Labor, Globalization and the State: Workers, Women and Migrants Confront Neoliberalism(Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series)

This book explores the impact of neoliberal globalization on labour markets and the state in the developed and developing world. It focuses especially on the United States and the economies of Asia -- in particular, India. Liberalized trade and investment are thought by neoliberals to be the best levers for raising labour standards, provided labour market flexibility and capital market restructuring accompany them. Labour market flexibility and capital market restructuring, at a first glance, appear to be complementary and symmetric policies. In practice, however, they might have very asymmetric consequences. This book addresses these issues, and it presents a comprehensive analysis of the key questions such as: How far is globalization a 'real' threat to the conventional systems of wage fixation, employment pattern, and basic rights at work in both developed, as well as underdeveloped countries? Are casualization and informalization of the workforce direct outcomes of deregulation? How do labour organizations cope with the volatility of the labour market? Are the existing labour market conditions and forms of labour organizations misfits in the globalized business world? Is it at all feasible to choose a high road that combines some degree of labour market flexibility with better labour standards? This book will be of interest to academics working on International Development, Development Economics, Political Economy, Comparative Labour Studies and Asian Studies.

Table of Contents:

1. Neoliberal Globalization, Labour, and the State Debdas Banerjee and Michael Goldfield 2. Liberalized Trade, Foreign Investments and Labour Standards: Can or Should they Converge in a New International Division of Labour? Debdas Banerjee 3. State, Market and the Household: Social Reproduction of Third World Labour in an Era of Globalization Rakhi Sehgal 4. Overseas Migration, Outsourcing and Economic Growth in South Asia S.M. Naseem 5. Informalisation, Migration and Women: Recent Trends in Asia Jayati Ghosh 6. The Impact of Globalization and Neoliberalism on the Decline of Organized Labour in the United States Michael Goldfield 7. Global Pressure and Minimum Wages Howard Guille 8. Into the Fold: The Legacy of Labour’s Subordination in Post-Colonial India Vivek Chibber 9. Right to Strike: Is it a Legitimate Countervailing Power in the Globalized Era?: A Case Study of India Ketan Mukhija and Rohan Shah 10. Unorganised Manufacturing, Flexible Labour and the ‘Low Road’: Lessons from Contemporary India Satyaki Roy 11. Revisiting Gendered Home-Based Work in the Context of Reforms Meena Gopal

Debdas Banerjee is Professor of Economics at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, and former Fulbright Senior Scholar at the MIT, Cambridge. He has authored books on globalization, labour, industrial restructuring, and dependence.

Michael Goldfield is Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, Department of Political Science, Wayne State University. He has authored numerous books and articles on labor, industrial relations, race relations, and globalization.