Knowledge Workers in Contemporary China

Reform and Resistance in the Publishing Industry

By (author) Jianhua Yao

Publication date:

06 December 2017

Length of book:

204 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739198513

Knowledge Workers in Contemporary China: Reform, and Resistance in the Publishing Industry concentrates on the trajectories of the labor process transformation of knowledge workers, mainly editors, in the Chinese publishing industry. The book focuses on their changing social, economic, and political roles, their dilemma, challenges, and opportunities associated with current social reform, and China’s integration into the global political economy. At its core, the book addresses three different yet interrelated processes of the political economy of communication: commodification, structuration, and spatialization in the Chinese publishing industry. It examines whether worker organizations and trade unions are effective in presenting editors’ legitimate rights and interests in current publishing reform. Through the political economic analysis of knowledge workers in China’s publishing industry, particularly editors, Jianhua Yao attempts to help readers better understand the broader social and economic transformations, specifically the network of power relations and institutional contexts in which Chinese editors are situated, that have been taking place in China since the late 1970s.

Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements……………………………………………………000
List of Tables………………………………………………………………………..000
Abbreviation………………………………………………………………………..000
Introduction……….……………………………………………………………….. 000
Knowledge Workers in China’s Publishing Industry…...…………………... ...000
Class Consciousness of Knowledge Workers……………………………...000
Chinese Media Workers and Editors………………………………………000
Responses and Unions……………………………………………………..000
Research Questions………………………………………………………..000
Methods………………………………………………………………………...000
Archival Studies…………………………………………………………...000
Surveys…………………………………………………………………….000
Semi-structured Interviews………………………………………………..000
What Makes the Two Publishing Houses Special…………………….000
Basic Interview Questions…………………………………………….000
Supplementary Interviews…………………………………………………000
Organization of the Book…...………………………………………………….000
Chapter 1 Political Economy, Media Reform, and Knowledge Workers…………...000
Political Economy……………………………………………………………...000
What Is Political Economy………………………………………………..000
Central Qualities of Political Economy……………………………………000
Media Reform………………………………………………………………….000
The Party Principle and the Propaganda Model…………………………...000
Media Commodification……………………………………………..........000
Media Democratization………………………………………………........000
Knowledge Workers……………………………………………………………000
Labor and Class Analysis………………………………………………….000
Labor and Globalization…………………………………………………...000
Labor and Unions………………………………………………………….000
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………......000
Chapter 2 The Commodification Process: Publishing Reform in China……………000
The Commodification Process…………………………………………………000
China’s Media Reform…………………………………………………………000
Background of the Chinese Media Reform…………………………..........000
China’s Publishing Industry Reform………………………………………000
Administrative Management of China’s Publishing Industry………...000
Publishing Industry Laws……………………………………………..000
Changes in China’s Publishing Industry……………………………...000
The Advertising Industry in China……..……………………………..000
Precarious Chinese Editors……….…………………………………………….000
Basic Information of the Surveys………………………………………….000
Contingent Employment…………………………………………………..000
The Decline of Social Welfare Benefits…………………………………...000
Intense Work Pressure……………………………………………………..000
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...000
Chapter 3 The Structuration Process: The Five Critical Problems………………….000
The Five Critical Problems.……………………………………………………000
Technological Changes in China……………………………………………….000
Following the Party Principle in the Media Marketization Process……………000
The Rise of Market Competition…………………………………………..000
Strict Party Control………………………………………………………...000
The Growing Tension within the Propaganda-Commercial Model…….…000
The Marketization Process in the Social Welfare System……………………..000
Changes in the Pension System……………………………………………000
Changes in the Health Care System……………………………………….000
Smashing of the Work-unit System…………………………………………….000
The Inner Division of the Working Class………………………………………000
Divisions between Editors and Leaders…………….………………….….000
Inner Divisions of Editors…………………………….…………………...000
Conclusion: Social Changes, Class Relations, and Power Dynamics………….000
Chapter 4 The Spatialization Process: Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the Global
Division of Labor…………………………………………………………………...000
Globalization and the Chinese Publishing Industry.…………………………...000
Transnational Media Corporations in China………………………............000
Chinese Publishing Exports in the Global Media Sphere……….…...........000
Chinese Publishing Conglomerates……...…………………………...........000
Neoliberalism and Chinese Editors……….……………………………………000
The Twin Modalities of the Neoliberal Governmentality…………………000
China’s Accession to the World Trade Organization………………………000
The Global Division of Labor and Chinese Editors……….…………………...000
The Emergence of the Global Division of Labor………………………….000
The Impact of the Global Division of Labor on Chinese Editors………....000
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...000
Chapter 5 Labor Convergence: Worker Organizations and Trade Unions…...……..000
Labor Convergence……………………………………………………………000
Worker Organizations………………………………………………………….000
The Publishers Association of China……………………………………..000
The Publishers Association of Shanghai………………………………….000
Trade Unions…………………………………………………………………..000
Trade Unions as “Transmission Belts” …………………………………...000
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions……………………………….000
The Labor Law…………………………………………………………….000
Rethinking of Worker Organizations and Trade Unions……………………….000
Limitations of Worker Organizations and Trade Unions………………….000
Labor Unrest……………………………………………………………….000
Prospects: How to Better Represent Workers’ Rights and Interests.............000
Technological Developments…………………………………………000
Changes inside the All-China Federation of Trade Unions…………..000
The Emergence of Labor Non-governmental Organizations…………000
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………......000
Conclusion……………………………………………………….……………….…000
Summary of the Book…………………………………………….....................000
Contributions of the Book……………………………………………………...000
Theoretical Significance…………………………………………………...000
Methodological Significance………………………………………………000
Substantive Significance…………………………………………………..000
Suggestions for Future Research……………………………………………….000
References…………………………………………………………………………..000
Appendix A Original Survey Questions…………………………………………….000
Appendix B Interview Outline………….…………………………………………..000
Appendix C Interview Questions for Editors and Union Officials…………………000
Appendix D Interview Participants…………………………………………………000

Despite the growing volume of western commentary on the turn to the market in China’s media industries we still know surprisingly little about the impact of change on media work. Jianhua Yao’s detailed study of the publishing industry in Shanghai, one of the pivotal nodes in China’s knowledge economy, is a notable and welcome exception. Combining available data with questionnaire surveys and personal interviews, he unpicks the consequences of commercialization and globalization for the organization of work places, careers, and everyday lives, and explores the ways workers are responding and resisting. His analysis of the new knowledge precariat is a must-read for anyone interested in the transformation and future of creative labour in China.