Due to the rapid industrialization and urbanization of China, an estimated 252 million farmers have migrated from impoverished rural areas to prosperous urban regions, seeking off-farm employment. In China, these are referred to as migrant workers. Workers' compensation insurance law represents one of the most vital formal institutions for Chinese migrant workers. Through in-depth interviews with migrant workers and employers, the authors find that instead of making a formal claim based on workers' compensation insurance law, most injured migrant workers adopt informal channels (e.g. bargaining, negotiation, threats, violence) to receive compensation from employers. Even when migrant workers are insured in accordance with the law, they may be denied legal insurance compensation and thus turn to informal private settlement. Generally, the amount of compensation acquired by means of informal private settlement is significantly smaller than that awarded in the case of legal insurance compensation. This practice reveals that, like some other formal institutions in China, workers' compensation insurance law is merely a symbolic ornament, window-dressing for the public, which are referred to as 'ornamental institutions'. In the way they are designed, set up and funded, these ornamental institutions can easily prove illusory since they conceal an anarchic world wherein diverse informal channels of social actors emerge, which reflect the reality of Chinese society. Therefore, only through deep empirical research, like this study, can one see beyond the facade of modernity in contemporary China, observe the reality of social actors, and reflect upon the functioning of ornamental institutions. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Compensation Chinese migrant workers Ornamental institution Workers' compensation insurance law Work injuries

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