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Labor Process and the Social Structure of Accumulation in China1

Author

Listed:
  • Zhongjin Li

    (Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA)

  • Hao Qi

    (Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA)

Abstract

Inspired by the interplay between social structure of accumulation theory and labor process theory, this paper is to specify the particular mechanism that labor institutions take in accomplishing China’s rapid capital accumulation in the reform era. The paper starts by proposing a framework to understand the relation among overtime work, labor process, and the wage gap and presents the puzzling contradiction between low wages and the need to sustain the reproduction of labor power for Chinese workers. The paper then details the bi-directional determination between the subordination of labor in the workplace and the wage gap, and further analyzes the critical conditions for the stability of the current labor institutions and sustaining capital accumulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhongjin Li & Hao Qi, 2014. "Labor Process and the Social Structure of Accumulation in China1," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 481-488, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:46:y:2014:i:4:p:481-488
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor process; social structure of accumulation; wage gap; living wage; Chinese economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence

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