PROF Carlos Oya co2@soas.ac.uk
Prof of Political Economy of Development
Labour Regimes and Workplace Encounters between China and Africa
Oya, Carlos
Authors
Contributors
Arkebe Oqubay
Editor
Justin Yifu Lin
Editor
Abstract
This chapter explores labour outcomes and dynamics for Chinese FDI and infrastructure contractors through their encounters with workers, states, and labour institutions in Africa. The chapter critically assesses the most popular claims about job creation and working conditions in Chinese firms in Africa and offers an alternative and more empirically nuanced view of the employment realities and dynamics in construction and industrial Chinese firms across Africa. The chapter questions claims of ‘Chinese exceptionalism’ in labour relations, and proposes a labour regime analysis to grasp the power of global capitalist forces, national political economy, and micro-level workplace processes to better understand labour relations in China as well as in Africa, in the sectors where Chinese firms are particularly present. This framework is deployed to illustrate the variation, diversity, and changes in labour regimes in China and among Chinese firms in Africa, and the key factors that drive such variations.
Citation
Oya, C. Labour Regimes and Workplace Encounters between China and Africa. In A. Oqubay, & J. Y. Lin (Eds.), China-Africa and an Economic Transformation (239-262). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198830504.003.0012
Online Publication Date | Jun 10, 2019 |
---|---|
Deposit Date | Aug 7, 2019 |
Publicly Available Date | Aug 7, 2019 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 239-262 |
Book Title | China-Africa and an Economic Transformation |
ISBN | 9780198830504 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198830504.003.0012 |
Files
Oya_Labour China Africa_Ethiopia_ CH12_preprint for WP.pdf
(559 Kb)
PDF
You might also like
A Political Economy Perspective on Mauritian Water Services
(2025)
Book Chapter
ONEILO-SIRAYE Programme Ethiopia: Evaluation Report
(2024)
Report
Global China and Africa’s industrialization aspirations
(2024)
Digital Artefact
Better data for decent work in the global food system.
(2024)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About SOAS Research Online
Administrator e-mail: outputs@soas.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search