The struggle for social upgrading: A study of electronics global value chains in Thailand

在2020年世界发展报告《全球价值链时代的贸易促进发展》（WDR 2020）中，世界银行提出了一种新的分类法，将发展概念化为全球价值链（GVC）中的四级“升级”序列。该报告将一系列发展成果与国家升级联系起来，包括工资和工作条件的改善，并提出了实现这一目标的政策建议。然而，报告无法确定向工人提供福利的机制。相反，许多研究表明，经济升级并不一定会导致工人的“社会升级”，但原因尚不清楚。迫切需要弥补这一差距。这份提交材料提出了一项关于泰国的新研究，重点关注影响升级的社会进程。世界银行认为泰国最近已经升级，其新的发展模式以电子全球价值链的进一步升级为目标，宣称具有包容性效益。然而，媒体报道表明，该部门的劳动力，其特点是女性移民工人，经历了社会降级。值得注意的例外是新的劳工-非政府组织联盟赢得了收益。这项研究将通过分析影响不同工人群体的社会斗争来评估社会升级是否以及如何发生。因此，它将为决定发展轨迹的过程提供情境见解，同时，塑造全球价值链的重组。

In its 2020 World Development Report, Trading forDevelopment in the Age of Global Value Chains(WDR2020), the World Bank specifies a new taxonomy inwhich development is conceptualised as a four-tiersequence of 'upgrading' within Global Value Chains (GVCs).It associates a series of developmental outcomes withnational upgrading, including improved wages and workingconditions, and recommends policies to achieve it.However, the report is unable to identify the mechanismsdelivering benefits to workers. In contrast, many studieshave shown that economic upgrading does not necessarilylead to 'social upgrading' for workers, but the reasons arenot understood. There is an urgent need to address thisgap. This submission proposes a novel study of Thailand,focussing on the social processes influencing upgrading.Thailand is judged by the World Bank to have recentlyupgraded, and its new development model targets furtherupgrading in electronics GVCs, proclaiming inclusivebenefits. However, media reports indicate that the sector'sworkforce, characterised by female migrant workers, hasexperienced social downgrading. Notable exceptions arewhere gains have been won by new labour-NGO coalitions.The study will assess if, and how, social upgrading hasoccurred by analysing the social struggles affectingdifferent groups of workers. Thus, it will provide situatedinsights into the processes which determine developmentaltrajectories and, concurrently, shape GVC restructuring.