This volume is a collection of ten studies of mass unemployment and layoffs as a result of the restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The key term is xiagang, a new word coined in China during the 1990s to mean “leaving one's post,” as opposed to jiegu (being laid-off) and shiye (being unemployed).
Drawing on the existing literature on xiagang in Chinese and English, fourteen international scholars from universities in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Singapore, and Switzerland explore the extremely complex and intricate relationships between laid-off workers and the state by revealing the politics of xiagang, its effects on workers, and their diverse political and psychological responses to this displacement in their lives.
The first edited volume in English on this subject, Laid-Off Workers fills several gaps in the existing xiagang research. The introduction places this book in the context of current scholarly debates...
