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Just-in-Time Urbanization? Managing Migration, Citizenship, and Schooling in the Chinese City

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Friedman, Eli
Abstract
In this article I argue that the Chinese state is responding to tensions wrought by high-speed growth by attempting to develop a form of technocratic biopolitics I refer to as ‘just-in-time (JIT) urbanization’. Mirroring techniques of the Toyota Production System (of which JIT is a constituent element), large Chinese cities have sought to avoid the costs associated with the production and warehousing of surplus populations. Under this system, migrants are granted access to local citizenship and public education for their children if they fulfill a specific, state-determined, need in the labor market. The hope is to be able to precisely deploy specific kinds of labor power as needed, at as low a cost as possible, while avoiding waste, overpopulation, and (presumed) attendant political chaos. The social consequence of this approach is that nominally public resources such as education have been funneled to elites in what I term an ‘inverted means test’.
Date Issued
2018-05Publisher
SAGE
Subject
biopolitics; China; citizenship; education; migration; urbanization
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920517695867Previously Published As
Friedman, E. (2018). Just-in-time urbanization? Managing migration, citizenship, and schooling in the Chinese city. Critical Sociology, 44(3), pp. 503-518.
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Type
article
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Accessible pdf
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International