Despite the economic growth in China, the working conditions both the residents and immigrants have significantly deteriorated. The article called China’s Floating Population provides an extensive and detailed analysis of the consequences of the country’s economic reformation with regard to the historical pre-conditions, current problems, and future perspectives for development1. As a result of the analysis, Solinger has revealed rigid inconsistency between the country’s policy, economic growth, and social welfare.
The divergence in interests and goals has led to the collapse of the social system, but provided significant improvements into economy of China. In addition, the researcher explained the underpinning for the emergence of phenomenon of floating population being the shortcoming of working class dislocation.
While reading the article, I have come across several important ideas that have changed my vision on the current situation in China. To begin with, the open door policy has aggravated the conditions of agricultural sectors due to the population floating to cities in the search for new jobs.
Second, the introduced reform has led to the development of new class of workers – unprivileged groups living in towns on temporally basic and having no legal rights and freedoms on the part of the employers they are working with. Finally, because of the aggravation of the working conditions, mass workers’ unrest has become the reason for social instability.
To highlight the significant shifts in social and economic infrastructure in country, the author provides a chronological division of the material. Hence, it is possible to understand the historical pre-conditions of the emergent changes, the events contributed to failure to improve the working conditions and deal with workers’ unrest, and the exposure of classes that will contribute to economic recession in future2.
The flow of ideas allows the readers to understand why a one-dimensional approach can create serious obstacle to social and economic stability in China. The floating population because of migration has left the agricultural sector under the threat of total disaster. Besides, the urbanization process created more problems with employment procedures.
While analyzing the article, it is possible to agree with the idea that the economic progress in China has occurred at the expense of employees who suffered from unequal distribution of jobs and unfair treatment. Specifically, the Hukou system and governmental policies implemented provided the residents with serious challenges in terms of workforce competitiveness.
In particular, immigrant workers are more attractive because of their salary demands were not so high in comparison with the ones introduced by residents of the town. In this respect, the article provides sufficient evidence of the profound impact of the China’s floating population on social-political stability in the country. This problem remains unsolved because of the government’s reluctance to meet the concerns of the workers.
Aside from practical concerns and empirical data, the article also provides a fresh insights into the theoretical framework under which the changes have occurred. Looking from this perspective, the author has managed to interpret the situation in a consistent way.
Bibliography
Solinger, Dorothy, J. “China’s Floating Population: Implications for State and Society”, in The Paradox of China’s Post-Mao Reforms. Edited by Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFaquhar, 220-240. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Footnotes
1 Dorothy, J Solinger,. “China’s Floating Population: Implications for State and Society”, in The Paradox of China’s Post-Mao Reforms. Ed. Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFaquhar, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 224.
2 Dorothy, J Solinger,. “China’s Floating Population: Implications for State and Society”, in The Paradox of China’s Post-Mao Reforms. Ed Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFaquhar, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), 231.