Working in China Ethnographies of Labor And Workplace Transformation

After a quarter of a century of market reform, China has become the workshop of the world and the leading growth engine of the global economy. Its immense labor force accounts for some twenty-nine percent of the world's total labor pool but all too little is known about Chinese labor beyond the image of workers toiling under appalling sweatshop conditions for extremely low wages. In reality, both the Chinese workforce and the Chinese workplace are far more diversified and heterogeneous than most existing scholarship has documented. Working in China introduces the lived experiences of labor, exploring a wide range of occupations and work settings within the current era of globalization and market transition. The collection of ethnographies includes professional employees such as engineers and lawyers, service workers such as bar hostesses and domestic maids, and industrial workers within a variety of socio-political settings. The mosaic of human faces, organizational dynamics and workers' voices presented in the book reflect the complexity of changes and challenges taking place in the Chinese workplace today. Based on thorough and informative research, this interdisciplinary book will have a wide readership at undergraduate level and beyond, appealing to students and scholars from a myriad of disciplines including Chinese studies, labor studies, sociology and political economy.Lee, Ching Kwan is the author of 'Working in China Ethnographies of Labor And Workplace Transformation', published 2006 under ISBN 9780415769990 and ISBN 041576999X.