Globalization and Labour in China and India: Impacts and Responses.

• Author: Kumar, Akshaya
• Position: Book review

GLOBALIZATION AND LABOUR IN CHINA AND INDIA: IMPACTS AND RESPONSES

Paul Bowles and John Harriss, eds.

(UK: Palgrave McMillan, 2010), 263 pages.

A dense and highly quantitative volume, Bowles and Harriss's recent publication collects a series of essays on the impact of a globalizing economy on labor in India and China. The editors endorse Karl Polanyi's point of view, which de-emphasizes the neoliberal focus on utility maximization and scarcity in favor of an anthropological approach to provisioning. Consequently, the collection focuses on internal societal variables within each country instead of the broader frictions between capital and labor on the global level.

The work features a number of nuanced articles examining topics ranging from petty commodity production in India to labor protests in Chinese factories. Though these articles provide snapshots into key issues that labor faces in each context, they fail to identify links. Moreover, some of the contributions seem to be out of place within the broader volume. Notably, Flynn and O'Brien's piece on legal tools does not address the particular situation of either China or India.

Most of the articles focus on one of the two countries, but lack comparative analysis. For example, Chapter 5 examines China's new Labor Contract Law and Chapter 6 reviews the impact of India's National Employment Guarantee Act. However, neither author draws linkages between their pieces, a comparison that could provide a rich analysis of state responses to globalization. The notable exception is Bowles's introduction...