From Family to Market Labor Allocation in Contemporary China

by Wang, Fei-Ling

• ISBN13: 9780847688807
• ISBN10: 0847688801
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-03-26
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

This book analyzes Chinese history, politics, and economic development through the lens of labor allocation within the world's largest workforce. Capturing the peculiarities, continuities, and changes in the PRC's institutional structure, Fei-Ling Wang examines the segmented nature of China's labor force today. He points to the rare coexistence of four "labor allocation patterns": the traditional family-based system, authoritarian state allocation, community-based labor markets, and the emerging national labor market. China's enduringly stable yet backward institutional structure was based firmly on a mix of family and state institutions; now the addition of market forces highlights the PRC's transitional state. Bolstered with rich case-study detail and Chinese source material, this study argues that the development of labor allocation patterns will profoundly influence China's political and economic development in the coming century.

Author Biography

Fei-Ling Wang is Assistant Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Glossary/Abbreviations	p. xvii
Introduction: Labor Allocation Patterns and Institutional Structures	p. 1
Conceptualizing Labor Allocation Patterns	p. 2
Labor Allocation in China: A Short History	p. 7
LAPs in the PRC Prior to Deng's Reform	p. 10
Chinese Labor Allocation in the 1990s	p. 21
Notes	p. 24
The Family-Based Traditional Pattern	p. 29
The Family and Family-Based LAP	p. 30
The Family-Based LAP in China	p. 37
The Family-Based LAP and the Chinese Institutional Structure	p. 66
Summary	p. 74
Notes	p. 76
Authoritarian State Allocation Pattern	p. 87
Political Institutions and Labor Allocation	p. 89
The Authoritarian State LAP in China	p. 96
The Authoritarian State LAP and the Chinese Institutional Structure	p. 140
Summary	p. 149
Notes	p. 150
Community-Based Labor Markets	p. 163
Community and Community-Based Markets	p. 164
Community-Based Labor Markets in China	p. 172
Institutional Role of the CLMs	p. 209
Summary	p. 219
Notes	p. 220
An Emerging National Labor Market	p. 233
"Opening" and FDI: To Import the Market	p. 234
The National Labor Market in Contemporary China	p. 240
Impact and Prospects of the National Labor Market	p. 279
Summary	p. 288
Notes	p. 289
Conclusion: China at the Institutional Crossroads	p. 305
Continuity of China's Institutional Structure	p. 305
The Institutional Mixture and Transition in Today's PRC	p. 307
The Dragon Enters the Nets	p. 313
Notes	p. 314
Appendixes	p. 317
Landmarks of Labor Allocation in the PRC	p. 317
Locational Profile of Individuals Interviewed	p. 319
Bibliography	p. 323
Index	p. 341
About the Author	p. 347
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.