Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan: The Culture of Unequal Work

Culture plays a significant role in the prevalence of precarious work in China and Japan, influenced by core values such as hierarchy, harmony, and the subordination of individual interests to collective requirements. This book bridges culture and institutions to understand unequal work, providing a holistic and comparative approach to tackle the negative consequences of precarious work in a wider post-pandemic world.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

While numerous studies have explored political-economic institutional explanations for the prevalence of precarious work, few have delved into the enigmatic yet crucial realm of culture. This is particularly pertinent to China and Japan, whose shared tradition of Confucianism (broadly defined) continues to shape numerous aspects of society. In particular, core values such as hierarchy, harmony, and the subordination of individual interests to collective requirements exert a significant influence on the unfair patterns of precarious work and its surrounding institutions, spanning from state policy and legislation to industrial relations and social welfare. The pervasive and deeply entrenched nature of culture has been notably evident in Japan's distinct gendered and China's rural-urban citizenship-based labor market stratifications. By bridging culture and institutions, Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan offers a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of unequal work, shedding fresh light on social change in China, Japan, and beyond. Emphasis is placed not only on macro-level structural scrutiny but also on micro-agency empiricism, i.e., the experiences of real people in their everyday lives. This holistic and comparative approach, as demonstrated by the book, holds great potential in addressing the detrimental consequences of precarious work in a broader post-pandemic world.

Weight: 576g
Dimension: 164 x 241 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192849694