Digital Labour in Chinese Internet Industries

Digital labour has been the subject of considerable research in recent years (Van Dijck 2009, Manzerolle 2010, Dyer-Witheford 2010). But relatively little research has considered professional workers in digital media. This research addresses this gap by focusing on professional workers in the Chines...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inTripleC Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 668 - 668–693
Main Author Xia, Bingqing
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Salzburg TripleC Communication, Capitalism & Critique, published by Information Society Research 01.09.2014
Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
Abstract Digital labour has been the subject of considerable research in recent years (Van Dijck 2009, Manzerolle 2010, Dyer-Witheford 2010). But relatively little research has considered professional workers in digital media. This research addresses this gap by focusing on professional workers in the Chinese Internet industries. This paper asks: How are these digital labourers involved in the digital media production? To what extent should we criticise this involvement? Based on detailed empirical research in China, I argue that the rapid growth of the Internet industries depends on exploiting these Internet workers, such as the workers in Chinese Internet industries—the new ‘sweatshop’ of the digital era. Chinese Internet workers have been subsumed in the global capitalist system as the new ‘sweatshop workers’. This paper shows that Chinese Internet workers suffer very poor working conditions, and argues that these working conditions are the result of exploitation, a concept explored via using Eric Olin Wright’s schema. This paper also argues that most of the Chinese Internet workers are in the lower middle-class class position, in which they are exploited by the upper classes. Their working conditions have seriously deteriorated and they are victims of inequality and injustice—although they also are able to exercise agency and resistance. This paper therefore calls urgent attention to the working conditions of these digital labourers. 
AbstractList Digital labour has been the subject of considerable research in recent years (Van Dijck 2009, Manzerolle 2010, Dyer-Witheford 2010). But relatively little research has considered professional workers in digital media. This research addresses this gap by focusing on professional workers in the Chinese Internet industries. This paper asks: How are these digital labourers involved in the digital media production? To what extent should we criticise this involvement? Based on detailed empirical research in China, I argue that the rapid growth of the Internet industries depends on exploiting these Internet workers, such as the workers in Chinese Internet industries—the new ‘sweatshop’ of the digital era. Chinese Internet workers have been subsumed in the global capitalist system as the new ‘sweatshop workers’. This paper shows that Chinese Internet workers suffer very poor working conditions, and argues that these working conditions are the result of exploitation, a concept explored via using Eric Olin Wright’s schema. This paper also argues that most of the Chinese Internet workers are in the lower middle-class class position, in which they are exploited by the upper classes. Their working conditions have seriously deteriorated and they are victims of inequality and injustice—although they also are able to exercise agency and resistance. This paper therefore calls urgent attention to the working conditions of these digital labourers. 
Digital labour has been the subject of considerable research in recent years (Van Dijck 2009, Manzerolle 2010, Dyer-Witheford 2010). But relatively little research has considered professional workers in digital media. This research addresses this gap by focusing on professional workers in the Chinese Internet industries. This paper asks: How are these digital labourers involved in the digital media production? To what extent should we criticise this involvement? Based on detailed empirical research in China, I argue that the rapid growth of the Internet industries depends on exploiting these Internet workers, such as the workers in Chinese Internet industries—the new ‘sweatshop’ of the digital era. Chinese Internet workers have been subsumed in the global capitalist system as the new ‘sweatshop workers’. This paper shows that Chinese Internet workers suffer very poor working conditions, and argues that these working conditions are the result of exploitation, a concept explored via using Eric Olin Wright’s schema. This paper also argues that most of the Chinese Internet workers are in the lower middle-class class position, in which they are exploited by the upper classes. Their working conditions have seriously deteriorated and they are victims of inequality and injustice—although they also are able to exercise agency and resistance. This paper therefore calls urgent attention to the working conditions of these digital labourers.
