Author Archives: Jenny Chan

Jenny Chan interviewed by Mengjie Cai for ABC News (25 Mar 2024)

China is considering making bosses pay workers for ‘invisible’ overtime, but is it a feasible solution? ‘996’ work culture Jenny Chan, an associate professor in sociology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said it was critical to look at how any laws aimed at tackling invisible overtime could be enforced and implemented. “Labour laws stateContinue reading “Jenny Chan interviewed by Mengjie Cai for ABC News (25 Mar 2024)”

Review of The Master in Bondage: Factory Workers in China, 1949-2019, by Huaiyin Li (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023), Labor History 

Jenny Chan. 2024. Review of The Master in Bondage: Factory Workers in China, 1949-2019, by Huaiyin Li (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023), Labor History 65(1): 160-62. Book Review The Master in Bondage: factory workers in China, 1949-2019 by Huaiyin Li, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2023, 330 pp. Jenny Chan Labor History Volume 65, Issue 1 Pages: 160-162 PublishedContinue reading “Review of The Master in Bondage: Factory Workers in China, 1949-2019, by Huaiyin Li (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023), Labor History “

Jenny Chan interviewed by Emily Feng for NPR (18 Jan 2024)

They flocked to build China’s cities. Now builders are aging with little retirement By Emily Feng NPR 18 Jan 2024 https://www.npr.org/2024/01/18/1220819373/china-economy-aging-construction-workers However, many workers never had formal employment, or they worked for subcontractors who simply ignored their legal obligations to pay social insurance for employees. “This kind of very complicated or indirect form of employmentContinue reading “Jenny Chan interviewed by Emily Feng for NPR (18 Jan 2024)”

Jenny Chan. 2023. “Class, Labour Conflict, and Workers’ Organisation.” The Economic and Labour Relations Review 34(3): 383-94. **ARTICLE OF THE MONTH (April 2024)

Class, labour conflict, and workers’ organisation Jenny Chan The Economic and Labour Relations Review ARTICLE OF THE MONTH: APRIL 2024 According to the ELRR, ‘Chan and her colleagues seek to conceptualise labour conflict and collective action in broader class analysis, and to examine the combined effect of state policies, migration, and digital innovation on contemporaryContinue reading “Jenny Chan. 2023. “Class, Labour Conflict, and Workers’ Organisation.” The Economic and Labour Relations Review 34(3): 383-94. **ARTICLE OF THE MONTH (April 2024)”

Jenny Chan. 2023. Buy with 1-Click: Independent Contracting and Migrant Workers in China’s Last-Mile Parcel Delivery. The Asia-Pacific Journal 21(2):1-18.

Jenny Chan. 2023. “Buy with 1-Click: Independent Contracting and Migrant Workers in China’s Last-Mile Parcel Delivery.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 21(2): 1-18. Abstract: This article analyzes labor informality in the Chinese platform economy. Drawing on participant observation at a parcel delivery station in Beijing, the author discusses how individual and family lives are impacted by the hectic world ofContinue reading “Jenny Chan. 2023. Buy with 1-Click: Independent Contracting and Migrant Workers in China’s Last-Mile Parcel Delivery. The Asia-Pacific Journal 21(2):1-18.”

Jenny Chan. 2021. “Hunger for Profit: How Food Delivery Platforms Manage Couriers in China.” Sociologias 23(57): 58-82.

Chan, Jenny. 2021. “Hunger for Profit: How Food Delivery Platforms Manage Couriers in China.” Sociologias 23(57): 58-82. Abstract How do food delivery platform firms, such as Meituan (operated by Tencent) and Ele.me (owned by Alibaba), manage couriers through service contracting rather than formal employment? How do couriers experience control and autonomy at work? Using observation and interviews,Continue reading “Jenny Chan. 2021. “Hunger for Profit: How Food Delivery Platforms Manage Couriers in China.” Sociologias 23(57): 58-82.”

Jenny Chan, with Mark Levinson. 2021. “Dreams and Defiance in Foxconn City: An Interview.” Dissent (Spring): 33-40.

Interviewer: Mark Levison Dissent Spring 2021 China’s rapid economic growth is built on a factory system that relies on hundreds of millions of exploited workers. In the face of repression, those workers have found creative ways to resist. Links to the Full Content: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/dreams-and-defiance-in-foxconn-city-an-interview-with-jenny-chan

Jaesok Kim (Seoul National University): review of Dying for an iPhone

Review of: Jenny Chan, Mark Selden and Pun Ngai (2020) Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the Lives of China’s Workers By Jaesok Kim, Professor of anthropology and chair of the Institute for China Studies, Seoul National University ‘With the transnational shift of manufacturing jobs, consumer awareness of the links between globalised manufacturing and the localised plight ofContinue reading “Jaesok Kim (Seoul National University): review of Dying for an iPhone”

Dr Jenny Chan speaks on gig manufacturing (Sixth Tone, by Peiyue Wu, 7 Mar 2023)

…“While they [gig migrant-workers] desperately search for something worthy of their labor time and effort, they don’t have access to basic social security benefits,” says Jenny Chan, an associate professor of sociology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “It’s frustrating even when the local economy is slowly starting to revitalize.” Link to full content　: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1012368# belowContinue reading “Dr Jenny Chan speaks on gig manufacturing (Sixth Tone, by Peiyue Wu, 7 Mar 2023)”