Chinese Labor Rel

Catalog description

Since it opened its economy to private investment in 1978, China's planned economy has been turned into a market-driven economy. Relying heavily on export-oriented industries, China serves as a 'spatial fix' for Western capital, which eagerly searches for new sites of investment and business opportunities. As a result, China has become a gigantic manufacturing hub and the second largest economy in the world. The massive inflow of foreign investment, the pro-business developmental strategies of the Chinese state, and weak legal enforcement of workers' rights have rendered workers victims of economic reform. This course will examine labor relations in post-socialist China. It will cover topics such as the development of China's economic reform, the employment and working conditions of workers, trade unions and the collective bargaining system, the state's role in employment relations, the labor law system, and the role of civil society and non-governmental organizations in the country's labor relations. In addition to China, this course will focus on Vietnam (another post-communist country in Asia), and Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea (three of the four Asian Tigers). It will investigate how these countries are similar to or different from China in terms of socio-economic development and labor relations. Moreover, the course examines labor relations in China and other countries by drawing upon analytical and theoretical concepts on subjects such as the state, the legal system, the economic system, class relations, and civil society.