Author Xia, Bingqing
Author_xml – sequence: 1
  givenname: Bingqing
  surname: Xia
  fullname: Xia, Bingqing
BookMark eNpNkM1LAzEQxYNUsK3-A54WPG_N5HP3KPWrUPCi4C1kk0lNWXdrshX8713aIp7mMTzem_nNyKTrOyTkGuiCA1P17ZDirkW3-AYW2UJycUamoJkqlabvk3_6gsxy3lKqVFVXU1Lex00cbFusbdPvUxG7YvkRO8xYrLoBU4fDKPw-jwWYL8l5sG3Gq9Ock7fHh9flc7l-eVot79al4wKGUgD1ASjVQchGKCspoJdey9qCQikUBx8a9FwLDHXlbQNei-C8BXAseD4nq2Ou7-3W7FL8tOnH9Daaw6JPG2PTEF2LJmineIUCnODChaoODXMga2BApQY2Zt0cs3ap_9pjHsx2fLQbzzdMUw6y4gcXO7pc6nNOGP5agZoDYnNCbA6IzYiY_wIs8HIX
CitedBy_id crossref_primary_10_1016_j_sbspro_2016_04_043
crossref_primary_10_1177_1035304619863649
ContentType Journal Article
Copyright 2014. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/at/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
Copyright_xml – notice: 2014. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/at/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
DBID AAYXX
CITATION
ABUWG
AFKRA
AZQEC
BENPR
CCPQU
DWQXO
PIMPY
PQEST
PQQKQ
PQUKI
PRINS
DOA
DOI 10.31269/triplec.v12i2.534
DatabaseName CrossRef
ProQuest Central (Alumni)
ProQuest Central
ProQuest Central Essentials
ProQuest Databases
ProQuest One Community College
ProQuest Central Korea
Publicly Available Content Database
ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition (DO NOT USE)
ProQuest One Academic
ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition
ProQuest Central China
Directory of Open Access Journals
DatabaseTitle CrossRef
Publicly Available Content Database
ProQuest Central
ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition
ProQuest Central Essentials
ProQuest Central Korea
ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition
ProQuest Central (Alumni Edition)
ProQuest One Community College
ProQuest One Academic
ProQuest Central China
DatabaseTitleList CrossRef
Publicly Available Content Database

Database_xml – sequence: 1
  dbid: DOA
  name: DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
  url: https://www.doaj.org/
  sourceTypes: Open Website
– sequence: 2
  dbid: BENPR
  name: ProQuest Central
  url: https://www.proquest.com/central
  sourceTypes: Aggregation Database
DeliveryMethod fulltext_linktorsrc
Discipline Sociology & Social History
EISSN 1726-670X
EndPage 668–693
ExternalDocumentID oai_doaj_org_article_f7c638e41c434cf89fb2c15912105712
10_31269_triplec_v12i2_534
GroupedDBID 2WC
5VS
8RG
AAFWJ
AAYXX
ABDTL
ADBBV
AERSA
AFKRA
AFPKN
ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS
BCNDV
BENPR
CCPQU
CITATION
E3Z
ECE
GROUPED_DOAJ
IN-
KQ8
M~E
OK1
PIMPY
TH9
TR2
ABUWG
AZQEC
DWQXO
PQEST
PQQKQ
PQUKI
PRINS
ID FETCH-LOGICAL-c341t-410df1007f45b46a501ed5d759a16e54631dfbed374ef98dab1d74fcda11c2fd3
IEDL.DBID DOA
ISSN 1726-670X
IngestDate Tue Oct 22 15:10:51 EDT 2024
Thu Oct 10 16:14:32 EDT 2024
Thu Nov 21 22:42:07 EST 2024
IsDoiOpenAccess true
IsOpenAccess true
IsPeerReviewed true
IsScholarly true
Issue 2
Language English
LinkModel DirectLink
MergedId FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c341t-410df1007f45b46a501ed5d759a16e54631dfbed374ef98dab1d74fcda11c2fd3
OpenAccessLink https://doaj.org/article/f7c638e41c434cf89fb2c15912105712
PQID 2703158312
PQPubID 5503916
ParticipantIDs doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_f7c638e41c434cf89fb2c15912105712
proquest_journals_2703158312
crossref_primary_10_31269_triplec_v12i2_534
PublicationCentury 2000
PublicationDate 2014-09-01
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD 2014-09-01
PublicationDate_xml – month: 09
  year: 2014
  text: 2014-09-01
  day: 01
PublicationDecade 2010
PublicationPlace Salzburg
PublicationPlace_xml – name: Salzburg
PublicationTitle TripleC
PublicationYear 2014
Publisher TripleC Communication, Capitalism & Critique, published by Information Society Research
Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group
Publisher_xml – name: TripleC Communication, Capitalism & Critique, published by Information Society Research
– name: Paderborn University: Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group
SSID ssj0066898
Score 2.02224
Snippet Digital labour has been the subject of considerable research in recent years (Van Dijck 2009, Manzerolle 2010, Dyer-Witheford 2010). But relatively little...
