IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v45y2014i4p685-709.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constrained Labour Agency and the Changing Regulatory Regime in China

Author

Listed:
  • Chris King-Chi Chan

Abstract

type="main"> Using the concept of ‘constrained agency’ introduced by Neil Coe and David Jordhus-Lier, this article attempts to evaluate the possibilities and constraints facing labour agency in the Pearl River Delta in China. By reviewing the social, economic and political background of the changing labour market and labour regulations in China, and through an intensive case study of a workers’ strike and its consequences, the author argues that Chinese migrant workers have begun to challenge the state's regulatory regime on labour, which is based on individual rights. However, the introduction of a regulatory framework based on collective rights is being impeded by the party-state's manipulation of trade unions and the strong influence of global capital on local labour policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris King-Chi Chan, 2014. "Constrained Labour Agency and the Changing Regulatory Regime in China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(4), pages 685-709, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:45:y:2014:i:4:p:685-709
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12104
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Clarke & Chang‐Hee Lee & Qi Li, 2004. "Collective Consultation and Industrial Relations in China," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 235-254, June.
    2. Khalid Nadvi, 2008. "Global standards, global governance and the organization of global value chains," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 323-343, May.
    3. Andy Cumbers & Corinne Nativel & Paul Routledge, 2008. "Labour agency and union positionalities in global production networks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 369-387, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ding Fei & Abdi Ismail Samatar & Chuan Liao, 2018. "Chinese–African encounters in high†tech sectors: Comparative investigation of Chinese workplace regimes in Ethiopia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 455-475, March.
    2. Fei, Ding, 2020. "Variegated work regimes of Chinese investment in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Khalid Nadvi & Gale Raj‐Reichert, 2015. "Governing health and safety at lower tiers of the computer industry global value chain," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(3), pages 243-258, September.
    4. Xu Wang & Chris King-Chi Chan & Linchuan Yang, 2022. "Do workers benefit from economic upgrading in the Pearl River Delta, China?," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Cooke, Fang Lee. & Brown, Ronald., 2015. "The regulation of non-standard forms of employment in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea," ILO Working Papers 994888163402676, International Labour Organization.
    6. Elaine Sio-ieng HUI & Chris King-Chi CHAN, 2014. "The politics of labour legislation in southern China: How foreign chambers of commerce and government agencies influence collective bargaining laws," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(4), pages 587-607, December.
    7. Chris King-Chi CHAN & Khalid NADVI, 2014. "Changing labour regulations and labour standards in China: Retrospect and challenges," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(4), pages 513-534, December.
    8. Helmerich, Nicole & Raj-Reichert, Gale & Zajak, Sabrina, 2021. "Exercising associational and networked power through the use of digital technology by workers in global value chains," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 142-166.
    9. Amrita Chhachhi & Eli Friedman, 2014. "Alienated Politics: Labour Insurgency and the Paternalistic State in China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 1001-1018, September.
    10. Wenten, Frido, 2017. "Does it matter what workers do? The role of workers' relational agency in the hybridisation of TNC subsidiaries in China and Mexico," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86957, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Céline Louche & Lotte Staelens & Marijke D’Haese, 2020. "When Workplace Unionism in Global Value Chains Does Not Function Well: Exploring the Impediments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 379-398, March.
    2. Christina Niforou, 2015. "Labour Leverage in Global Value Chains: The Role of Interdependencies and Multi-level Dynamics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 301-311, August.
    3. Chris King-Chi CHAN & Khalid NADVI, 2014. "Changing labour regulations and labour standards in China: Retrospect and challenges," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(4), pages 513-534, December.
    4. Linqing Liu & Shiye Mei, 2016. "Visualizing the GVC research: a co-occurrence network based bibliometric analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 953-977, November.
    5. Hamilton-Hart, Natasha & Stringer, Christina, 2016. "Upgrading and exploitation in the fishing industry: Contributions of value chain analysis," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 166-171.
    6. Stephanie BARRIENTOS & Gary GEREFFI & Arianna ROSSI, 2011. "Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: A new paradigm for a changing world," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(3-4), pages 319-340, December.
    7. Kenichi Kashiwagi & Erina Iwasaki, 2020. "Effect of agglomeration on technical efficiency of small and medium‐sized garment firms in Egypt," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 14-26, March.
    8. Soliman, Salma & Papanastassiou, Marina & Saka-Helmhout, Ayse, 2023. "The role of subsidiaries in Global Value Chains (GVCs): An institutional voids perspective on LVC upgrading and integration," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    9. Ha, Le Thanh & Dung, Hoang Phuong & Thanh, To Trung, 2023. "Bribery, global value chain decisions, and institutional constraints: Evidence from a cross-country firm-level data," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 119-142.
    10. Pham, Hanh Song Thi & Petersen, Bent, 2021. "The bargaining power, value capture, and export performance of Vietnamese manufacturers in global value chains," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6).
    11. Keshab Das, 2015. "Situating Labour in the Global Production Network Debate: As if the ‘South’ Mattered," Working Papers id:6665, eSocialSciences.
    12. Agni Kalfagianni, 2014. "Addressing the Global Sustainability Challenge: The Potential and Pitfalls of Private Governance from the Perspective of Human Capabilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 307-320, June.
    13. Neda Trifković, 2014. "Food Standards and Vertical Coordination in Aquaculture: The Case of Pangasius from Vietnam," IFRO Working Paper 2014/01, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    14. Jussi Heikkilä & Timo Ali-Vehmas & Julius Rissanen, 2021. "The Link Between Standardization and Economic Growth: A Bibliometric Analysis," International Journal of Standardization Research (IJSR), IGI Global Scientific Publishing, vol. 19(1), pages 1-25, January.
    15. Eric Edwin Owusu & Charles Akomea Bonsu & Alfred Owusu & Daniel Ofori & Adwoa Benewaa Brefo-Manuh, 2022. "Assessing the Effects of Entrepreneurial Attributes and Business Practices on the Continuing Existence of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Using Deming Management Model of Total Quality as a Benchm," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 12(4), pages 56-83, December.
    16. Knut Blind & Florian Ramel & Charlotte Rochell, 2022. "The influence of standards and patents on long-term economic growth," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 979-999, August.
    17. Ernesto Noronha & Premilla D’Cruz & Muneeb Ul Lateef Banday, 2020. "Navigating Embeddedness: Experiences of Indian IT Suppliers and Employees in the Netherlands," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 95-113, June.
    18. McWilliam, Sarah E. & Kim, Jung Kwan & Mudambi, Ram & Nielsen, Bo Bernhard, 2020. "Global value chain governance: Intersections with international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    19. Elena Baglioni, 2018. "Labour control and the labour question in global production networks: exploitation and disciplining in Senegalese export horticulture," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 111-137.
    20. Fuchs Martina & Dannenberg Peter & López Tatiana & Wiedemann Cathrin & Riedler Tim, 2023. "Location-specific labour control strategies in online retail," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 67(4), pages 189-201, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:45:y:2014:i:4:p:685-709. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.