Publisher's Synopsis
This book looks at the demand as well as the supply side of the social organization of industrial outwork in contemporary Hong Kong. On the one side, there are small manufacturers struggling for survival in the context of a changing global economic environment. Outworking offers them the flexibility needed for the continuation of labour-intensive production in the face of fierce competition from other newly industrializing economies. On the other side, outworking is an important household work strategy for married working class women. Through a sociological analysis of the interplay between employersÆ quest for production flexibility and married womenÆs participation in outworking, this study throws new light on the experience of East Asian development.
