Holding down half the sky: female knowledge workers and flexible employment in China's publishing conglomerates

Drawing on surveys and in-depth interviews with educated women working in the contemporary Chinese publishing industry, this article details the deterioration in their living and working conditions produced by the combination of conglomeration within the industry and the erosion of the state-support...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jin Cao, Graham Murdock
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pluto Journals 2015-11-01
Series:Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation
Online Access:https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.9.2.0014
Description
Summary:Drawing on surveys and in-depth interviews with educated women working in the contemporary Chinese publishing industry, this article details the deterioration in their living and working conditions produced by the combination of conglomeration within the industry and the erosion of the state-supported welfare system. It pays particular attention to the role of flexible employment practices and revised organisational hierarchies in reshaping their work to fit the contemporary market for cultural production. These innovations, it is argued, have created more precarious working conditions, devalued their labour and left them less protected and more exploited.
ISSN:1745-641X
1745-6428