Doctoral Dissertation Research: Globalization, Market Reform, and Dynamics of Labor Unrest in the Automobile Industry

SES-0623349 Beverly SilverLu张 在过去的二十年里，中国汽车工业取得了巨大的发展，这主要得益于通过合资企业进行的大量外国投资。 产量的快速增长伴随着生产组织的根本变化，包括国有企业的大规模裁员，工作节奏的加快和工作量的增加，以及泰勒主义和相关管理原则的传播。本文分析了这些根本性的变化对中国汽车工业劳动关系的影响。本研究的具体目的是：（1）分析中国汽车工业生产环节劳资关系的动态，包括党、政府和官方工会所扮演的角色;（2）研究中国汽车工人所表达的不满的性质和程度，以及是否存在任何隐藏或公开的劳资纠纷;（3）研究中国汽车工业生产环节劳资关系的动态，包括党、政府和官方工会所扮演的角色。以及（3）绘制更广泛的地方、国家和全球过程（包括世界汽车工业内部的竞争动态），以及这些过程如何影响车间劳动关系的趋势。论文将基于对中国五家主要汽车装配企业的深入实地考察，这些企业代表了中国不同的所有制类型和地理位置。Co-PI将在每家公司至少呆一个月，参观生产线，在车间进行直接观察，采访工人，经理和工厂工会工作人员，并检查公司文件。若干领域的决策者和学者应该对拟议研究的结果感兴趣。关于中国劳动关系的研究大多集中在南方的轻工业或“锈带”东北的衰退中的国有企业，因此，对中国劳动关系的整体看法是片面的，有些偏颇。 对汽车工业的分析将提供一个对比工业案例进行比较，即，一个资本密集型的产业，产量增长迅速。除了有助于更全面地了解中国社会的动态之外，这项研究还将为评估当前社会科学家和政策制定者之间关于全球化对全球劳动力和生活水平影响的重要辩论提供新的经验材料和见解。研究结果将通过在学术和政策性会议上的发言以及通过出版物中的书面报告广泛传播，供学术界和一般读者使用。

SES-0623349Beverly SilverLu Zhang Over the past two decades, the Chinese automobile industry has grown dramatically, fueled largely by massive foreign investment through joint ventures. This rapid growth in output has gone hand-in-hand with radical changes in the organization of production, including mass layoffs from state-owned enterprises, the intensification of the pace of work and increased workloads, and the spread of Taylorism and related principles of management. The researchl analyzes the impact of these radical changes on labor relations in the Chinese automobile industry. The specific aims of this project are: (1) to analyze the dynamics of labor-management relations at the point of production in the Chinese automobile industry, including the role played by the Party, the government, and the official trade unions; (2) to examine the nature and extent of grievances expressed by Chinese autoworkers, and whether any hidden or open forms of labor unrest are evident; and (3) to map the broader local, national and global processes (including competitive dynamics within the world automobile industry) and how these might be influencing trends in labor relations at the shop-floor. The dissertation will be based on intense fieldwork at five major automobile assembly enterprises that represent different ownership types and geographic locations in China. The Co-PI will spend at least one month at each company, visiting production lines, doing direct observation at the shop floor, interviewing workers, managers, and factory union staff, and examining company documents. The findings of the proposed research should be of interest to policymakers and scholars in several fields. Most research on labor relations in China has focused either on light manufacturing industries in the south or on declining state-owned enterprises in the "rust belt" northeast, thus, providing a partial and somewhat biased view of labor relations in China as a whole. This analysis of the automobile industry will contribute a contrasting industrial case for comparison, i.e., an industry that is capital-intensive and experiencing rapid growth in output. Beyond its implications for a fuller understanding of the dynamics of Chinese society, the study will also provide fresh empirical material and insights for evaluating important debates currently taking place among social scientists and policy makers concerning the impact of globalization on labor and living standards worldwide. The results of the research will be disseminated widely through presentations at academic and policy-oriented conferences as well as through written reports in publications for scholarly and more general audiences.