The current labor situation in China is complex and needs not one, but multiple perspectives to adequately address different aspects of the increasingly diverse workforce. First, William Hurst's article 'Understanding Contentious Collective Action by Laid-Off Chinese Workers', indicates that the regional differences need to be an important factor in evaluating how workers have responded to labor disputes, and how they have articulated their claims. Hurst specifically looks at the contentions of LOWs (laid off workers) and pinpoints a few variables that have affected workers' response to labor disputes: each region has had different distributions of SOEs, timing in industrialization, presence in commercial centers, transportation methods, historical relationships with the government, and political economies (Hurst 2004, 96). Moreover, LOWs must negotiate different frames, grievances and claims, targets and political opportunity structures within each specific region of China. Secondly, Blecher takes a different focus for his article 'Hegemony and Workers' Politics in China', which examines the "workers' hegemonic acceptance of the core values of the market and the state" (Blecher 2002, 283).
[...] Perhaps, there are other more important actors that could cause a change in the political and economic regime change outside the labor force; however, by understanding Hurst's opinion on political economy based on geographic differences having a large affect on how workers frame their arguments, who they target their dissent on, or what they argue for it is unlikely that a national labor movement will even come to exist. In sum, Hurst, Cai, and Blecher all engage in the same discourse about why workers in China experience challenges when it comes to organizing collectively, what their targets for change are, and how workers articulate their collective arguments. [...]
[...] In addition to these residual Maoist ideas including respect for leadership and belief in state control from the Maoist era, perhaps the success of Deng Xiaoping's reforms that brought far-reaching effects to the most remote areas of China also bolstered people's opinions of market capitalism. Just because the current market has brought prosperity to China and a dramatic increase in worker's dissent in the forms of protests, it does not mean that workers are organizing their claims effectively. Yongshun Cai's article, The Resistance of Chinese Laid-off Workers in the Reform Period, discusses why collective action has arisen in the face of an authoritarian regime, and examines when exactly workers are likely to take action. [...]
[...] While Hurst believes it is vital to recognize the regional differences in political economy, Blecher focuses on worker's acceptance of state and market hegemony and discusses how they limit the laborer's collective bargaining in China. In addition, Cai poses that dissent amongst the labor force in the form of protest is in fact occurring in China despite authoritarian rule. What is most important to realize when reading these theories is that they all offer arguments that complement each other. The lingering sentiments of faith in the state coming from Maoist ideology linger despite the changes from a Communist planned economy. [...]
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