Work and Family Life among Migrant Factory Workers in China and Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Through on-site interviewing, a comparative study has been carried out about migrant factory workers in industrialised parts of China’s Guangdong province and in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. Even though China and Vietnam possess similar legacies of socialist transformation and have household registration regulations that restrict rural migrants’ access to urban social services and impede their settlement in cities, there exist marked differences in Guangdong and Ho Chi Minh City in migration patterns, factory work conditions and migrant worker family livelihoods. In particular, migrant families in Ho Chi Minh City largely stay intact and tend to settle there permanently, while married migrant workers in Guangdong normally need to split up their families and remain trapped in circular rural–urban migration. As shall be seen, the national and local governments play important roles in determining the inclusion or exclusion of migrants from urban life, the wages they are paid and their standard of living and, most important of all, their children’s access to education. Each of the two countries’ differences in implementing policies is examined and comparatively analysed.     

A Prototype of Mathematical Treatment of Pen Pressure Data for Signature Verification

A prototype using simple mathematical treatment of the pen pressure data recorded by a digital pen movement recording device was derived. In this study, a total of 48 sets of signature and initial specimens were collected. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare the data of the pen pressure patterns. From the 820 pair comparisons of the 48 sets of genuine signatures, a high degree of matching was found in which 95.4% (782 pairs) and 80% (656 pairs) had rPA > 0.7 and rPA > 0.8, respectively. In the comparison of the 23 forged signatures with their corresponding control signatures, 20 of them (89.2% of pairs) had rPA values < 0.6, showing a lower degree of matching when compared with the results of the genuine signatures. The prototype could be used as a complementary technique to improve the objectivity of signature examination and also has a good potential to be developed as a tool for automated signature identification.     

The fraying of the socio‐economic fabric of Hong Kong

Abstract

Since the 1980s, Hong Kong has undergone momentous socio‐economic changes, which in turn have greatly affected public attitudes toward society and the economy. Interpersonal trust and the sense of community have weakened. Hong Kong as a society is increasingly seen as unfair in the sense that it is not perceived as a land of opportunities for the hardworking. The capitalist rules of the game are increasingly considered by the people to be unacceptable. Public demands for more governmental intervention in the economy, particularly in the area of income redistribution, are increasingly raised. Nascent feelings of class antagonism are palpable as economic inequalities are getting worse. As social conflicts of various kinds proliferate, public anxieties about Hong Kong's fraying socio‐economic fabric have come to the fore. People expect the government and the legal institutions to strengthen social order. At the same time, however, public trust of all social, economic and social authorities is declining. Accordingly, as social discontent and anxieties accumulate, the socio‐economic system of Hong Kong will face serious challenge in the years ahead.     

Youth crime and family disruption in Canadian municipalities: An adaptation of Shaw and McKay’s social disorganization theory

Using an adaptation of Shaw and McKay’s (1942) theory, the present study examined the effects of social disorganization and family disruption on youth crime. Based on data from 483 Canadian municipalities, the results revealed that low income, mobility and ethnic heterogeneity had the expected positive effects on youth crime, particularly in municipalities with smaller population and lower prevalence of low income. The effect of single parenthood was positive as expected whereas that of divorce was unexpectedly negative. The findings suggest the importance to specify the conditions for the effect of social disorganization and differentiate the effects of divorce and single parenthood. The unexpected negative effect also raises the possibility of divorce as law mobilization, thus underscoring the roles of planning and legal intervention in social disorganization. In terms of policies, the findings suggest early intervention for social disorganization, support for single-parent families, and the incorporation of divorcees in productive activities.     

The Effects of Adolescent Activities on Delinquency: A Differential Involvement Approach

T. Hirschi’s (1969, Causes of Delinquency. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) control theory proposes that involvement, as an element of the social bond, should reduce delinquency. But, research studies have found that the effect of involvement is rather weak. This study reformulates Hirschi’s involvement hypothesis by posing involvement as a social setting variable and a differential factor. Certain activities provide a social setting favorable to the development of the social bond and the reduction in delinquent association. The reformulated hypothesis is examined based on a sample of Grade 7–12 students in a Western Canadian city. The results reveal that school- and family-related activities strengthen the social bond and reduce delinquent association and delinquency. In contrast, other conventional activities such as spending time with friends and dating have the opposite effects. In addition, the indirect effect of differential involvement on delinquency through the social bond and delinquent association is stronger than its direct effect. Thus, the undesirable effects of the less-positive activities on delinquency may be buffered or reduced by strengthening the social bond and reducing delinquent association.Siu Kwong Wong is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Brandon University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University. His major research interests are in the study of delinquency and social disorganization.     

ANALYZING EXPLOITATION

The codes of conduct of Western brand-name corporations normally require supplier factories in the Global South to comply with the local country’s minimum legal wage; the codes also often stipulate a maximum sixty-hour work week. But the problems of illegally low wages and overtime violations in supplier factories remain unresolved. This article uses survey data collected in a city in South China on workers’ wages and work hours to show how legal minimum wage rates, which normally are expressed in developing countries as a monthly wage, obfuscate the level of wages paid to workers. This will be demonstrated by comparing two different payment systems: time rates (which predominate in the toy industry) and piece rates (which predominate in garment manufacturing). The differences in the compensation rates and work hours resulting from the two systems lead the authors to contend that countries in the Global South and the implementers of corporate codes should calculate minimum wages in terms of hourly earnings in order to make wage payments more transparent and help reduce exploitative practices.     

Crime clearance rates in Canadian municipalities: A test of Donald Black's theory of law

Donald Black's theory of law has been considered an important theory in the sociology of law. However, while the theory views law as a quantity variable, there has been limited empirical support from quantitative studies. This study offers a quantitative test of Black's theory using data from 579 Canadian municipalities. The results show that the quantity of law, in terms of crime clearance rates, varies positively with stratification, morphology, culture, and organization just as Black's theory has predicted. In addition, population size, population density, the property and violent crime rates, and policing resources also affect the clearance rates. These findings support the general notion that there is more law for certain groups and under certain social conditions. Also, most of the findings are consistent with Black's theory, thus supporting its viability as a sociological theory. In addition, two seemingly contradictory explanations, the resource explanation and the need/dependency explanation, are proposed to interpret the findings. These contradictory and yet complementary explanations perhaps reflect the reality of law in society.     

Intermediation environments and election in Hong Kong

The new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) held its first election in 1998. Based on data from a post‐election survey, this article charts the pattern of intermediation environments and their impact on electoral participation. An intermediation environment is a network of communicating information or points of view. This study focuses on the environments of primary social networks, secondary associations and the mass media. They are found to be influential in the diffusion of political knowledge and in mobilizing electoral participation. However, the majority of Hong Kong citizens are unembedded in these environments, thereby carrying negative implications for the democratic transition in Hong Kong.