Berliner Journal fur Soziologie
Volume 27, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 179-207

Precariousness in the Chinese high growth society: A case study on the situation of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta [La précarité dans la société chinoise de forte croissance. Une étude de cas sur la situation des travailleurs migrants dans le delta de la Rivière des Perles] [Prekarität in der chinesischen Hochwachstumsgesellschaft: Eine Fallstudie zur Situation von Wanderarbeitern im Perlflussdelta] (Article)

Schmalz S.* , Sommer B. , Lütten J.
  • a Institut für Soziologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Carl-Zeiß-Straße 3, Jena, 07743, Germany
  • b International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • c Institut für Soziologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Carl-Zeiß-Straße 3, Jena, 07743, Germany

Abstract

Precariousness has become a key concept in the current sociological discussion in Europe and North America. However, it remains rather unclear whether it is a suitable concept to grasp the social reality in the Global South. In this paper, we refer to the work of Bourdieu, Castel and Dörre in order to analyse the sense of insecurity of migrant workers in Guangdong province, China – the so-called “workshop of the world”. For this purpose, we have evaluated 37 guideline-based interviews with migrant workers. We observe two main factors influencing the scale of their subjective sense of insecurity: age and social security. An important result of our study is that due to a labor shortage in China’s coastal regions, young workers tend to perceive their situation as rather secure, while older workers with insufficient social security fear social decline in the face of the current industrial transformation. We indicate how this feeling of insecurity becomes a new driver of labor unrest and conclude that precariousness may continue to grow. © 2017, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

China Labor Capitalism Social inequality Strikes Precariousness

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85040985448&doi=10.1007%2fs11609-017-0342-6&partnerID=40&md5=d73b2eb0133790956518ee02f95b3c2e
DOI: 10.1007/s11609-017-0342-6
ISSN: 08631808
Original Language: German