RUC

Phd course: Globalisation and the Role of Labour in Asia

PhD-course, 11-14 October 2010, organised by CBDS/ ICM & ISG/ RUC with the Doctoral School of Organisation and Management, CBS & the Graduate School of International Development Studies, Roskilde University

• Title:
• Globalisation and the Role of Labour in Asia.

·         Faculty:

• Frederic C. Deyo, Binghamton University, New York, USA.
• Daniel Fleming, RUC, DK.
• Laurids S. Lauridsen, RUC, DK.
• Peter Lund-Thomsen, CBS, DK.
• Lone Riisgaard, DIIS, DK.
• Peter Wad, CBS, DK
• Edward Webster, Sociology of Work, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

• Course coordinators:

• Peter Wad, CBDS/CBS & Daniel Fleming, ISG/RUC

• Prerequisite, progression of the course

In preparation of the course the participants are requested to justify in synopsis form how the problem area of globalization and (Asian) labour is relevant for their PhD project. The synopses are used as each participant’s introduction to the course and must be handed in electronically together with an Abstract of the paper to be presented no later than August 11, 2010. The final paper deadline is September 1, 2010.

• Aim

Beneath the industrial revolution in Asia lies the social issue of labour, but what is this issue about, how important is it for the domestic, regional and global economy, how do international business and other agencies deal with it, and is it in fact dealt with in a proper way which will enable labour to be an integrated part of Asian societies in the future?  For long Asian labour was seen as peripheral to Western labour and industrialization. Theories of the new international division of labour gave more impetus to labour but mainly as part of transnational corporations or capitalism in the West. Now, when Asian labour and working life with globalisation have a more important and defining role for development not only in Asia but the whole world, concepts and analyses of Asian labour should be more central in international business and development research. The 2008 global financial crisis underlines this research agenda. The PhD course aims to address these issues and thereby questioning, validating and contextualising theories of international organisation and management on the one hand and theories of international development on the other hand in an era of globalisation. 

• Content

Asia is increasingly becoming the global modern powerhouse, with China playing the role of the factory of the world, and India the role of the office of the world. Asia has indeed been the preferable location for off-shoring and outsourcing of business activities from the Global North, be it North America, Europe or Japan. However, what do we know about the so-called ‘social issues’ of this new Industrial Revolution, what explains the current state of labour, how is it going to be addressed and what will be the consequences?

In economic history the ‘labour issue’ has been crucial for the trajectories being followed and the outcomes to follow in terms of economic development, political transformation and social welfare for the population in general. Fredric Deyo highlighted the labour issue ‘beneath the Miracle’ in East Asia in 1989, but the miracle turned into a debacle in 1997 while China continued to grow rapidly and India was to follow. With Asia receiving around 50 percent of global FDI inflows into developing countries in 2007 and taking on most of subcontracting work in the 21^st century labour is an imminent part of the agenda of global economic restructuring, including industrialisation in Asia and deindustrialisation in the Global North.  Simultaneously, FDI outflow from Asia is on the rise and counts 150 billion USD out of 253 billion USD from developing countries in 2007, thereby indicating an emerging trend of reverse integration of labour in the Global North.

Asian models are often identified with the new rise of middle classes and meritocracy or elite governance and not with labour as an independent force in development. In the West labour’s role in defining social movements, solidarity, reform or revolution, democracy, universal rights and equality, political left and right wings, welfare system etc. has been given an important impetus in historical and social analyses. For almost a century labour problems were seen as a threat to economic growth and political stability in the West. As means of conflict resolution labour was incorporated in industrial relations systems and the ILO tripartite system: Employers and employees should be equal partners.

What relevance do these experiences, theories, concepts and analyses have for a late Asian development context? Is labour no longer a threat to social and capitalist stability in present Asian industrialization and therefore ignored in development research? Have the concerted policies of authoritarian developmental states and corporate social policies of MNCs drawn out the teeth of the Asian Tigers? Has the international labour movement failed to support and trigger the mobilisation of Asian labour in trade unions, workplace organisations, political parties and communities? To what extent are western models of labour and social relations applicable and valid in contemporary Asia? Which policies and strategies of international corporations, labour organisations and states are needed in order to generate ‘inclusive and just development’ in Asia?

The purpose of the PhD course is to bring speakers from different disciplines and analyses of Asian labour together to get an understanding of ongoing research in different fields: sociology, anthropology, labour history, industrial relations, human resource development, cross-cultural organisation, gender relations, corporate social responsibility etc. The focus will be on interdisciplinary research, differences in theories and methods analysing Asian labour.

The issues to be addressed are the following questions:

1.    What is the role of labour in the global economy?

2.    How is Asian labour governed?

3.    Asian Labour in the domestic, regional and global economy: The case of China.

4.    How can the role of Asian labour be empirically researched at firm, sector, national, regional and global levels of development?

5.    What is the effects and impact of Asian labour governance for the future of socio-economic development in Asia and the wider global economy?  

• Lecture plan

The PhD course is structured into five modules in order to address these questions and include inputs by participants’ workshop papers on Asian labour and employment issues (with tentative sub-questions and sub-issues):

.

 Revised  version March 1, 2010.

• Teaching style

Each PhD-student must present a paper based on the PhD project and related one way or the other to the key issues of the PhD workshop. Abstracts of these papers as well as the key note speaks/lectures must be advanced to the participants at least a week ahead of the workshop. The role of the keynote speakers and other faculty is partly to present core ongoing research (theory, empirical studies, methodological reflections) and partly to facilitate discussions and counselling of PhD-students.

• Learning Objectives:

The workshop aims training PhD students in identifying, analysing, explaining, coping with and rectifying labour issues which are part of the interaction between international business, national development policy and industrialisation processes in Asia. The workshop will address theoretical perspectives as well as empirical methods related to this field of inquiry and discuss their epistemological, ontological and methodological foundations.

• Indicative background literature:
• Bronfenbrenner, K. (ed.) (2007) Global Unions. Challenging Transnational Capital through Cross-Border Campaigns. Ithaca: ILR Press, Cornell University Press
• Munck, R. (2006) Labour and Globalisation: Results and Prospects. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
• Third World Quarterly, 2009, 30 (3) Special issue on international labour studies.
• Webster, E. et al. (2008) Grounding Globalization. Labour in the Age of Insecurity. Oxford: Blackwell.

• ECTS awarded

4 ECTS.

• Language:

English

• Maximum and Minimum number of participants: 15-20.

• Fee: DKK 8.500