Soziologie

We are happy to announce that the new edited volume titled 'The Contradictions of Market Socialism: Labour, Capital and Welfare in Privatising China and Vietnam' by Prof. Minh Nguyen (Bielefeld University) and Dr. Jingyu Mao (University of Edinburgh) has been published by Bristol University Press. The book is open-access and can be downloaded at this link. For those who wish to buy a physical copy, the 50% discount code DSC50 is valid until the end of August.

Grounded in rich empirical research from diverse regions of China and Vietnam, this book explores how everyday struggles for livelihoods and wellbeing are shaped by increasingly flexible labour regimes and welfare systems offering minimal protection. It reveals how such systems encourage self-entrepreneurship and individual responsibility, while exposing the conflict between ensuring workers’ wellbeing and maintaining the market socialist model. Connecting labour and welfare transformations to broader political-economic processes – including land restructuring and financialisation – the book offers an unparalleled comparative perspective on two of the world’s most important manufacturing hubs.