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

在过去的二十年里，中国的汽车工业在很大程度上是由通过合资企业进行的大量外国投资推动的。产出的迅速增长与生产组织的急剧变化密切相关，这些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制和有关管理原则的普及。本研究分析了这些根本性的变化对中国汽车行业劳动关系的影响。该项目的具体目标是：(1)分析中国汽车工业生产过程中劳资关系的动态，包括党、政府和官方工会所扮演的角色；(2)调查中国汽车工人表达不满的性质和程度，以及是否有任何隐蔽或公开的劳资纠纷；(3)绘制更广泛的地方、国家和全球进程（包括世界汽车工业的竞争动态），以及这些可能如何影响车间劳资关系的趋势。本文将基于在中国代表不同所有权类型和地理位置的五家主要汽车装配企业的密集实地考察。共同调查委员会将在每个企业至少花费一个月的时间，参观生产线，直接观察车间，与工人、经理、工厂工会人员面谈，并审查公司文件。拟议研究的结果应该引起几个领域的政策制定者和学者的兴趣。大多数关于中国劳动关系的研究要么集中在南方的轻工制造业，要么集中在东北“铁锈地带”衰落的国有企业，因此，对中国整体劳动关系的看法是片面的，甚至有些偏见。这种对汽车工业的分析将为比较提供一个对比的工业案例，即，一个资本密集型和产出快速增长的工业。除了有助于更全面地了解中国社会的动态之外，该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的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面向政策的会议上的发言以及在出版物上为学术和更一般的读者发表书面报告的方式广泛传播。

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.