Disciplinary Labor Regimes in Chinese Factories

Author: Anita Chan; Zhu Xiaoyang

Abstract:

Using a survey the authors initiated in fifty-four footwear factories in China, this article investigates the extent to which Chinese workers today are subjected to coercive workplace discipline. The authors compare the management practices of state-owned and collective factories, private factories owned by mainland Chinese, and those owned by investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The survey selects five indicators of a disciplinary labor regime: corporal punishment, compulsory overtime, discipline vis--vis bodily functions (such as toilet-going restrictions), imposition of monetary penalties, and bonding of labor through mandatory deposits.

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