Regional political economy and labor reform -- The roots of unemployment and the political economy of lay-offs -- Remaking China's urban welfare and labor market policies -- Pathways to re-employment -- Contention, protest, and social order -- Conclusion

The article begins by analyzing the historical evolution of “class ideology” in China, especially since 1978. Next, it turns to the concrete effects of the recent and ongoing recession on the Chinese working class. It finds that the crisis affected rural-urban migrants far more substantially...

In the past, the study of cities too often played a supporting role in the field of Chinese politics. In recent years, scholars have increasingly placed various aspects of urban politics in the analytical spotlight. This article begins by outlining why urban politics is important in the study of...

This chapter examines incentives and obstacles to implementations of new labour law provisions by Chinese firms. Arguing that the benefits of implementation increase with the average skill of a firm's workforce, the chapter goes on to review several case studies of low, medium, and high-end firms

Episodes of contentious collective action involving laid-off workers have erupted throughout China in recent years. With few exceptions, studies of Chinese laid-off workers' contention have attempted to generalize from field research in very few or even single-localities. This limitation has led...

Based on our analysis of a survey of over 100 villages across six provinces, in which we collected both quantitative data and in-depth interview responses, we argue that: 1) autonomous or quasi-independent organizations play a very important role in collective action, but one that is perhaps...