The Neglected Side of the Coin: Legal Hegemony, Class Consciousness, and Labour Politics in China

Abstract

Since China’s opening up, the Chinese party-state has put great effort into reforming the labour law system. Taken at face value, the new laws and regulations adopted in these decades may be easily be seen as a sign of the commitment of the party-state to advance labour rights. This article contradicts this view through an examination of how the labour law system in China has been utilised to build up hegemony and dampen workers’ class consciousness. Show more