotic citizens of China amongst residents of Hong Kong. The second narrative, which represents a futuristic imagining of a regional landscape, rewrites the trajectory of Hong Kong by merging the city with the Pearl River Delta region. However, these narrative strategies have triggered ambivalent responses from people in Hong Kong, especially the generations born after 1980. In their discursive battles against merging with the mainland, activists have sought to instil a collective memory that encourages a counter-imagination of a particular kind of Hong Kong that draws from the pre-1997 past. This conflict pits activists and their supporters against officials in the local government working to move Hong Kong towards integration with greater Guangdong and China at large. But the local resistance discourses are inadequate because they are constrained by their own parochial visions and colonial nostalgia.

The empowerment of rural migrant lalas: Contending queerness and heteronormativity in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Liu
Keyword(s):  
Pearl River Delta ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Industrial Area ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
Economic Independence ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Pearl River Delta ◽  
Rural Migrant ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Pearl River

In today’s China, women’s social roles continue to be rigidly associated with gender-based responsibilities that include defending the integrity of their family, entering into heteronormative marriage, and showing reproductive capabilities. Most of those who self-identify as lalas (lesbians) struggle with such issues as self-shaming emotions, disclosing their homosexuality to family members, friends, or colleagues, and dealing with family and social pressures. Within this context, I investigate queerness in a group of young Chinese rural migrant lalas working and living in the industrial area of the Pearl River Delta economic zone in South China. I draw two conclusions. First, rural-to-urban labour migration empowers rural female lalas by providing a measure of economic independence and an escape from patriarchal and homophobic family relations. Second, the integration of traditional (offline and face-to-face) socializing locations and emerging virtual communicative spaces plays an important role in the process through which possibilities of living a queer life are carved out.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document