Resistance through Accommodation: A Citizenship Approach to Migrant Worker NGOs in China

Jakimów, Małgorzata

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork among migrant worker NGOs conducted between 2011 and 2016, this article employs critical theories of citizenship to illustrate how migrant worker NGOs use a strategy of ‘resistance through accommodation’ to re-shape the citizenship regime and discourse in China. The dominant literature on labour activism tends to discount the potential for migrant worker NGOs to undertake resistance, on account of their dependency upon the state and the market. The article contends that while NGOs must engage in relations with the state and the market to ensure their own survival, their activism does not ultimately centre on either resisting or accommodating these actors directly, but rather upon a broader engagement process aimed at the strategic purpose of ‘citizenship transformation’.

Citation

Jakimów, M. (2017). Resistance through Accommodation: A Citizenship Approach to Migrant Worker NGOs in China. Journal of Contemporary China, 26(108), 915-930. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2017.1337316

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 15, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 10, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary China
• Print ISSN: 1067-0564
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9400
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 108
• Pages: 915-930
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2017.1337316
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1320690
• Related Public URLs: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112015/