Capital accumulation and work in China’s internet content industry: Struggling in the bubble

Xia, Baojia

doi:10.1177/1035304618810987

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…This might relate to the high competition among fresh graduates. As I argued in an earlier article (Xia, 2018), the large number of low-quality university graduates, caused by the problematic education system, has resulted in employment difficulties. Thus, university students are forced to enter the internship market to gain working experience before entering the job market.…”

Section: 'Tears Of Blood' In the Chinese Internet Content Industries;mentioning

confidence: 99%

Precarious labour in waiting: Internships in the Chinese Internet industries

Xia

2019

The Economic and Labour Relations Review

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Internships are prevalent in new media industries and have become the focus of news reports and popular writings in recent years. This article addresses the gap between intern research and digital labour research. It asks: How are these interns working and living? What are the power dynamics behind interns’ experiences? To what extent can digital labour theories be applied to explore these experiences? Based on empirical research conducted at two Chinese Internet companies, this article shows that interns in Chinese Internet industries experience poor working conditions and difficult living conditions. These are caused by power dynamics within the companies, such as tensions between interns and full-time Internet workers, and power dynamics within Chinese society, such as those between Chinese universities and Internet companies involved in these internships. The article argues that such difficult conditions are caused by Internet companies and the Chinese higher education system, both of which engage in forms of coercion and alienation. Digital labour theories need to take greater account of intern labour and of interns’ experiences of precarious work in the new media industries.JEL Codes: J220, J210

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Section: 'Tears Of Blood' In the Chinese Internet Content Industries;mentioning

confidence: 99%

Precarious labour in waiting: Internships in the Chinese Internet industries

Xia

2019

The Economic and Labour Relations Review

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“…However, many scholars are concerned about the actual experience of work in the industry, and they often point out the unfair and exploitative nature of these jobs. For example, based on numerous interviews with workers, Bingqing Xia (2018) has argued that in China, workers in the internet industry (especially graduates) are subsumed into capital structures that focus on financing and acquisitions, and disregard human capital. Sun and Magasic’s 2016 study of programmers ( manong ) in small tech companies in Shenzhen shows that they often work overtime and in highly stressful environments.…”

Section: Literature Review: Re-examining Digital Taylorism In China’s...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Taylorism in China’s e-commerce industry: A case study of internet professionals

Liu

2022

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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This article documents the working conditions and experiences of tech professionals at a leading Chinese e-commerce firm. Using intensive qualitative research methods, the author finds that digital management of tech professionals has accompanied and perhaps explains some of the Chinese tech industry’s much-heralded increases in efficiency and productivity. This management form can be understood as digital Taylorism, which has similar pathologies to the original Taylorism: a dehumanising effect on the workplace, increased work intensity, a higher income but proportionately lower share of the gains from increased productivity, and intensified competition among workers. It is hoped that this study will open up new avenues for evidence-based discussion about the future of work and the ethics of algorithm use in the workplace.

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“…With the rise of ‘gig economy work’ characterised by the prevalence of digital business and new organisational work practices, the commodification of youthfulness extends from the extraction of physical labour power to the exploitation of immaterial power (Farrugia, 2018; Stewart and Stanford, 2017; Xia, 2018). While consumerist service economies require the qualities and imaginaries of youth, such as energy, creativity and body image as a means of valorising youth subjectivities, the age-based division of labour both enables and constrains young precarious workers.…”

Section: Meanings and Complexities Of Being Young And Doing Precarioumentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong

Wong

Au‐Yeung

2019

The Economic and Labour Relations Review

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Informed by autonomist perspectives on precarious work and labour subjectivity, this article discusses the dynamics between autonomy and job precarity. Based on purposive sampling, the qualitative findings, drawn from interviews with precarious workers aged 18–29 years in Hong Kong, reveal tensions among four types of aspirations. First, the desire for achieving freedom and individual ambition in work made the respondents critical of the notion of employment-related stability. Second, a determination to break with mainstream career paths empowered young people to take alternative pathways to new modes of work and life. Third, precarious employment was seen as a stepping stone for realising plans for travel or study. Finally, tolerance of precarity was perceived as a transitional stage in their striving for future stability. However, the findings also show the structured dilemmas experienced by young workers regarding the complex relationship between autonomy and precarity in a neoliberal labour market. Some young workers pursued work–life autonomy, constrained by precarious employment relations, acknowledging and bearing the costs, while some strategically used precarity in individual negotiations with employers to realise their goals. This article analyses young workers’ subjectivity through the lenses of autonomy and age and pushes the boundary of precarity studies beyond an implicit dichotomy between determinism and voluntarism. JEL codes: I38, J38, J62

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Capital accumulation and work in China’s internet content industry: Struggling in the bubble

Cited by 11 publications

References 16 publications

Precarious labour in waiting: Internships in the Chinese Internet industries

Precarious labour in waiting: Internships in the Chinese Internet industries

Digital Taylorism in China’s e-commerce industry: A case study of internet professionals

Autonomous precarity or precarious autonomy? Dilemmas of young workers in Hong Kong

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