Despite the prevalent belief that China has been witnessing increasing labor conflict, recent evidence shows that in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), where used to be the most troubled area in China by labor conflict, there has been a general drop of labor conflict. Prior research on the state’s governance of social conflict in China cannot explain this drop as the literature mostly focused on the state's post-ex-ante reactions to conflict. By looking at one locality Riverside District in PRD that has experienced a significant drop in labor conflict, this research examines how the local state’s efforts to train employers in labor law techniques has contributed to labor law compliance which in turn led to drop in labor conflict. This thesis tries to make two contributions. First, em...[ Read more ]

Despite the prevalent belief that China has been witnessing increasing labor conflict, recent evidence shows that in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), where used to be the most troubled area in China by labor conflict, there has been a general drop of labor conflict. Prior research on the state’s governance of social conflict in China cannot explain this drop as the literature mostly focused on the state's post-ex-ante reactions to conflict. By looking at one locality Riverside District in PRD that has experienced a significant drop in labor conflict, this research examines how the local state’s efforts to train employers in labor law techniques has contributed to labor law compliance which in turn led to drop in labor conflict. This thesis tries to make two contributions. First, empirically this article seeks to attract more academic attention to China's pre-emptive efforts at reducing social conflict. In this case, this is an attempt at improving employers’ compliance of labor law by providing training to employers on labor law techniques. Secondly, this article seeks to make a theoretical contribution to the theory of legal environment as I combine Mann's theory of infrastructural power with the theory of institutionalized legal environment to discuss how the diffusion of labor law technique among human resources managers and employers is important for the institutionalization of legal compliance. Crucial to this contribution is the aspect of consent in Mann’s theory. Businesses are willing to learn about labor law techniques because the compliance techniques are preached and understood as a way to achieve management goals and avoid legal risks instead of adding external constraints on businesses.