Development and Labor Issues in Contemporary China

Over the past thirty-five years, China has undergone a historically unprecedented period of economic expansion. But explosive growth has also generated new problems: staggering economic inequality, difficulty with industrial upgrading, and expanding social unrest. If China is to reduce inequality and escape the middle-income trap, it will require major innovations in how the state manages employment relations. Shifting to a new model of development and employment will inevitably demand political contestation and compromise – can the Chinese state effectively navigate this fraught terrain? 

Eli Friedman joined the faculty of the ILR School's department of International and Comparative Labor in 2011 after completing his PhD in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary areas of interest are China, development, education, globalization, social movements, theory, urbanization, and work and labor. Eli currently has two major research projects, the first of which looks at state responses to worker unrest in China and the development of labor relations institutions. The second project is a study of Chinese urbanization, with a particular focus on access to education for rural to urban migrants. He is the author of Insurgency Trap: Labor Politics in Postsocialist China (Cornell University Press) and the co-editor of the English edition of China on Strike: Narratives of Workers' Resistance (Haymarket Press). 

6:00pm reception, 6:30pm lecture, gratis.  Advance reservations required. Members and guests are invited to dine at The Club with Professor Friedman following the lecture. The cost is $40 per person, inclusive of tax, gratuity and one glass of wine with dinner. Dinner reservations are required 48 hours prior to the program. Same-day cancellations and no shows will be charged.