Doing Labor Activism in South China: The Complicity of Uncertainty

This book investigates the dynamics of state control in post-socialist China since the 1970s, focusing on labor NGOs in South China and Western funding agencies. It explores how uncertainty creates an environment for emergent practices and discourses, and how neoliberal ideas are represented and deflected in grassroots development.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 212 pages
Publication date: 29 April 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

In contemporary China, labor NGOs have emerged as significant actors in the realm of labor activism. These organizations have arisen in response to the limitations imposed by the state on workers' rights and social movements. Labor activists in China navigate a complex terrain, where the boundaries of state tolerance are often unclear. This book seeks to answer two key questions: how did labor NGOs come into existence in this context, and how do labor activists respond when the limits of state tolerance are uncertain?

To address these questions, the book takes a multi-faceted approach. It investigates the dynamics of state control in post-socialist China since the 1970s, a period characterized by rapid economic and social transformations that have created an environment of uncertainty. By focusing on labor NGOs in South China and Western funding agencies, the book aims to shed light on the complex interplay between state power and grassroots activism.

Uncertainty serves as an analytical space in this book, generating emergent practices and discourses. Through original fieldwork and in-depth interviews, the book explores the lived experiences of various actors within the labor NGO community, foreign donors seeking to bring about change, and the networks of social relationships being strategically reconfigured. By examining these different perspectives, the book offers an ethnography of the Chinese state that reveals an intimate and complicit modality of self-governing. It demonstrates how neoliberal ideas are simultaneously represented by international development and deflected in grassroots development.

Doing Labor Activism in South China offers valuable insights for students and scholars of Social Anthropology, Urban Ethnography, Political Science, and Chinese Studies. It provides a rich and nuanced understanding of the complexities of labor activism in China, highlighting the challenges and opportunities faced by workers and activists in a rapidly changing political and social landscape.

Weight: 390g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367513504