Atomized Incorporation: Chinese Workers and the Aftermath of China’s Rise

Atomized Incorporation: Chinese Workers and the Aftermath of China’s Rise (Cambridge University Press, 2023), examines why the Chinese regime selectively tolerates workers' collective action within single factories and what this means for the country's long-term political resilience. It investigates the implications of state-labour relations in contemporary China and suggests that it has evolved away from overt coercion to limited incorporation. Based on two years of in-depth fieldwork, Prof. Rho uncovers how ordinary workers think, believe and behave in this changing socio-political environment. She demonstrates that labour grievances have become more politicized and finds that the current approach to economic grievance resolutions demobilizes the emergence of labour movements by rewarding those with collective action resources within individual workplaces. Rho argues that though this limited state of incorporation allows workers to express discontent at wages and working conditions, it also denies them the opportunity to make claims about structural problems and does not effectively enhance political loyalty in the long run.

Sungmin Rho is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Prof. Rho’s research bridges international and comparative political economy with a focus on labour. Prof. Rho is broadly interested in interactions between structural economic changes and political and social conflict.  Other research interests include domestic determinants of trade policy, labour politics and gender studies.