Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt [Paperback]

Ching Kwan Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0520250974 | ISBN-13: 978-0520250970

This study opens a critical perspective on the slow death of socialism and the rebirth of capitalism in the world's most dynamic and populous country. Based on remarkable fieldwork and extensive interviews in Chinese textile, apparel, machinery, and household appliance factories, Against the Law finds a rising tide of labor unrest mostly hidden from the world's attention. Providing a broad political and economic analysis of this labor struggle together with fine-grained ethnographic detail, the book portrays the Chinese working class as workers' stories unfold in bankrupt state factories and global sweatshops, in crowded dormitories and remote villages, at street protests as well as in quiet disenchantment with the corrupt officialdom and the fledgling legal system.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An ethnographic and analytic masterpiece. . . . Few sociological studies have combined structural and existential, object and subjective truths so memorably as this one."--London Review of Books

"This beautifully written book will catalyse further important debates on the class dimensions of labour protest."--Labour History

From the Inside Flap

"For anyone interested in the world of labor today, there is no more important case than that of China. Ching Kwan Lee's rich ethnographic account takes us inside the largely hidden world of labor protest in the world's largest, most dynamic economy. Her nuanced comparison of the Chinese 'sunbelt' and 'rustbelt' and her emphasis on the centrality of the law and the discourse of legal 'rights' to Chinese labor politics are especially compelling. Against the Law is a thoughtful, provocative book that deserves a prominent place on every labor scholar's bookshelf."--Ruth Milkman, author of L.A. Story: Immigrant Workers And the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement

"Based upon impressive ethnographic research in multiple Chinese settings, this book reveals key regional differences in patterns of protest among China's restive workers. Professor Lee's important findings not only complicate our understanding of labor unrest; they also carry significant implications for the development of citizenship and legal reform in contemporary China."--Elizabeth J. Perry, author of Patrolling the Revolution

"The book is based on simply the best field research yet done on Chinese workers' politics. Prof. Lee has gotten down and dirty with a wide range of workers. The interviews that make up so much of the rich narrative alone are worth the price of the book and the time invested in reading it. But there is more: the analysis is important, persuasive, balanced, and clear. It rings true."--Marc Blecher, author of China Against the Tides

"This is an amazing book that will have a dramatic impact on people's view of China, exposing the underside of China's incredible growth, and the human sacrifice that may be as great as 'The Great Leap Forward' or Mao's Cultural Revolution. What we witness here is the Chinese working class being present in its own unmaking and remaking, its struggle to come to terms with the present through the lens of the past, and, finally, its uncertain hope for the future. This is one of the most important books I've read in years!"--Michael Burawoy, Department of Sociology, University of California Berkeley

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Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (June 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520250974
• ISBN-13: 978-0520250970
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 8.8 x 5.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #802,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful study of class struggle in China April 4, 2011

By William Podmore

Format:Paperback

In socialist China, workers' real wages were 35 per cent higher in 1970 than in 1952 and workers had better food, housing, medical care, education and training opportunities than ever before. From the 1950s to the 1980s, 94 per cent of city workers were covered by free medical care.

Now, with the return of capitalism, "the new generation of workers ... unambiguously confront domination by the capitalist class." Capitalism brought privatisation, which brought corruption, as officials, cadres and managers stole and sold public goods. Capitalism also brought layoffs, land thefts, non-payment of wages and pensions, and longer hours.

There were 27 million unemployed in 2002, up from under 7 million in 1993. In 2006, fewer than 30 per cent of unemployed men and 25 per cent of unemployed women got unemployment benefits. In 2000, the state forcibly took the land of 40 million villagers, leaving them without land, jobs or social security.

In 2000, 14 million workers in China's state and collective enterprises were owed wages, up from 2.6 million in 1993. In 1996-2001, in Shenyang, 26.4 per cent of retired workers were owed pensions. 100 million (internal) migrant workers made up 57.5 per cent of China's industrial working class: 75 per cent of them had been owed wages. In Guangdong in 2001, 80 per cent of migrant workers worked more than 10 hours a day, most for between 12 and 14 hours.

As Lee concludes, "Overall, the uneven transition of welfare from a work-unit-based entitlement to a universal human right has led to a general deterioration of workers' livelihoods, especially in the 1990s." Lee writes of workers' `powerlessness'; not so - workers always have the power, if they choose to use it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Broad perspective and impressive research February 4, 2011

By Daniel Pope

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a most impressive book, comparing the forms of protest in the "rust belt" of Northern China with those of migrant workers in the booming Southeast. The analysis is careful and grounded in appropriate theory, but the author manages to portray the struggles of these workers with compassion and empathy as well. It's sociology at its best. The only reason I've given it four instead of five stars is that rapid change in China may have altered the situation since her research a decade or more ago.