SourceID doaj
proquest
crossref
SourceType Open Website
Aggregation Database
StartPage 668
SubjectTerms Chinese internet workers
Digital broadcasting
digital labour
exploitation
Internet
Manual workers
Quality of working life
Working conditions
SummonAdditionalLinks – databaseName: ProQuest Databases
  dbid: BENPR
  link: http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwfV1LS8QwEA66XryIT1xf5CBeJLpJ8-pJfCKiIqLgLTTJRPayu-5WwX9v0qaKCF56SJPLl2RmOp35PoT2E6mXBi0JcyAJ58ETK8KAcA2gnBaVUqk5-e5eXj_zmxfxkhNus1xW2dnExlD7sUs58mOWiNaFLig7mbyRpBqV_q5mCY15tMBooXUPLZxd3j88drZYSl3qtlUmLpTlcT1N6Wt39EHZkB2Jgv9yRw1r_x-j3Hiaq2W0lENEfNru6Qqag9Eq2vruLMEHuO2pxS3Fx-caIhfD1yT-gW9TnfEUD0c46WLDDHCb8YMadxodMFtHz1eXT-fXJOsgEBd9TE04HfiQqhkCF5bLSgwoeOGVKCsqIfHZUx8s-EJxCKX2laVe8eB8RaljwRcbqDcaj2ATYWlLpwSkQMtGt1TERxGEB8WE9syKPjrs4DCTlu7CxM-EBjyTwTMNeCaC10dnCbHvmYmquhkYT19NPvkmKBfvOHDqeMFd0GWwzMUgKjGXCUVZH-10eJt8f2bmZ7e3_n-9jRZjCMPbqq8d1Kun77Abw4Ta7uWz8AVTUr3T
  priority: 102
  providerName: ProQuest
Title Digital Labour in Chinese Internet Industries
URI https://www.proquest.com/docview/2703158312
https://doaj.org/article/f7c638e41c434cf89fb2c15912105712
Volume 12
hasFullText 1
inHoldings 1
isFullTextHit
isPrint
link http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwrV09SwQxEA2ijY34iaenpBAbiW6y-drS8wMRPUQUrgubZCLXnHK3Cv57k83eoVjY2GyxLGR5SeZNwsx7CB0lUS8NWhLmQBLOgydWhIJwDaCcFrVSqTn5fihvnvntSIy-WX2lmrAsD5yBOwvKxSUCnDpechd0FSxzkYOT8JVQNEffgs0PUzkGS6lbF9zIzpJIVYxyu0xJmazOmmm6wnanH5SN2ako-Q9KapX7fwXmlm2u19Falybi8_x7G2gJJptob9Fdgo9x7qvFWebjcwuRy_FLMgDBd6nWeIrHE5y8sWEGON_6QYPnPh0w20bP11dPFzek80IgLvJMQzgtfEgVDYELy2UtCgpeeCWqmkpImvbUBwu-VBxCpX1tqVc8OF9T6ljw5Q5anrxOYBdhaSunBKRky0ZqKuOjDMKDYkJ7ZkUPnczhMG9Z8sLEo0ILnunAMy14JoLXQ4OE2OLLJFfdvoiTaLpJNH9NYg_153ibbg_NDEvS-kLHcff-Y4x9tBqTHZ7rw_pouZm-w0FMKBp7iFYGV8OHx8N2DX0By03HjA
link.rule.ids 314,780,784,864,2102,21388,27924,27925,33744,43805
linkProvider Directory of Open Access Journals
linkToHtml http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwfV1Nb9QwELVge4ALAgpiSyk-oF4qt2vHXzkhWlpty3ZVoVbqzYrtcbWX3XY3IPHv8SROEULikoNjX57tmclk5j1CPiGplwWrmQigmZQpMq_ShEkLYIJVjTHYnHw519MbeXGrbkvCbVPKKgeb2BnquAqYIz8SSLSubMXF5_sHhqpR-He1SGg8JVvInK5GZOv4dH71fbDFWtva9q0yeaGuj9o1pq_D4U8uFuJQVfIvd9Sx9v9jlDtPc_aSvCghIv3S7-kr8gSWr8nOY2cJ3ad9Ty3tKT5-bRP2dXGH4h90hnXGa7pYUtTFhg3QPuMHLR00OmDzhtycnV6fTFnRQWAh-5iWST6JCasZklRe6kZNOEQVjaobrgH57HlMHmJlJKTaxsbzaGQKseE8iBSrt2S0XC3hHaHa18EowEDLZ7dU5UeVVAQjlI3CqzE5GOBw9z3dhcufCR14roDnOvBcBm9MjhGxx5lIVd0NrNZ3rpx8l0zIdxwkD7KSIdk6eRFyEIXMZcpwMSa7A96u3J-N-7PbO_9__ZE8m15fztzsfP7tPXmewxnZV4DtklG7_gEfcsjQ-r1yLn4DVMnAuw
openUrl ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Digital+Labour+in+Chinese+Internet+Industries&rft.jtitle=TripleC&rft.au=Bingqing+Xia&rft.date=2014-09-01&rft.pub=Paderborn+University%3A+Media+Systems+and+Media+Organisation+Research+Group&rft.issn=1726-670X&rft.eissn=1726-670X&rft.volume=12&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=668%E2%80%93693&rft.epage=668%E2%80%93693&rft_id=info:doi/10.31269%2Ftriplec.v12i2.534&rft.externalDBID=DOA&rft.externalDocID=oai_doaj_org_article_f7c638e41c434cf89fb2c15912105712
thumbnail_l http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=1726-670X&client=summon
thumbnail_m http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=1726-670X&client=summon
thumbnail_s http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=1726-670X&client=summon