Globalisation, ‘Chinese Walls’ and Industrial Labour

Summaries This article analyses how globalisation — in particular China’s integration into global trade and investment flows — has affected industrial labour. It is argued that globalisation has led to discernible pressures as a result of the concentration of world market production in the coastal areas and the heavy reliance on reprocessing exports. These pressures have been mediated by the Chinese institutional structure which includes social rules, the institutional legacy of state socialism and the interests and autonomy of governments. The implications for industrial labour of the combination of the pressures from globalisation and the Chinese institutional structure are examined.