Book contents
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Precarious Wage Labour before 1949
- 3 Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
- 4 Radical Inclusion and Radical Exclusion, 1958–1965
- 5 Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
- 6 Restoring Exploitation, Recalibrating Exclusion, and Recommodification since 1977
- 7 Rise of Agency Labour and Regulations for Labour Protection
- 8 Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
- 9 Labour Precarity in Historical and Comparative Perspective
- Appendix: List of Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2025
Book contents
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Precarious Wage Labour before 1949
- 3 Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
- 4 Radical Inclusion and Radical Exclusion, 1958–1965
- 5 Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
- 6 Restoring Exploitation, Recalibrating Exclusion, and Recommodification since 1977
- 7 Rise of Agency Labour and Regulations for Labour Protection
- 8 Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
- 9 Labour Precarity in Historical and Comparative Perspective
- Appendix: List of Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The counter-movement against commodification in the 1930s and 1940s reached a milestone on 1 October 1949 when Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This chapter begins by outlining the fundamentals of the regime of marginal labour precarity in the Mao era, which took shape between 1949 and 1956 out of the ashes of the Republican era and remained in effect throughout the Mao era. It then narrows the focus to the period between 1949 and 1957. During this period, boundaries among labouring people took shape and were redrawn by swings in the industrialization path between centralization and decentralization, and in labour policy from promoting permanent employment to constraining its expansion and then to promoting the labour contract system.
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- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949 , pp. 45 - 83Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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